Eisteddfod

Eisteddfod (Welsh, “a sitting of learned men”), national music and literary festival held each summer in Wales to promote Welsh language, literature, music, and customs. The week-long ceremony is a revival of the ancient Welsh custom of assembling bards, or minstrels, for competition among themselves, for the regulation of poetry and music, and for the licensing of duly qualified candidates to the position of recognized bards. The Gorsedd, or assembly, now occurs on the second day (Tuesday) of the festival to confer degrees of four grades on the modern equivalent of the Welsh bards. The history of Eisteddfod pre-dates the Christian era.