An Introduction to Wales - "Is that in England?"

So, I am Welsh.
"What does that mean?" You ask.

Well it doesn't mean that I am from England, let's clear that up right away! No offence to any English people out there, but I am not English.

It does however mean I am from Britain and the United Kingdom. I speak English, I also (somewhat) speak Welsh - the language of Wales. Wales is the little bit to the left of England as depicted below:

Wales was made a principality of England in the 16th century (made part of England) after a long fight for our independence, but then became it's own nation again in 1998. We still have Queen Elizabeth II as our Queen and the British parliament still creates most of our law (we have our own laws as well), but we are our own nation!

A country most famous for it's love of music, poetry and rugby. We have Tom Jones, Dylan Thomas, Duffy, Katherine Jenkins and Stereophonics - I could go on. Wales has always had a rich culture and love of arts.

The country is also known as a magical place (for god's sake our flag has a dragon on it, if that isn't magical then I don't know what is). The land of Wales has been subject of some of the most famous mystical stories such as King Arthur who was presumably King of Britons in the 5th century. King Arthur had many adventures with his knights such as Sir Lancelot and where the story of the red dragon comes from, it is one of the most famous stories of the British Isles.

Any Welsh person worth their salt will also have heard of Owain Glyndwr, a legendary figure who supposedly wielded magic to fight off the English invaders.

Alas, as I stated, Wales also has a beautiful language related to some of the oldest languages in Europe - Welsh. The words of our language range from irritatingly difficult to pronounce (llaeth - milk), long place names (llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch), amusing (popty ping - microwave) to beautiful such as hiraeth.

Hiraeth, a word that has no translation, but was best described by Val Bethell:
"Hiraeth - the link with the long-forgotten past, the language of the soul, the call from the inner self. Half forgotten - fraction remembered. It speaks from the rocks, from the earth, from the trees and in the waves. It's always there."

If you spend time in Wales, in the country among the valleys and the hills or listen to Welsh music
(see Yma O Hyd below) as a Welsh person, you may experience hiraeth.

A beautiful nation which I would recommend visiting (perhaps in the Summer on one of the few days that it doesn't rain!)

Cymru am Byth