NA TURE 



[May 2, 1907 



into •' fifteen-nights," as the \\'elsh for "fortnight" 

 signifies, with a gap left in the east to welcome the 

 sun on the chief days of the year, for the nineteen 

 stones are separated, except oii the east, by 15°. I 

 have noted that when the stones of a circle are 

 separated, in the plans, by 30°, the circle is complete. 

 as space is provided for a May-November align- 

 ment. But providing a splayed avenue for a solstitial 

 arrangement necessitated a reduction in a circle of 

 twenty-four stones to nineteen, and in the two plans 

 I have referred to, where the circle consists of nine- 

 teen stones, there is no inner circle of twelve stones 

 described. It is significant that in the conventional 

 instructions the number of stones forming a Gorsedd 

 circle is not definitely fixed. The most remarkable 

 thing in the Welsh Gorsedd is its similarity to our 

 prehistoric circles, while the evidence at no point 

 suggests that it is a mere archjeological " restor- 

 ation " of the primitive circle. 



Since the subjugation of Wales to the English 

 throne, an all-round Gorsedd has never been practic- 

 able. The Tudor sovereigns issued commissions for 

 Gorsedds, but with power only to set the bardic order 

 aright. In the bardic traditions, however, we have 

 descriptions of a Gorsedd as the High Court of 

 Parliament of every State unit. The unit of govern- 

 ment was the cii-'mwd, comot, corresponding roughly 

 to some large country parishes. Places called 

 Gorsedd, Eisteddva, Henllan, often Llan and Eglwvs, 

 were such local Gorsedds. There was also a High 

 Court for all the units which formed a lordship or 

 principality, and we read of stated places of inter- 

 State Gorsedds, when Wales was divided into three 

 principalities, namely. North Wales, South Wales, 

 and Mid-Wales. 



But such an all-round State Gorsedd became im- 

 possible about the time the straight history of Wales 

 becins, just as the earliest codes extant of the Welsh 

 laws take us back to the time when they were rapidly 

 becoming obsolete. The bardic traditions, however, 

 describe such impossible things, even to minute 

 details. So the laws give us much of the history of 

 Wales that is otherwise nebulous. 



Even more than the ancient codes of Welsh laws, 

 the bardic traditions of the Gorsedd are the most 

 formally authenticated of any Welsh literature. Since 

 the tenth century the former have had to take care 

 of themselves, apparently, but the bardic traditions 

 were always recited at every proper Gorsedd. From 

 the twelfth century to the first quarter of the nine- 

 teenth we have accounts of a series of great Gorsedds 

 for Eisteddvod, the same thing), every one of which 

 was convened for the chief purpose of re-codifying or 

 otherwise dealing with the bardic traditions. The 

 voluminous body of traditions in question grew out 

 of such assemblies. There was usually one bard 

 head and shoulders above the others, who, of his own 

 accord or by request, would prepare a statement 

 which would be approved at a Gorsedd convened by the 

 lord, as at Caerwys by Queen Elizabeth, and become 

 afterwards the law of the fraternity. After long 

 intervals, and especially after great disturbances in 

 civil government, such revising Gorsedds became 

 necessary, and that they were held for such a pur- 

 pose, in very adverse circumstances, witness the 

 conservatism, persistence, and vitality which are still 

 much in evidence in the Welsh bardic order. W'e 

 have nothing so well and faithfully guarded in Welsh 

 literature as our bardic traditions. 



The very latest instructions which our present 

 bards observe in erecting a Gorsedd circle were re- 

 corded at a time when some said the winter solstice 

 was on December 9 and some on December 10. I men- 



NO. 1957. VOL. 76I 



tion this because some would have it that these ia 

 structions were invented by a Glamorgan bard abou' 

 the beginning of the last century, who knew thi 

 solstice to occur on December 21 ! 



True or false, there is no question of the forma 

 authentication of these traditions, and that is a great 

 step gained. But could these traditions be deliberate 

 inventions after all, guarded and handed down by 

 the bards as such ? There is nothing to warrant such 

 a remark. To invent such things the bards would 

 have to be expert historians and archaeologists. They 

 were neither the one nor the other, and in their time 

 scientific history and archaeology were hardly in 

 existence. Sometimes the bard-redactor indulges in 

 history, and he always blunders in names and dates. 

 But even the poor bits of history are found to be 

 genuine traditions, and may be true enough except 

 as to names, places, and dates. For instance, we are 

 told that the bardic order, and ever)' other order, 

 was established by a man named Prydain (Britain), 

 who was born on the vernal equinox, and every New 

 Year's Day was Prydain 's birthday. Students of 

 Rome and Egypt will note this, though, I believe, 

 some in the past have looked upon this tradition as 

 a conclusive proof of the utter worthlessncss of bardic 

 history. 



As to archaeology, it is some study of that science 

 which led me to look into these traditions for col- 

 lateral evidence. The following are instances. We are 

 told that .\rthur caused the system of the Round Table 

 (the Gorsedd, in fact) to be writt -n on plates of tin 

 and brass, and deposited at Gelliw ig (Pendennis?) in 

 Cornwall. I am not aware that such bronze tablets 

 have been found there, and it is a mv-itery how the 

 bards knew of such a medium of writing. But such 

 plates have been found in ancient Gaul on which 

 the Coligny Calendar is inscribed, dating about the 

 beginning of the Christian era. 



The bards tell us of an important festival which 

 has wholly disappeared, except possibly in the form 

 of "house-warming," the Hob Feast, Gwyl Bentan, 

 " the feast of a fire back, which takes place when 

 five fire back stones have been raised, so as to con- 

 stitute a dwelling station." 



There is one feature of the bardic lore that invites 

 confidence apart from historical and archaeological 

 allusions. It is a fine unconsciousness, such as is 

 never found, I believe, in faked, forged, or invented 

 histories. It betrays itself in two ways. On the one 

 hand, the necessity of proving or defending whatever 

 history or tradition he records never occurs to the 

 bardic scribe. From period to period we have simply 

 a record, stamped by a Gorsedd authority, of accepted 

 truth or sound lore. On the other hand, he never 

 troubles himself about Druidism as such.- He tells 

 us, in passing, that there was something of the kind 

 in the time of Julius Cassar. Very seldom the term 

 Druidism is used, and then not for what Csesar 

 knew as such, but for the actual teaching of the 

 bards. He never troubles himself over the question 

 of a Druidical succession from Caesar's time to the 

 present. It is over-consciousness in handling the 

 bardic traditions that has worked havoc with them 

 within the last century. Fortunately, however, our 

 materials have a downward limit of date to the six- 

 teenth century, before hardly anybody thought of 

 arguing the matter. 



Within the last fifty years a special effort has been 

 made to " restore " the Gorsedd. Until lately its 

 preservation was very much a local matter, in which 

 the bards of Glamorgan have been most faithfuJ. 

 Now, however, it is a distinctly national institution. 



John Griffith. 



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