Word: eisteddfods
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...hauled out their harps upon the further shore, plucked manfully but inaudibly at sodden strings. Followed a troop of Welsh singers. Having swum the Conway they sang no better and no worse than before. Prince Maelgwn Gwynedd of North Wales, thereupon welcomed the singers to the first recorded Welsh Eisteddfod, heaped their palms with gold, banished his harpers, proclaimed the confirmation through "trial by water" of his pet theory: that song is superior to instrumental music. Since then the Eisteddfod (literally "session," actually "contest") of Welsh bards has become a yearly recurrent cultural diversion...
Last week up and down the furze-patched hills of Wales there reverberated peal after peal, echo on echo, of human voices singing in unison, as well as the shrill shrieks. of excursion trains freighting patrons in to the great Welsh singing contest, the Eisteddfod. From the U. S., from China even, and from the pits of the Cornish mines and the backbush of the mountains came the lusty contenders. They thundered for a week in Celtic conflict...
...first great Eisteddfod was held in the sixth century to prove the superiority of vocal song over instrumental music. By annual repetitions it has developed into a national bardic congress with many contests, prizes, poetic addresses, trumpets, elaborate ceremonies...
After the ceremony the Pragger Wagger (Oxford slang for Prince of Wales) was invited to witness the chief event of the Eisteddfod-the crowning of the prize ode winner, Prosser Rhys of Aberystwith, editor of The Welsh Banner...
...Eisteddfod, which means a sitting, is The National bardic Congress of Wales. Its objects are to encourage bardism, music and Welsh literature, to preserve the language and customs of Wales and to cultivate Welsh patriotism among the people. ‡The Gorsedd (assembly) is an intrinsic part of the Eisteddfod; indeed, the latter grew from it. It is composed of the graduated bards, who alone have power of calling an Eisteddfod and conferring bardic degrees. It is also very ancient, dating from many centuries before the Christian Era. At the time of the Druids, the Gorsedd had considerable political importance...