#St Fagans

[thesilicontribesman]

Patterned Sandstone Cross Shaft, 1050 to 950 CE, Llanfynydd, St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff, Wales

#cross shaft #ancient culture #ancient craft #ancient symbols #stonework #relic #artefact #ancient design #archaeology #st fagans #early religion #early cross

[praetorianxxiv]

This was my first outing in my Praetorian Guard uniform. I was part of the Steampunk Christmas festivities at St Fagans near Cardiff (South Wales).

It was a joint Steampunk party for the Swansea, Cardiff and Chepstow societies.

Uniform I wasn't able to bring my lasgun on site.

#games workshop #steampunk #praetorian guard xxiv #warhammer 40k #praetorian guard #imperial guard #warhammer 40000 #astra militarum #imperial guard cosplay #cosplay warhammer #cosplay #lasgun #warhammer #st fagans #cardiff #swansea #chepstow

[llyfrenfys]

Cool event happening in St Fagans on the 22nd of July!

I'm in Aberystwyth and sadly can't go, but if you're in the area I'd highly recommend you take the tour with Oska and Reg- I worked with them a while back when I was an ACP in the Trawsnewid project and their tour is sure to be great! (They also run a really cool art collective called S.P.A.F. collective which I also reccomend checking out!)

The tour is 14+, bilingual (printed materials) and pay what you can - it's happening at 12-2pm on the 22nd of July 2023.

#cymraeg #cwiar #event #st fagans #cardiff #national museum of wales #amguedddfa cymru

[artofgaryyeung]

中文👇I enjoyed sketching at St Fagans National Museum of History always especially it was such a sunny spring day. 每次前往威爾斯歷史博物館，我都同樣享受在這裏速寫，尤其是春天天色晴朗的日子。

#urbansketchers #urban sketchers #usk #wales #cardiff #watercolour #live sketch #art #sketch #st fagans

[pad-wubbo]

"Golden Crinkle"

Infinite Painter (right).

A photo (left) I took of fallen leaves, ducks, water and the reflection of green on the water at St. Fagans Museum, and a version of it doctored with so many filters and layers that I forgot what exactly I did to it on the right. The altered version looks like some kind of gold hoard in a crystal cave, or something. A bit like the glitched Hidden Palace Zone in the final cartridge version of Sonic 2.

I publish my photograph with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.

#creative commons #digital art #st fagans #wales #ducks #reflection #golden #abstract #photo edit

[holeymolars]

some of my fav things i saw at the museum of welsh life yesterday!

1. A reconstructed church with restored murals on the wall, I think from the 16th century.

2. A teapot featuring the Ladies of Llangollen, two high class ladies who ran away together to live in Llangollen in the 18th/19th century

3. An antique framed slogan that reads: "Christ is the Head of this house the Unseen Guest at every meal The Silent Listener to every conversation" from a restored house around the early 20th century.

4. A BLM display from 2020, featuring picket signs and photos from the protests in Wales.

5. A sign reading: Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau is Wales' National Anthem. James James, a tavern harpist in Pontypridd, wrote the melody in 1856. In 1899, Madge Breese sang the anthem on the first record ever made in the Welsh language. The anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event when Wales beat the All Blacks in 1905.

6. Some sheep on the grounds of the outdoor museum.

7. A photo of a black Welsh family in traditional Welsh dress, from the 1970s.

8. The Neanderthal boy complete body reconstruction from his remains.

9. A photo from inside a reconstructed school room. The object that looks like a small brick attached to a string was known as the Welsh Knot. In the 19th century, if children were caught speaking their native language of Welsh in Welsh schools, they would be forced to wear the Knot and pass it on to other children who were caught using Welsh. Whoever had the Knot at the end of the day would be caned. At the time, English colonisation of Wales was at its height and Welsh was regarded as "the Devils language".

10. A little frog we saw! We had to move him out of the way so he wouldn't get stepped on.

#wales #welsh #cymru #st fagans #the museum of welsh life

[mygirlapril2]

Christmas at st fagans

We went to see santa at St Fagans today. Stupid dad accidentally booked the Welsh version but luckily the elves and santa could speak English too. She had an absolute blast just playing arts and crafts with us. Best day ever she said when I sat down with her an mama to help make the lantern.

After she left she was running around buzzed and she feel over in the mud. We stood on a bench to clean her up and a little Robin landes right next to us.

