Yr Hyddgen
Latest updates (2021)
Cerbyd Rhyfel y Silwriaid, Adeiladwyd Am y Flwyddyn Hyddgen Hanes Gwerin Grŵp Theatr Gymunedol a welir ar Sianeli S4c, Smithsonian a Discovery .
War Chariot of the Silures, Built for Year Hyddgen Hanes Gwerin A Theater Gymunedol Group seen on S4c, Smithsonian and Discovery Channels.
2020
The Mari party sing a verses to the dwellers of the home stead, in this case a pub, to let them come in and cleanse their home of old years bad luck and to bring good luck for the coming harvest for fertility. I is called the Pwnc the people out side, and the people inside sing the rebuff this is called the Pwnco In a poetry meter called Cynghanedd, a medieval form of poetry.
Here Ray is singing the rebuff, we are out side singing the challenge.
If we enter they must pay us with Mead, this is an ancient contract not to be taken lightly, to be payed in the Kings Mead was a binding contract!
It was called Talumedd payment by mead and if you read, Y Gododdin 6th Century Welsh poem about 300 Welsh Warriors payed in Mead, who take on thousands of Saxon, in the north that is now England. Sadly although I make mead, we are only now payed in Cwrw, (Beer) I have known up to forty verses sang by teams of writers battling it out. As Hafgan ( Holly king from Annwn) would say; Hir yw'r dydd a hir yw'r nos aros Arwawn!
Yr Hyddgen performing a Folk lore/History,' Y Hela'r Dryw ac Y Fari Lwyd'.
Y Hela'r Dryw/ Hunting of the Wren, When the Holly King, takes on the Dominant guise of the season, the Dryw or Wren, the holy Druid Bird has become the Oak King.
Seren Inn Llansoy / Llanfiangl Tor Y Mynydd, Monday the 6th of Jan 2020 7pm. We perform Y Hela'r Dryw. The Druid is the narrator, Gwyn ap Nudd in his Winter Guise the Old man of the Wood, Sion Corn leads the Grey Mare Rhiannon the Horse Goddess, the Cadi the balance of Annwn, and the 2 Pwcaiau the Chaos of Annwn. To take the bad luck out from the previous year and to bring good look for the coming harvest, and fertility! They walk in circles to open the way to the other world.
Y Hela'r Dryw and Y Fari Lwyd perfformiad gan Yr Hyddgen Hanes Gwerin A Theatr Gymunedol!
The Hunting of the Dryw,( Wren the Druids Bird and Oak King) Captured by Warriors to have each feather plucked out, and given to the defensible home steads called Catrefi. The Feathers kept away bad luck and the Bendendith eu mamau The Mothers Blessing the hidden ones the golden ones the Fair Folk, but not all..and Gwrachod the Witches , because each feather had the power of the Oak tree deity 'Camulos'! At the end when it was left with no feathers the Dryw would have its head cut off, and its blood spread up on the Modron Earth, for her to claim it as the crone! He would be reborn as the Lord of the Hunt, in the spring., when he would return and bring the Sun with him to create a bountiful harvest.
Yr Fari Lwyd was performed to bring the old bad luck from the last year out of the dwelling, a poetic challenge and retort would begin to see if the Mari parti were clever enough to warrant them giving their best mead to have the old luck taken and new luck enchantment for an bountiful harvest and a fertile gift to the dwelling. Because he was the Green man Lord of the Hunt as Gwyn ap Nudd king of the Fair folk, he was also Camulos the War God of the Silures, male aspect of nature and fertility, the Oak King, in every Oak Caer,(Hillfort) through out Ynys Prydain, (Briton).
So mead being the Payment contract by the Chieftain to his Warriors called Talu Medd, (Payment by Mead) was a contract, the warrior male or female both equal in Silure tribes! Why do they challenge this gift horse you may ask whats not to like? Well what happened if you ran out of Mead,( Now Cwrw, or beer in modern times) then that gave license to the the Horse Goddess 'Rhiannon' the Grey Mare to wreck your abode! Plus were they who they said they were? Could they be Pwca, hob goblins trying to get free mead, so only a Goddess parti could out wit a well practiced, Pwnc and Pwnco practitioner usually a Druid he who would out smart the Mari Parti. So when the last line could not be defeated the homesteaders had to get out their mead, and enjoy them selves. I knew a man who had sang 40 Pwnc ( Challenge) verses against a Tavern, luckily he was a professor of Folk History by the way, thought if they sing another verse in the Pwnco(Retort) then I am going to be defeated for the first time ever, he though that person retorting with those verses is a genius ! So having stepped inside the pub he asked "who was the adversary because you nearly defeated me he said"? "There were 6 men writing verses to defeat you they said", " sir" they said "you are a genius, thank you" my friend said!