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Ritual Masks and Channeling

What can the almost universal practice of ritual mask wearing tell us about the Welsh bardic tradition? As far as we know, the medieval Welsh bards didn’t use masks in performance, but they did take on archetypal personas such as that of the legendary Taliesin, and there are suggestions that some of these performances wereContinue reading “Ritual Masks and Channeling”

Bardic Craft and Animal Transformation

This video is in answer to two questions sent in from The Taliesin Tradition course: what is the bardic craft of classical Welsh poetry? what evidence is there for human to animal transformations in Celtic art? You can follow The Taliesin Tradition course (as well as several others) with a subscription to the website. MoreContinue reading “Bardic Craft and Animal Transformation”

The Triads of Bardic Craft

Gramadegau’r Penceirddiaid* (‘The Grammars of the Chief Bards’) are a family of texts found in various manuscripts from about the 14th to the 16th centuries, although its quite likely the basic material they contain is much older. They would have been used as teaching tools in the bardic schools and reference works for those wealthy enoughContinue reading “The Triads of Bardic Craft”

The Bard as Prophet

Pawb at Dewi was a poem composed by the prophet-poet Dafydd Llwyd, probably in 1485. When Henry Tudor was making his way through Wales gathering support and troops for his forthcoming battle with Richard III at Bosworth, he stopped off at Mathafarn Hall just outside of Machynlleth, specifically to visit Dafydd Llwyd. Dafydd Llwyd wasContinue reading “The Bard as Prophet”

Taliesin and bardic learning

This audio clip is from a course on The Welsh Bardic Tradition, held at Aberystwyth University; I haven’t included the course notes as some of them are scans from a published books. This excerpt summarises some of the initial features of the Taliesin persona as found in The Book of Taliesin, and takes a quickContinue reading “Taliesin and bardic learning”