teutonic travels and celtic connections

 

Forty years ago I was introduced to the delights of Wenglish. Idioms and syntax from Cymraeg and from Gwenhwyseg (Gwentian), but using English words. Had I been Gwentian, it wouldn't be out of place for me to say, for example, “Been to the forestry I have”. And there it was that I saw,  hidden in a clearing deep among the trees, a group of German people discreetly enjoying a holiday, their vans corralled like wagon trains of old. Obviously I knew where they were from, as; each sported  the country signifier D. The word Deutsch itself derives from the word Teutonic. Ancient writers described the people as Celtic.  

I know little of campervans, motorhomes or recreational vehicles, nor indeed how to distinguish them, but understand the appeal of time spent nomadically. Seeing the happy campers in a local forest reminded me of times when I returned the compliment. In another Teutonic land I once passed the place where both the Rhine and the Rhone have their source. It was a good lingering view as the Glacier Express actually moves delightfully slowly along its length from Zermatt to St Moritz. Zermatt is in the Swiss canton of Valais/Wallis, of the same etymology as the word “Wales”. Further south, on the Centovalli Railway (hundred valleys) between Domodossola in Italy and Locarno in Ticino (Switzerland) an old man was visiting his home village after many years away. I forget how the conversation arose, but with the tears of Hiraeth in his eyes, he told me that his North Italian community too was Celtic. 

I have probably watched fewer than ten operas performed live, those by Bartok, Britten, Penderecki and others. Not Wagner. But I know enough of his music to see something decidedly Wagnerian in the juxtaposition of gigantic conifers, glistening rapids and glimpses of mountains. The grandeur and connectedness of Gesamtkunstwerk. Is perhaps best conveyed in the ring cycle, while Tristan and Isolde is known for its pan-celtic origins in Brythonic legends of the Mabinogion from Cymru, Cernew (Kernow/Cornwall), Llydaw (Breizh/Brittany) and Ystrad Clud (Strathclyde). 

The forests of Cymru are dripping with the past. Aside from modern (11th Century) royal hunting grounds such as Coed y Brenin, where the Germans were encamped, there are large tracts of much older rainforest that once covered much of the British and Irish isles. They are described variously as temperate, Celtic or Atlantic. The lungs of these lands are being restored.  I read somewhere that tree-hugging is a Teuronic “thing”.  And here the forest seemed to be hugging the visitors, enveloped as they were in its arms, at one perhaps with the community of moss tendrils and tree roots. 

Only today, in another forest nearby, yet another Celtic connection emerged in a chance encounter with a family visiting from Llydaw. We discussed shared languages, musics and, of course the meaning of “Celticness”.  Less than a quarter of my genes have it, I am told. Is that a sufficient connection?

LINKS

Where to Find Celtic History in Switzerland - AFAR

Names of Germany - Wikipedia

Richard Wagner | Music 101 (lumenlearning.com)

Gesamtkunstwerk - Wikipedia

Tristan and Isolde Legend Criticism: The Legend of Tristan and Isolt - Joseph Bédier - eNotes.com

Celtic rainforests in Wales - Wikipedia