Patagonia: Lost Welsh Anthem Found After 140 Years!

Submitted by Myghal Map Serpren on June 28, 2015 - 3:28pm

This news published by the Celtic League:

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

PATAGONIA : LOST WELSH ANTHEM FOUND AFTER 140 YEARS!

A long forgotten text of the Welsh National anthem has been rediscovered in the archives of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

The anthem was apparently written over 140 years ago for settlers planning to move to the Welsh community established in Patagonia in Argentina, now the Chubut Province of that country, and its text reflects the slightly different nature of the new land to which emigrants were going.

Between 1865 and 1914 approx 3,500 Welsh people emigrated to Patagonia and after initial setbacks established a thriving Welsh Community. Numbers vary but it is estimated around 5-10.000 people speak Welsh as their first language and about twice that number as a second language. Welsh language classes are reportedly thriving helped by renewed contact with Wales . (see link):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_Welsh

Welsh links with Patagonia where the Welsh language and customs never died out have been increasingly strengthened in the past three decades.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the founding of the community and events are already underway in both countries to celebrate this.

The Patagonian Welsh Anthem which has probably not been sung for almost 100 years will now we feel sure feature as part of the celebrations and hopefully its words will ring out again!

See link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-33169569

J B Moffatt (Mr)

Director of Information
Celtic League

25/06/15

(Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.)

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