‘Pride’ over Eisteddfod’s return to Meifod
28 July 2015
Special Eisteddfod for author of acclaimed Mabinogion translation
This year’s National Eisteddfod will be a proud one for a Cardiff University academic with a particularly close bond to the host area.
Professor Sioned Davies, celebrated for her translation of the Mabinogion into English, was born and brought up in Montgomeryshire.
While she has lived in Cardiff for many years, she still thinks of Mongomeryshire as home and is “very proud” to be heading to Meifod, which is hosting this year’s event from 1-8 August as part of Montgomeryshire and the Marches.
“It’s a very special part of the country. It’s part of ‘Powys paradwys Cymru’ (Powys the paradise of Wales) according to one medieval Welsh poet,” said Professor Davies.
“There’s a tendency to polarise when we talk about Wales – north and south. People often forget Montgomeryshire, the heart of Wales with its beautiful scenery, its fascinating history and its challenging Welsh dialect.
“When the Eisteddfod was held in Meifod for the first time, back in 2003, people were asking ’Where on earth is Meifod’? The people of Montgomeryshire certainly put Meifod on the map that year and gave Wales an Eisteddfod that they wouldn’t forget.”
Until the age of six she lived in the small Welsh-speaking village of Llanbryn-mair, in the west of Montgomeryshire, where her father was headmaster. She then moved eastwards to Clatter and then Welshpool, not too far from Meifod.
Professor Davies, Head of the University’s School of Welsh, returns to give two talks about the Mabinogion, as well as delivering the Hedley Gibbard Memorial Lecture about the Welsh translations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Her Mabinogion translation was originally intended primarily for academic use but its accessibility has led to a revival well beyond academia.
Her detailed re-examination of the text has enabled modern audiences to understand how it would have been understood by medieval listeners and, crucially, performed.
It has led to a revival of the practice of telling the Mabinogion by contemporary storytellers, encouraged by a series of successful workshops.
In addition, Seren Books commissioned award-winning authors to reinvent the original stories in a series entitled New Stories from the Mabinogion.
The translation has also been used to develop tourism trails such as the Twrch Trwyth (Wild Boar) Trail in Carmarthenshire.
Professor Davies said: “I’m very excited about the impact that has been created by my Mabinogion research.
“It’s been a wonderful experience working with professional storytellers, for example, to re-create these medieval tales and communicate them to a modern-day audience.
“And I’m really looking forward to seeing how the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi will be re-shaped into a musical (Gwydion) at this year’s National Eisteddfod.
“This all goes to show the relevance of the Mabinogion to a 21st century audience.”
The Eisteddfod is this year taking place in Montgomeryshire and the Marches, at Meifod, from 1-8 August.