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Thursday 21 June 2012

The Longest Day

As a true Celt, (seven eighths Welsh and one eighth Cornish), I feel I ought to be celebrating the Summer Solstice.

Just how, is a problem, since I am now a baptised and confirmed Christian, (an uneasy combination).

So, rather than go out into my soggy bedraggled garden at dawn to face the sun, I slept through it and woke to yet another wet day.

The nearest 'standing stones' are some considerable distance from here and local Druids hard to find, so all-in-all probably best to keep quiet about my dodgy heritage.

My paternal grandmother was allegedly (one of the many) an illegitimate daughter of Dr Price of Llantrisant,
doctor, chartist and self-styled druid.  She was adopted by the man her mother later married and received h is name, and as was the style in those days, kept silence about her origins.  If indeed, she ever really knew them.

This is a family myth and may have no real substance, but there were signs of anti-establishment and indeed somewhat revolutionary traits in three of my father's brothers and his own communist beliefs must have sprung from somewhere, so who knows, maybe the rumours had some substance.

During the early part of  my life I was  very close to my father's parents and stayed with them for about 7 or 8 months when the war started.  My two eldest brothers stayed with my mother's parents and so grew up closer to them.

Father's parents were very much more obviously Welsh than my mother's parents and I had quite a strong attachment to my Welsh roots for many years.

Nowadays, the fact that I still sing and occasionally have a word or two with my household dragons (Ivan Llewellyn Pendragon and little Rhodri) is just about as Welsh as I feel.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, I support the Welsh rugby side in the six-nations games.

Time to leave the mystic side of life and return to cleaning the loo.  Ah well.



10 comments:

  1. love you last line there Ray - the real world!

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  2. Make no mistake Jane, I know my place!

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  3. what an interesting background you have :)) I recently took a funeral for a gentleman, one of the residents of the residential home I go into once a week, and he has led us on for years that he was Irish - turns out he was Welsh all along!!! Judyx

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  4. Perhaps he didn't want to admit to his origins Judy.
    John used to call me a Welsh witch and on other occasions, a Welsh mountain goat. References to my alleged 6th sense and equally alleged, lightness of foot.
    Somehow being of Irish ancestry sounds more interesting.

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  5. Nothing wrong with being both Christian and Celtic. I use loads of Celtic prayers in funerals, weddings and Christenings. One of the congregation here is a Druid. Given the accolade for her poetry. Us Celts are a mystical lot!

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  6. Plus it's interesting that Ggogle have allowed me to comment on your blog when they won't on mine. Perhaps now they know we are both Celts they have relented!

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  7. Your antecedents are quite interesting...and Christian though I claim to be, I still must be heathen because I find no problem with celebrating a Celtic tradition from the past! Ah but life does come back to cleaning the loo doesn't it?!!!! ;)

    PS love your two dragons!

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  8. Jean I despair of you. Everybody knows Google is the public name of the King of the Underworld.

    "Relenting because we're both Celts". I don't think so.
    Beware thunderbolts!

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  9. As you say Theanne, life does indeed always come back to cleaning the loo.

    Somehow having a slightly odd/exotic/weird heritage doesn't compensate for that.

    Yes my dragons are rather lovely aren't they.
    They don't talk much, but they look good.

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  10. Now that did make me laugh......we've had a few good thunderbolts lately. If I suddenly disappear you will know whats happened!

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