Trefor M. Owen’s seminal work educates, enlightens and entertains with a far-reaching yet accessible text, which paints a colourful and comprehensive portrait of a nation’s rich folk culture. The Customs and Traditions of Wales is an illuminating and engrossing insight into a subject that continues to unfold and develop in contemporary life. Despite an increasingly globalised society that has transformed local communities, folk customs are still practised and enjoyed the world over as people combine modern-day and historical rituals and embrace opportunities to learn about their past, and Owen’s influential study has maintained its relevance as customs change and evolve.
Welsh Food Stories explores more than two thousand years of history to discover the rich but forgotten heritage of Welsh foods – from oysters to cider, salted butter to salt-marsh lamb. Despite centuries of industry, ancient traditions have survived in pockets across the country among farmers, bakers, fisherfolk, brewers and growers who are taking Welsh food back to its roots, and trailblazing truly sustainable foods as they do so. In this important book, author Carwyn Graves travels Wales to uncover the country’s traditional foods and meet the people making them today. There are the owners of a local Carmarthenshire chip shop who never forget a customer, the couple behind Anglesey’s world-renowned salt company Halen Môn, and everyone else in between – all of them have unique and compelling stories to tell about how they contribute to the past, present and future of Welsh food. This is an evocative and insightful exploration of an often overlooked national cuisine, shining a spotlight on the importance – environmentally and socially – of keeping local food production alive.
With over 260 recipes, this book is the definitive guide to Welsh food and customs through the centuries. Introductory chapters trace the evolution of important Welsh foodstuffs: cereals, cheese and butter, poultry and eggs, meat, fish, and fruits, flowers, and vegetables. Later chapters include recipes for traditional favorites like Blackberry Bread Pudding, Welsh Salt Duck, and Trout with Bacon.
"Wales and its Boxers charts the emergence on a world stage of a nation of fighters, from bareknuckle mountain fighting to title fights watched by audiences around the world." "The identification of sport and society has always been a central concern in Wales. In a series of fascinating essays, Wales and its Boxers traces the way in which great fighters have shaped and then reflected a national consciousness over decades, bringing the discussion up to date as present and now-emerging generations of fighters carry forward a clearly undiminished enthusiasm for the sport in Wales - led inevitably by Joe Calzaghe, perhaps the best British boxer of the modern era." --Book Jacket.
This book develops a novel approach to the study of language, bringing it into dialogue with the latest geographical concepts and concerns and provides a comprehensive account of the geography of Welsh language analysing policy development, language use, ability and shift. The authors examine in particular: the different ways in which languages can be mapped; how geographical insights can be used to develop understandings of language use; the value of assemblage theory as a way of interpreting the social, technical and spatial aspects of language policy development; and the geographies that characterise institutional engagements with languages. This book will set a research agenda for the geographical study of language, developing a conceptual framework that will offer fresh insights to researchers in the fields of Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Minority Languages, Geolinguistics, and Public Policy.
This title discusses Welsh miners, American coal, and the construction of ethnic identity. In 1890, more than 100,000 Welsh-born immigrants resided in the United States. The majority of them were skilled labourers from the coal mines of Wales who had been recruited by American mining companies.
The “meticulously researched, elegantly argued and deeply humane” sequel to the landmark volume of social history, The Making of the English Working Class (The New York Times Book Review). This remarkable study investigates the gradual disappearance of a range of cultural customs against the backdrop of the great upheavals of the eighteenth century. As villagers were subjected to a legal system increasingly hostile to custom, they tried both to resist and to preserve tradition, becoming, as E. P. Thompson explains, “rebellious, but rebellious in defense of custom.” Although some historians have written of riotous peasants of England and Wales as if they were mainly a problem for magistrates and governments, for Thompson it is the rulers, landowners, and governments who were a problem for the people, whose exuberant culture preceded the formation of working-class institutions and consciousness. Essential reading for all those intrigued by English history, Customs in Common has a special relevance today, as traditional economies are being replaced by market economies throughout the world. The rich scholarship and depth of insight in Thompson’s work offer many clues to understanding contemporary changes around the globe. “[This] long-awaited collection . . . is a signal contribution . . . [from] the person most responsible for inspiring the revival of American labor history during the past thirty years.” —The Nation “This book signals the return to historical writing of one of the most eloquent, powerful and independent voices of our time. At his best he is capable of a passionate, sardonic eloquence which is unequalled.” —The Observer
This is the first collection of Williams' writings on Welsh culture, literature, history and politics. His introduction offers an original reading of his career from a Welsh perspective. The book will be essential reading for anyone interested in questions of identity, nationhood and ethnicity.
Beautiful collection of essays and photographs, showing Green's choice of the 100 most significant objects in Welsh history. Evoking key moments in Wales' past through tangible, physical artefacts, they include a hand axe from 32,000 BC, William Morgan's Bible and Catatonia's first release. Reprint. Originally Published by Gwasg Gomer in 2018.
