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  • Dreams Of Mysterious Light

    Dreams Of Mysterious Light.

    March 1st is St David’s Day, the annual celebration of Wales, Welsh history and culture. Wales has a unique status within the United Kingdom. It is regarded as the last surviving remnant of our Celtic origins. Since the Iron Age, Celtic tribes established their own separate kingdoms. These autonomous regions existed for over one thousand years. The situation changed dramatically when this island was subjected to continuous invasion.

    However tribal life prevailed in spite of Roman occupation. Subsequent invasions had a much more deleterious effect on the indigenous people. The Ancient Britons had a long poetic tradition of prophecy and legend. Fragments of these poems only exist in the Irish, Cornish and Welsh dialects, but in England there is no trace of the literature. However this is a familiar story from imperial history, as Syriac manuscripts were also destroyed during the Macedonian occupation of Syria.

    Wales, and Cornwall became sacred sanctuaries, and a necessary place of respite from foreign influence and oppression. Unlike Scotland, which ultimately manifested itself as a protectorate of England, Wales maintained a native identity. The Welsh people continue to maintain a strong identity which is based on myth, legend and lore rather than literal truth.

    The repeated claim that the Welsh are the last surviving indigenous Britons is tenuous, considering the fact that recent DNA analysis has proven that an estimated 80% of the entire British population have Celtic, rather than Saxon or Viking genes. Part of this derives from a general misunderstanding surrounding the definitions of genetics and inheritance, many people think that they mean the same thing. However these are distinct, genetics is a biological and material fact, whereas inheritance is something that is acquired from culture and society. Language and religion, for instance, are inherited.

    Invasions altered the culture of this country, but they had a barely perceptible effect on our genetics. The Welsh language is believed to be the oldest in Europe, and though the numbers are dwindling it is still spoken in parts of Wales. However the etymological root of Welsh was not completely severed, Celtic words still linger in English place names like Avon.

    Despite this, the cultural dominance of the invaders overwhelmed the original cultures almost to the verge of extinction. However some historians have suggested that the interaction between the Celts and Saxons was not entirely violent, and there was some degree of affinity rather than rancour. Consequently a hybrid culture emerged. Further invasions did not engender such a positive response.

    The Norman incursions had a particularly devastating impact, and Wales was no exception. A Welsh chronicler observed the violent subjugation of a once proud and defiant people, which culminated with the death of the last Welsh born prince Rhys ap Tewdwr.

    The chronicler believed that his murder ultimately signified the end of a great civilisation. He portentously proclaimed, “and then fell the kingdom of the Britons”. The Norman overlords had no interest in adapting to the native culture. The vernacular languages were suppressed, and social mobility for the native people was predicated on acquiring the language of the oppressors.

    The fourteenth century chronicler, Ranulf Higden lamented that,

    “Children in school, contrary to the usage and custom of other nations, are compelled to drop their own language and to construe their lessons and other tasks in French….Also, gentleman’s children are taught to speak French from the time that they are rocked in their cradles and can talk and play with a child’s toy; and provincial men want to liken themselves to gentlemen, and try with great effort to speak French, so as to be more thought of”.

    However the language of the original people did not wholly die, it simply evolved. Welsh and Cornish were preserved, and unlike other Celtic languages like Cumbric, these have survived into the twenty-first century.

    St. David was a Welsh born saint, and a heroic figure for generations of Welsh people. Most of his life is shrouded in legend. The only information that has survived is contained within an 11th century document written by a Welsh bishop called Rhygyfarch. However historians have issued an important caveat, advising that this text is mainly propaganda, to undermine Anglo-Saxon influence and to promote a distinctly Welsh culture. Nonetheless, the story is magnificent and magical.

    The story of St David is detailed In “Buchedd Dewi”, or “The Life of David” in English. He was the son of Non, a Welsh nun. Non lived at a convent called Ty Gwyn, which means “the white house”. Sanctus, the King of Ceredigion visited Non but she was “unhappily seized and exposed to the sacrilegious violence”. The consequence of this violent encounter was the conception of David.

    When a local preacher visited Non, he refused to preach as he was so disturbed by her visibly pregnant state. She interpreted this as a sign that her child was destined to become a great preacher himself. A local ruler discovered that Non was about to give birth and plotted to have the child killed, but a ferocious storm descended.

    Miraculously, as Non’s labour came to an end the storm began to clear. David arrived, bathed in light amongst the rocks. Non’s labour pains were so intense that as she grabbed the rocks, one rock split into two. The site is now a church dedicated to St. David, and the stone is concealed underneath the altar.

    St. David fulfilled his mother’s destiny and became a great preacher. He established monastic communities throughout Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. According to the legend, St. David’s last prayer was for the Welsh people to receive a light to warn them of their death, so that they could be prepared. He received a vision where his wish was granted. He was told that they would receive the “dim light of mysterious tapers”. This legend remains the source of great comfort for generations of Welsh people.

    Welsh people cling to the foundation myth of St. David, who created a beacon for the Welsh people amidst a rapidly dwindling and decaying civilisation. It remains a source of national pride that, unlike St. Patrick, St. George or St. Andrew, he is a native son. It is an inspiration that as other cultures and civilisations decline in the mindless pursuit for materialism, there is a corner of the world that strives to keep the flame alive.