#St fagans

[conservingramblings]

I may have a new favourite museum. And I finally got to see and artefact I discussed in my dissertation in person.

#st fagans #wales

[fionamccall]

St Fagan's - some very old Welsh houses

Kennixton farmhouse dates from 1610 and was originally sited on the Gower peninsula.

Abernodwydd dates from 1678 and was originally in Powys.

Cilewent farmhouse is an example of a Welsh longhouse, dating from 1470, originally in the Claerwen valley in Powys.

Garreg Fawr Farmhouse from Caernarfon dates from 1544. Its two stone chimneys were status symbols.

This Tudor merchant's house from Haverfordwest dates from 1470-1500. The living quarters were on the upper floor, while the goods were stored on the lower store.

#St Fagan's Open Air Museum #fifteenth-century houses #sixteenth-century houses #seventeenth-century houses #Wales #Cardiff

[heavy-nfld]

#Liz Fagan Band #Leaning In / Se pencher vers #grunge #alternative rock #alt rock #rock #St. John’s #Newfoundland and Labrador #Newfoundland #NL #NFLD #Heavy NFLD #YYT #709 #Canada #Canadian rock #Newfoundland rock

[celestial-kestrel]

It's that time of year again where Mari Lwyd starts to be talked about and shared around and an INCREDIBLY misleading post gets shared a lot. As someone who grew up with Mari Lwyd I wanted to clear some things up.

Also hello, if you are unaware who Mari Lwyd is. This is about the Welsh tradition of the horse skull who visits houses during the Christmas to New Years period in Wales asking for alcohol.

First off and probably the most important one:

Mari Lwyd is not a cryptid!

I can not emphasise this enough. She. Is. Not. A. Cryptid. There is no story or mystery about a ghost or zombie horse roaming the Welsh valleys. She's not even supposed to be a ghost or a zombie. It's just a horse skull on a stick with a guy under a sheet. She's a hobbyhorse and a folk character used to tell Welsh stories and keep songs alive. When people spread the misinformation that she's a cryptid, it's the equivalent of saying Kermit the Frog is a cryptid.

She is actually only one character in a wider cast of characters who go door to door or, in more modern times, pub to pub. The cast of characters can change town to town and village to village but there are some common ones I see time and time again. The Leader, the Merryman, The Jester and The Lady are just some I see regularly. Punch and Judy used to be more popular a few years ago but I haven't seen them in a while as their tradition has mostly fallen out of popularity. In most cases, almost the whole cast will be played by men. Even the characters are considered and referred to as female. Though this again depends and varies by which group is partaking in the Mari Lwyd tradition.

This point also goes onto my second point,

Mari Lwyd does not rap.

I think this comes from a very common misunderstanding of what rap is vs spoken word. Rap is a very specific style of music originating from the African American communities of the USA and has it's own structure and motifs unique to it. It's a lot more complex than people give it credit for as a style of music and just flippantly assign anything similar to it as being rap. If someone is talking fast or reciting poetry, it is not rap. Or anything that is an exchange of words between two people is not a rap battle. Mari Lwyd does not do rap, actually something that gets left out of these posts is the fact Mari Lwyd does not even speak. It's actually the Leader, who does all the speaking and song based banter between the house/pub owner for entry. Mari Lwyd just clicks her mouth, bites people and bobs her head around.

I think Mari Lwyd is a really beautiful and unique part of Welsh culture. She's not actually as wildly celebrated as a lot of the posts make her out to be. Actually, I think most Welsh people themselves learn about Mari Lwyd through the internet as well. Her popularity is increasing thanks to the drive of local groups wanting to keep the traditions alive and a renewed desire to document Welsh traditions before they're gone. Which is why it's such a shame that she's turned into something she's not to earn horror points on the internet. I think this is why it bothers me so much to see the misunderstandings of the culture and the folk tradition. Mari Lwyd's origin is very hot debated as well as how long it's been going on for. But I think it's thanks to a lot of traditions like this that the Welsh language and our stories weren't lost forever. Welsh culture is recovering as is the language. But it's still in a very fragile place. I think it's why it's important to document and correct information when it's spread.

Anyway, if you want to see the tradition in action, here's a lovely video from the Cwmafan RFC going to one of the pubs for charity. It includes the song exchange with the pub owner for entry and the whole pub singing and joining in once Mari Lwyd and the rest are inside.

