Cast your mind back to August, if you can. As that somewhat sun-less summer drew to an end and we pushed fed-up and forlorn deckchairs back into the shed, in Cardiff a newly acclaimed poet, Carwyn Eckley, proudly unwrapped a rather magnificent chair. His to keep.
He is Wales’s latest chaired prifardd. And while prifardd might be rendered in English as “chief bard” or “chief poet”, the cultural significance of this title is lost in translation – the first of a handful of such terms that I’m going to share with you.
To become a prifardd, you need to compete in the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, the annual Welsh cultural festival. One of its main attractions is the chairing of the bard ceremony.