  • Beyond Twee: The Art of Home

    Art plays a vital role in our lives, both in its creation, and its reception. Many people underestimate its importance, and power. Art has a potency emanating from its beauty. Beauty is a universal concept. However it is difficult to explain in tangible terms, as it has an immediate sensory effect upon us. It evokes a visceral rather than a cerebral response. It is inherently democratic, and whatever the philistines might claim, it is not, and never has been elitist.

    However the most popular artists throughout history have had to rely upon wealthy patrons to make a living. Consequently there has been a constant tension between commercial concerns and the necessity for self-expression. Nonetheless the artist always considers his or her audience, as the artist is a consumer as well, but sometimes the fashionable whims of the market can override the personal motivations of the individual artist.

    Popularity does not necessarily mean inferiority, nor does it indicate a lack of intelligence. It is easy to be cynical about the most overtly sentimental forms of art. Artists who consciously depict emotive subjects like animals or children are either authentic in their intentions, or exploiting our emotions for monetary gain. It is a paradox that is virtually impossible to untangle. It is no coincidence that the rise of sentimental art coincided with the Victorian age. There were more opportunities to become rich, but this was often at the expense of others. Sentimentality was in itself a reaction to the increasing mechanisation of society.

    The landscape artists created motifs for our national sensibilities. Their paintings epitomise us, and as a result they are tremendously popular. The talents and skills are obvious to the onlooker and objectively speaking the art is still beautiful. The emotions that they inspire within all of us are also very real. We feel a sense of warmth and familiarity when we gaze at the images on canvas. These pictures tap into our desire for a simpler, more traditional way of life. However, nostalgia is bittersweet; it is both comforting, and painful.

    England was the first country in Europe to industrialise, and these rural idylls capture a vanished world. Other European countries continued to maintain an agrarian economy, so there was little point for continental painters to romanticise the countryside as it remained a working environment.

    However, it wasn’t just painters who understood the emotional connection to the land that once sustained us, writers felt it too. Jane Austen composed a moving tribute to the countryside infused with “all the old neglect of prospect”, and paid tribute to “English verdure, English culture, English comfort, seen under a sun bright without being oppressive”. Austen’s words remain rooted within a specific time and place, a more innocent age before the rapid pace of urbanisation. It is a vision of an England that seems so distant now.

    The beauty of nature is the ultimate source of artistic inspiration. Artistic expression continued to replicate itself in myriad ways, Gainsborough painted the Suffolk countryside but English pastoral music was a major inspiration. The native sentiment for the countryside resounds within the plaintive tones of William Byrd’s composition “The Woodes So Wilde”. Tudor composers like Byrd were a primary influence on later composers, like the quintessentially English Ralph Vaughan Williams.

    Williams himself was associated with Victorian sentimentalism, and his music harked back to a pre-industrial idyll where there was a “community of people who are spiritually bound together by language, environment, history and common ideals and, above all, a continuity with the past”. The one remaining feature in our culture that provides this continuity is the English countryside.

    The poet and novelist Thomas Hardy found inspiration from the tableaux of Turner, which he described as “light modified by objects”. Turner drew his own inspiration from the poetry of James Thomson. His paintings are an exquisite rendering of the spirit of his verse, as they are the visionary depictions of “the bright enchantment”, “the radiant fields”, “the dew-bright earth” and “coloured air”. Watercolour art is the greatest medium to illuminate the darker side of English climate and aspect. The shadows, fleeting light, the gloomy atmosphere of melancholy and sense of fate are all apparent, and perpetually reverberate in the English imagination.

    Milton’s poetic musings are filled with stark imagery, the silhouettes of the moon, and the dark, overhanging trees. These haunted landscapes were vividly recreated on canvas by Samuel Palmer. It is hard not to feel intense emotions like sadness and loss. The artists knew this and made it their primary endeavour.

    It is regrettable that the most stone hearted fail to feel anything about art. These are people who seek a total repudiation of a collective culture and history. They are purely utilitarian and functional, and see no purpose in anything ornamental or decorative. They do not understand the importance of beauty. Many of them actively champion ugliness because that is a reflection of their inner nihilism.

    These are the modern day iconoclasts, radicals and revolutionaries who have a burning desire to destroy, to undermine and to abrogate anything that represents joyfulness. They have cynical, bitter souls and take immense pleasure in destruction. They have no imagination, and have little understanding beyond material reality.

    Tragically it is impossible to explain the transcendent to them because they literally lack the faculties to comprehend that concept. They also lack the intelligence to attach any significance to the past, because they only perceive the present and the future.

    They have the erroneous belief that progress is both limitless and linear, and are convinced that history and tradition are regressive and a barrier to an enlightened and more equitable society. This is the consequence of a technocratic society that has drifted away from more sustainable, natural modes of living.

    Civilisation is increasingly mechanistic, rather than organic. In this cold and functional atmosphere, minds are dulled and deadened. Artistic innovation declines and the culture turns moribund. The future of this country looks bleak. We need a cultural revival.

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