As well with another video from St Fagan's showcasing the more traditional and door to door form with the larger cast.

#Mari Lwyd #Wales #Welsh #Welsh culture #Youtube

[denimbex1986]

'Calling all Whovians - this month marks the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who.

The series has seen 14 different time lords travel across time and space, encountering various fictional monsters and saving the world one Tardis trip at a time.

Much of the series was filmed in Wales, with famous places spotted in various guises by eagle-eyed viewers...

National Museum of Wales

The National Museum of Wales has been a stand-in for various art galleries and venues featured in Doctor Who, including the Musée D'Orsay in Paris and the International Gallery.

It featured in the show's 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor, which was shot in 3D and took five weeks to film.

St Fagans National Museum of History

The museum transports visitors back in time to various periods of Wales' history, so it made the perfect location for wartime episodes of Doctor Who.

It was the backdrop to David Tennant's adventure back to the eve of World War Two which aired in late 2006...

Southerndown beach

Southerndown Beach near Bridgend has featured in several episodes, but every Doctor Who fan will remember it for one of the series' most heartbreaking scenes.

In Doomsday, David Tennant's Doctor Who said a final farewell to Rose, played by Billie Piper...'

#Doctor Who #60th Anniversary #David Tennant #The Day of the Doctor #Doomsday #Rose Tyler #Billie Piper #Human Nature #The Family of Blood #Southerndown beach #St Fagans National Museum of History #National Museum of Wales

[thesilicontribesman]

Silver 'Broad Band' Arm Rings, Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey, 900 to 925CE, St Fagans National Museum of History, Wales, Cardiff.

#silver #arm bands #bands #viking #vikings #hoard #ancient craft #ancient living #metalwork #metalworking #Anglesey #wales #archaeology #relic #design

[centuriespast]

The Funeral Barge of Lord Nelson British School National Museum Wales, St Fagans National History Museum

[littlemuoi]

My 30 years protecting the Queen: dry humour, heartfelt gifts and travelling the world by Hugo Daniel (September 17th 2022)

Taking in the beauty of a misty Scottish moor amid the bustle of a Balmoral grouse shoot, the royal protection officer Dick Griffin turned to check on his charge, the Queen, only to get the shock of his life.

It was September 1995 and, at first glance, the then 69-year-old monarch had disappeared. As he searched anxiously through the thick fog, he finally caught sight of her — lying flat on the ground, a dead grouse beside her.

“Because it was so foggy we couldn’t see [that the grouse had] hit her in the chest,” Griffin said. “You can imagine the velocity of something like that falling down to the ground — it just flattened her completely. So I had to get her up and discreetly brush all the feathers and plumes away from her. She was shaken up and badly bruised.”

The equerry who had shot the bird was understandably embarrassed. “But then [they] saw the funny side of it, because the Queen saw the funny side of it. She said, ‘What an odd thing to happen’.”

Griffin, 71, shared his memories of more than 30 years as a protection officer for the royal family over a cup of coffee in a Pret a Manger near Buckingham Palace. His son, Gareth, 42, is a uniformed firearms officer and was on duty at the palace when the Queen’s coffin arrived there on Tuesday evening.

Since her death, a news clip from the Platinum Jubilee has re-emerged in which Griffin revealed how, during a walk on the Balmoral estate, the Queen posed for a photo with two American tourists who did not recognise her.

He said he was glad the story had been a “comfort” to people, with many reposting it and calling it their “favourite Queen story”. He described her as a “remarkable, caring, wonderful person”.

Griffin, who had been due to have lunch with the Queen next month, will attend the smaller, more personal committal service at Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel tomorrow after the funeral at Westminster Abbey. He says all seven police officers who worked for the monarch have been invited.

Griffin now gives talks about his career to raise money for the Kent, Surrey and Sussex air ambulance.

His three decades with the royals began in 1982 as part of a team that reorganised palace security after Michael Fagan broke into the Queen’s bedroom. After that, he was assigned to act as Prince Edward’s protection officer at Cambridge University from 1983 to 1986. He worked on assignment for Prince Philip for 13 years until 1999 and then for the Queen until he retired in 2013.

He travelled with the Queen and Prince Philip to 161 countries. “Often you were in the car with them, just chatting away. She would ask about my family and all my marathon running. Once I went to South Africa to do the Comrades marathon, which is 55 miles, and you had a chip on your shoe so people could follow you at home. She got one of her footmen in front of a computer for ten hours to follow me, to see how I was getting on. The footman wasn’t too impressed.”

