Our Motto
"Y Gwir Yn Erbyn Y Byd" translates as: "The Truth against the World". It referes to the time when the Bards were able to proclaim the truth, even against unpopular sentiment.
Music
Music, as well as story telling, is at the heart of Welsh culture. The most prominent form is the Gymafa Ganu or "Gathering to Sing" a combination religious service, communitiy song festival, and social activity. Every year a large "National" Gymanfa Ganu is held as part of the North American Festival of Wales on Labour Day weekend.
In Philadelphia a Gymanfa Ganu is held near Thanksgiving, and a small one takes place Labour Day weekend for those unable to travel to the "National".
Singing is also part of other celebrations including the Annual Banquet, the Divine Service, and just about any other time the Welsh get together, including over meals! The joy and comraderie of singing together helps bind the Welsh-American community and everyone is welcome, and encouraged, to join in and raise their voice in song.
Welsh-American also enjoy a form of folk music and dancing similar to other Celtic forms. The music involves the Welsh Triple Harp, the Concertina or Accordion, the Pipcorn, Drums, and Fiddle. Anyone familiar with Square or Country Dancing will find the steps of Welsh folk dancing familar. A special delight is the Welsh Twmpaug "Clog" dancing, done solo or in groups.
The modern Welsh and Welsh-Americans also enjoy a wide variety of popular music, and have in fact contributed to it.
The Welsh in Pennsylvania
The Principality of Wales and the Colony of Pennsylvania were closely connected from the very beginning. William Penn, proprietor of the Colony, was himself of Welsh descent. He had wished to call the Colony "New Wales." The bulk of his early colonists were Welsh Quakers. And Penn's great doctrine of liberty of conscience was an outgrowth of the maxim to which the Cymru (Welsh) cling with such wonderful tenacity -Y Gwir Yn Erbyn Y Byd- (The Truth Against the World).
Welsh Names dot the countryside, particularly along Philadelphia's "Main Line". For example:
- Bryn Mawr (large hill)
- Gwynedd (white land)
- Berwyn (snowy summit)
- Uwchland (upper land)
- Pencoyd (head of the wood)
- Penllyn (head of the grove)
Many more Philadelphia area communities are named for specific towns or districts in Wales, including Radnor, Narberth, Gladwyn, Haverford, St. David's, Merion, and Wynnewood.
Welsh Immigration
The were two major waves of Welsh immigration to Pennsylvania. The first, in William Penn's time, is recorded in Robert Proud's History of Pennsylvania: Among those early adventurers and settlers who arrived about this time, were also many from Wales of those called Ancient Britons, and mostly Quakers. Divers of those early Welsh settlers were persons of excellent and worthy character, and several of good education, family and estates. They had early purchased of the Proprietary, in England, forty thousand acres of Land." This land became the famous "Welsh Tract," which today includes Merion, Haverford, and Radnor.
The 19th Century saw another influx of Welsh, as the industrial revolution drew thousands from the Rhonndda and Thymney valleys, the iron and steel center of Merthyr Tydfil, and the other industrial areas of South Wales, to work the mills, mines, and quarries of Pennsylvania. With them these Welsh workers brought their families, their skills, their language, and the great gift of song.
These Welsh formed a number of Welsh Presbyterian churches in Philadelphia, which have since merged into the Arch Street Presbyterian Church, whose Welsh Guild is actively supported by the Welsh Society. Local telephone books show a vast number of Welsh names: Williams by the page, Evans, Davis, Jenkins, Powell, Lewis, Lloyd, Thomas, Hughes, and of course, Jones.
More about our Heritage