Ancient Connections

The connection I feel with this area is a tangible pull in my heart that is hard to describe. It’s a yearning and a sense of belonging which I feel when I’m away from here, which in English there is no real word for. In Wales we have a word for this feeling…’hiraeth’. Many who visit this remote place fall in love with it too, with the place, the people and its uniqueness. They come back year after year as they feel that pull and draw. They bring their families here and generation after generation connect with its unspoilt beauty.

 

It is a place where you can feel close to the elements and the nature of things. A place of pilgrimage important as the birthplace of St David, who was born in a storm on the cliffs at St Nons. But also a place where you can find inner spiritual connection. If you stand on a windswept remote beach (and of those we have many!) on a stormy day it’s hard not to disconnect, relax, unwind. You then feel a real connection and can be at peace, at one with the world. It’s not hard to feel connected to the past, as everywhere there are reminders of ancient civilizations in the monuments that scatter the landscape, such as ancient burial chambers or small churches. There’s no clutter to get in the way of then and now, just wild open spaces, a place close to the elements and the natural environment.

 

I grew up here in St Davids, on this remote far flung limb of land. So remote and cut off from the rest of the Country, it felt like we lived on an island. As a young person I craved to leave it’s quiet empty isolation. It only seemed lively during the summer holidays and bank holidays when the pubs were bursting full with ‘hwyl a spree’ (fun and games), with chatter, laughter and song and awash with enough beer to float our island home. If it had floated off it may have reached our neighbouring shore of Ireland. It may have made the journey that our Celtic cousins and our ancestors were accustomed to making. We are geographically closer to Ireland than we are to Cardiff here on the St Davids Peninsula. St Patrick set sail from these shores, from where he had founded a church, at Whitesands Bay.

 

I was lucky enough last week to attend the launch of this exciting new Cultural Tourism project. ‘Ancient Connections’ is a partnership between Pembrokeshire County Council, Wexford County Council, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and Visit Wexford. It’s a highly innovative three year arts and heritage initiative that aims to motivate our community here along with our seaward neighbours to rediscover our shared ancient heritage.
Taking the story of St David and his pupil and protégé St Aidan as a starting point the journey begins. St David is the patron saint of Wales, commemorated in the city of St Davids where he spent much of his life. Whilst St Aidan is closely associated with Ferns in Wexford. The project will enable each region to be a mentor for each other; and to share knowledge, experience and skills and create a stronger sense of identity and place. The aim is to collect more stories from the community and then interpret them in ways which attract visitors to both places, especially out of season. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation programme.
The launch event included a hedgerow foraging walk, and later a banquet feast where locally sourced and traditional dishes were garnished with foraged delights. There was poetry, music and storytelling and guests were included from both sides of the Irish Sea. It was a kind of melting pot of ideas and conversations, a springboard for great things to come I’m sure. A hugely successful event full of inspirational people and I came away from it feeling totally inspired and connected. I felt inspired to write this:
Ancient Connections,
People, places, pilgrimages, past and present.
The stories, the myths the legends,
The invisible threads that connect us, woven through time.
Tangible but untamed, wild and free.

Catch them – hold them – treasure them.

Feel them in the wind,
Licking your face with salt spray,
As you stand on an empty beach,
On a stormy winter’s day.

Taste them,
From the hedgerow,
Fresh morning dew on a blackberry,
Glinting like coals in the rise of the autumn morning sun.

See them,
In the ghost-like clouds that haunt the sky,
On fire as the sun sets,
Into the bubbling cauldron sea.

Smell their sweet scent
As the summer sun,
High in an ocean of blue sky,
Warms the crowns of gorse flowers in their golden glory.
Hear their call…..

Ancient connections.