When Griffin’s running club in Bromley, southeast London, held a party to celebrate his 100th marathon, the Queen marked the occasion with a letter, showing her wry sense of humour. In it, she jokes: “We are delighted that your employers allow you sufficient time to train for, and take part in, such events.”

At his first meeting with the Queen and Prince Philip in 1983 at Windsor Castle, a week before he went to Cambridge with Edward, the couple were keen to learn about the background of the man who would be guarding their youngest child.

“We were sitting on lovely chairs and the staff were giving us coffee and the Queen said to me, ‘Can you tell Philip and me what you used to do before you came to royalty protection?’

“It was probably a question I’d prefer they’d not asked, because my job for the past six years had been [at Scotland Yard’s obscene publications branch policing] prostitution, the brothels, the sex shops and pornographic cinemas.

“The Queen said, ‘Good gracious, Mr Griffin. What on earth does Edward need a police officer with your qualifications for?’ and, before I could answer, Prince Philip said, ‘I don’t know. But they can have some wonderful parties at Cambridge.’

“That was my first experience of Prince Philip and his one-liners.”

The next time Griffin met the Queen, he remembers her sitting on the floor of the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle to watch a private performance of a play that Edward and friends had originally performed at Cambridge, in which Griffin had a cameo role.

The roof was leaking. “Water was landing on top of the Queen’s head. She was all dressed up, having just come from dinner. Several members of the household offered her a seat, but she said ‘that’s not necessary’ and sat on the floor in the aisle and put a programme over her head to keep dry.

“That was one of my first impressions of the Queen, and I just thought, ‘What an amazing lady.’”

Griffin’s three-decade career as protection officer spanned security threats ranging from the IRA to Isis.

“Of course with Islamic terrorism and suicide bombers, we had to really ramp things up,” he said. “But nothing fazed the Queen and Prince Philip. We’d try to encourage them sometimes not to be so open on walkabouts, but nothing would change her.”

He was in the car with the Queen on the day two months after 9/11 when an American Airlines flight crashed in Queens, New York. It would turn out to be an accident, but there were fears at first that it was terrorism-related.

“I was bringing the Queen back from Windsor Castle and my mobile phone rang and it was my son. I spoke to Gareth and he said there might be another terrorist attack.

“I told the Queen, and then, five minutes later, Tony Blair rings up to brief the Queen, and I always remember her saying, ‘Yes, prime minister, I know. My policeman’s son has just phoned to tell me.’”

In 2005 Griffin’s first grandchild, Joshua, was born and the Queen insisted on meeting him.

“She said to me in the car one day, ‘For the last nine months, all you’ve talked about is how excited you are about being a grandfather, and now your grandson has been born, you haven’t even bothered to introduce me.’ So I had to arrange a date and time so the Queen could have a cuddle. She was thrilled.”

He saw her love for her own grandchildren, too. For Christmas in 2010, Griffin and the other protection officers decided to give the Queen a wind-up clockwork duck that played music and laid an egg every 30 seconds, something they had found at a flea market on a recent state visit to the United Arab Emirates.

“My wife wrapped it up all beautifully with ribbons and gave it to the equerry to present it to the Queen on Christmas Day. We got this beautiful letter from the Queen saying how much she enjoyed it and Edward’s son, James, had so much fun playing with it.”

In the letter, the Queen wrote: “To the PPOs, many thanks for the unusual Christmas present from you all. It certainly livened things up and little James’s face was a picture when the duck laid her eggs! Thanks for making us laugh.”

When Griffin retired, in 2013, the Queen gave him the best gift of all. She had paid for him to have a retirement party in the state department at the palace, with 200 guests, and at eight o’clock she joined the party, with Prince Philip and the Earl of Wessex.

“That was the biggest present she could give me,” he said.

#brf #royal anecdote #i laughed and cried a little bit while reading this #got a bit emotional there #missing them #queen elizabeth ii #prince philip #prince edward #duke of edinburgh #ed #james #richard “dick” griffin series #james earl of wessex

[ghostly-brie]

My photography skills are not the greatest, but I wanted to show my day trip to St Fagans/Wales/UK.

#wales #brids #ducks #nature #castle