Druidry not just Welsh!

[sare]

Am i alone in being bothered by the continual obsession with Druidry being seen as Purely Welsh? We know so very little facts about the Druids but we do know from various writings that they were across England too,not just in the part that later became the seperate country of Wales,Druidry was not purely Welsh. Now dont get me wrong,i am more than aware of the thinking that Wales was one of the places that the iron age languages and cultures from across England ended up persisting in and that it is thought that the Welsh language is probably what is left of iron age language but the Ancient Britons,the Celts were across England too,they didnt just live in Wales!! I have spoken to a few people recently that feel alienated from Druidry because they get the impression that Druidry is Welsh from what they see on here and read in other places and they are English with a mixture of irish and scottish and one is as far as they can trace mostly Norfolk English,well they are just as much Celt as anyone from Wales! I understand why there is so much use of the Welsh language and Welsh myths but sometimes i do feel the folk i have spoken with do have a point and the wrong impression is given quite often!

[mark the compost elf]

i think some people can just get caught up with what is historical. it doesn't bother me at all and the Welsh heritage has a lot to offer. When it's been mentioned to me i just suggest that being a druid is a state of what you are and not where your origins lie.

[Heddwen]

If this board were representative of modern druidry, the Welsh seem to be in the minority. Perhaps you are thinking of the Welsh Gorsedd which exists mainly for cultural promotion and celebration? This is nothing like OBOD druidry which is more multicuturally inclusive and has many more facets. I agree that there are three large eisteddfods held in Wales every year (youth,national and international) but this does not reflect druidry in general. I'm delighted that the teachings in the gwersi are multicultural and include Welsh because other orders do not and this helps me to connect with some part of my roots.

[Heddwen]

I might add here that the one of the main reasons why the Welsh are so vocal about all things well, Welsh, boils down to past unrest with the neighbours! The language and therefore the cultural identity was nearly abolished at one point. Children had to speak English at school and made to wear a 'Welsh Not' sign around their necks during my grandmothers time. Nowadays,children compete at the Urdd eisteddfods and the language is encouraged and thriving.
The eisteddfods and, in turn national druidry help keep this wheel turning.From the outside this may, to some, look like an exercise in Welsh Nationalism however it serves as a proactive means of promoting the language and culture to the outside world.

[Badger Bob]

For me, being a Cymro-Scot who thinks of himself as English, it is partly about rediscovering some of the things that went into the making of me and my community. I live in the middle of England and yet my local river (the Derwent) has a Welsh name as do several villages and places in the vicinity (Crich. Pentrich, High Tor). When I consider the theory that the people now known as English are a mixture of the original Britons who adopted the language and styles of a very few Germanic English incomers then it all fits neatly together for me. As ever, your mileage may vary but we have only the Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Gaulish cultures to draw upon for our historical understanding of the original Druids, the English (Saxon) culture brought something really quite different to the islands although there are plenty of Heathens who follow that particular strand.

[Art]

I don’t think we can consider Druidry to be purely Welsh unless we take that in the original Anglo-Saxon context of the term referring to the “others” or the indigenous occupants of Britain. Relating it solely to the nation of Cymru just doesn’t fit. When we refer to Druidry in a contemporary sense we’re talking about a vibrant living spiritual tradition unfettered by geographic or cultural borders.

Now with that said, I must confess to a personal affinity for Wales coupled with an infectious and inexplicable hireath. I suppose to some extent Cymru and Cymreag represent the indomitable spirit of the British people around the world. While I suspect this does play into the soul of contemporary Druidry it does not infer that Druidry is purely Welsh.

[sare]

I don’t think we can consider Druidry to be purely Welsh unless we take that in the original Anglo-Saxon context of the term referring to the “others” or the indigenous occupants of Britain. Relating it solely to the nation of Cymru just doesn’t fit. When we refer to Druidry in a contemporary sense we’re talking about a vibrant living spiritual tradition unfettered by geographic or cultural borders.

Now with that said, I must confess to a personal affinity for Wales coupled with an infectious and inexplicable hireath. I suppose to some extent Cymru and Cymreag represent the indomitable spirit of the British people around the world. While I suspect this does play into the soul of contemporary Druidry it does not infer that Druidry is purely Welsh.

The trouble is that in many places there is the inference that Druidry is Welsh,and forgets that the indigenous people of Britain lived in England too! One person i spoke to recently about this summed it up as Britain is not just Wales! That is how they feel,very strongly and i can see exactly what they mean, and why.I too see that there is much emphasis on things Welsh and if someone is new to Druidry they may get the completely wrong idea!

[DaRC]

It all depends upon what sort of Druidry is being discussed - historical, cultural or neo.

Culturally, however, the Welsh have embraced Druidry, as Heddwen says, in reaction against past cultural attacks. I can think that the Cornish and Breton's could get quite irate about it, as well as the Scots and Irish!
Each of these cultures & languages have also suffered attacks during the late 19th Century drive towards a homogenous nationalism.

For the majority of the mainstream population & media I suspect they refer to the cultural context. Which, within the UK, sits within the Welsh culture.

Historically Druidry seems limited to North Western Europe (Ireland, UK, France, Low Countries & parts of Germany).
I've not found any references to Druids amongst the Celts that eventually settled in Galatia, Turkey although they did settle judicial matters within sacred oak groves or within the Iberian Celts (although I will be happy to be corrected).

Within neo Druidry it is a worldwide movement which causes it's own issues.

If Druidry is a path of knowledge, inquiry & experience then perhaps the first barrier, or challenge, is to overcome the cultural perspective and to understand the historical and neo perspective?

[Canu Taliesin]

Culture isn't defined by blood lineage, neither is it defined by external locality - it is an internal space that can open out into the world of the body, regardless of what our political or social context is. Wales and England didn't exist in the time of the Druids, so there's no sense in saying Druids lived in either modern territory. But Druidry is historically a Celtic expression, and English is not a Celtic language. That means we have to be careful and remember to honour and respect what has been handed down to us. We need to preserve it's integrity for future generations. To do that we need to be careful how we translate between tongues and cultures. That requires a degree of sensitivity and a sense of diplomacy. Modern Druidry has gone a long way to remedy and resolve it's past assumptions regarding ethnicity and cultural appropriation, may that continue. Remember, the traditional Celtic mindset is to view the English as the enemy, yet English culture has been a fertile bed for the treasures of Celtic spirituality. This inevitably creates strange tensions, but may we all keep our minds and hearts open. There is more work to be done, more bridges to be built. Let's not dwell in our ignorance.