: Museums, Exhibitions and Events

Cyflwyniad

Croeso i flog Archif Sain Amgueddfa Werin Cymru. Wedi ugain mlynedd o weithio yn yr archif ac o bori trwy’r casgliadau mae’r amser wedi dod i mi blymio i ddyfnderoedd y cyfryngau torfol.

Brawychus (efallai yn fwy felly i’r gynulleidfa nac i mi)! Felly a’m calon yn curo, a’m pengliniau yn siglo dyma fynd ati i ysgrifennu (a chadw’r bys yn hofran dros y botwm “Publish” am wythnos neu ddwy nes magu hyder) gyda’r gobaith o rannu rhai o berlau amhrisiadwy yr Archif Sain gyda Chymru a’r byd.

Dechrau Casglu

Dechreuodd yr Amgueddfa gasglu hanes llafar yn y 50au hwyr ac erbyn hyn mae bron i 12,000 o recordiadau yn ein casgliad. Ers 1958 mae staff yr Amgueddfa wedi crwydro dros fryn a dôl, dros bont a thraffordd (ac wedi mynd yn sownd mewn ambell i gae) yn recordio trigolion Cymru yn trafod eu bywydau pob dydd, eu gwaith a’u diddordebau.

Pynciau

Ymysg y pynciau a drafodir ceir sôn am amaethyddiaeth, crefftau a geirfâu crefft, gwaith tŷ, bwydydd traddodiadol, meddyginiaethau gwerin, chwaraeon, storïau gwerin, canu gwerin, arferion tymhorol, arferion marw a chladdu a charu a phriodi, diwydiannau, tafodieithoedd y Gymraeg a diddordebau hamdden.

Os hoffech wybod sut i olchi praidd o ddefaid neu lanhau sêt tŷ bach bren nes ei bod yn disgleirio, os ydych yn ysu am baratoi penglog ceffyl er mwyn creu Mari Lwyd neu wella gwlithen ar y llygad trwy ddefnyddio malwoden a draenen wen, mae’r manylion oll ar gadw yn ein harchif.

Mae gennym atgofion coliers am geffylau ofergoelus yn y pyllau glo yn dwyn eu baco a’u diod o’u pocedi ac atgofion gwragedd am bobi teisen gwaed gwyddau a pharatoi ffagots a brôn. Mae gennym gasgliad eang o ganeuon gwerin a cherddoriaeth, o blant yn canu caneuon sgipio i recordiadau o gynulleidfaoedd yn canu pwnc.

Siaradwyr

Recordiwyd dros 5 mil o siaradwyr dros y blynyddoedd o Gaergybi i Gasnewydd ac o Dyddewi i Dreffynnon gan ddiogelu gwybodaeth heb ei hail ar gyfer y dyfodol.

I’r ystadegwyr yn eich plith ceir 798 siaradwr â’r cyfenw Jones yn yr Archif, 415 Williams, 375 Davies, 297 Evans, 246 Thomas a 224 Roberts. Yr enw cyntaf mwyaf poblogaidd ymysg y dynion yw John (272 siaradwr) ac ymysg y merched ceir 144 Mary a 138 Margaret. Ganwyd ein siaradwr hynaf yn 1841 a ganwyd 6 o’n siaradwyr ar ddiwrnod Nadolig.

Gobeithio bod y blog cyntaf hwn wedi ysgogi eich dychymyg ac wedi codi archwaeth am ragor.

Hwyl am y tro

A lot of progress has been made since my last blog post. The thatching has been completed and the final stages of landscaping are underway. An earthen bank has been built around the two roundhouses, replicating the formidable defences of the original site on Anglesey. A turf-roofed shelter has been built behind the houses, which is to be used as an outdoor workshop as well as an additional educational facility. Its walls are of clom (a mixture of clay, subsoil and aggregate) just like the roundhouses, but its turf roof represents another roofing material arguably as old as thatching itself. A cobbled surface has been created outside the front of the roundhouses, again, reminiscent of the original site.

Recently, my work has focused on furnishing the interior of the houses. The larger of the two houses will remain fairly empty (other than a hearth and a wooden bench that circumnavigates its inner perimeter) so that it can be used as a classroom and demonstration area. The smaller house has been dressed to display Iron Age life. Within are some of the furnishings expected of any Iron Age house: a hearth for warmth, a bed for sleeping, a loom for weaving clothing and blankets – along with wooden chests to store them in, and a cauldron for cooking food. Nearly all of the items on display are based on period examples that have managed to survive 2,000 years of time. For instance, the cauldron is a replica of a well-preserved copper and iron cooking pot from Llyn Cerrig Bach – only 25km away from the Bryn Eryr site. The iron fire-dogs are simplified replicas of the Capel Garmon fire-dog which was discovered not far away in Denbighshire. The wooden bowls are replicas of those found at the Breiddin hillfort in Montgomeryshire, and the quern stones (for grinding corn into flour) are replicas of ones found within the Bryn Eryr roundhouses themselves. We have a full wood-working tool-kit based on examples from hillforts such as Tre’r Ceiri and Castell Henllys. Even the blankets on the bed have been faithfully copied from surviving scraps of textile.

Now that the house has been faithfully dressed with period furnishings, we can use the space to demonstrate what life was like within a roundhouse. Furthermore, with the aid of craftspeople, re-enactors and volunteers, we can contribute to a deeper understanding of life in the Iron Age, and help turn this house into a home.

How many of you, like me, find yourselves turning to tried and tested recipes? They’re often dishes that have been handed down through my family, they’re comforting and remind me of my childhood.

The archive at St Fagans has a large collection of recipes, the vast majority of them passed down from generation to generation. The information has been gathered through questionnaires, letters and handwritten recipes. But the bulk of the collection was the work undertaken by Minwel Tibbott. When she started at the Museum in 1969, the study of traditional foods was a very new research field. Minwel realised very early on that the information would not be found in books. She travelled all over Wales in order to interview, record and film the older generation of women, many of them in their eighties. They recalled the dishes prepared by their mothers, and their memories harked back to the end of the 1800s.

As part of St Fagans Food Festival this year, which will be held on the weekend of the 5^th and 6^th of September, we’re asking for your help to add to this collection. As you settle down this evening to watch the new series of the Great British Bake Off, take a moment to think of your signature bake. What time-honoured family recipe would you share? How do you adapt traditional dishes? Do you have a dog-eared, but well-loved family recipe book, covered with additional notes and food stains? We’d love to find out what the dishes remind you of? Which ones are reserved for special occasions?

Tweet images and memories to @archifSFarchive, or bring them along to Oakdale Workmen’s Institute during the Food Festival and we’ll scan them. If they’re not written, as is the case with so many family favourites, you can tell us on the day.

For the latest on this project, follow tweets by @archifSFarchive and @SF_Ystafelloedd and the hashtags #FoodFestival #Recipes.

The first ever National Meadows Day is tomorrow, Saturday 4th July. You may have noticed National Museum Cardiff now has an Urban Meadow on the east side by the Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre. It gives us a fantastic new outdoor learning space where just a lawn used to be. Check out our programme of events based around the meadow in What's On.

Our Urban Meadow with the bee hives on the roof is a positive approach by the museum to increase pollinators within Cardiff and are funded entirely through landfill tax. Meadows on our other museum sites help pollinators throughout Wales. With a no dig, no chemical policy, as well as introducing plants and seeds from Flora Locale recommended suppliers, we are following sustainable principles. 

Children have used the Urban Meadow to start investigating the natural world, children who may not otherwise have visited a museum. The next event is ‘Family Fun in the Meadow’ on Saturday 11th July: Help our OPAL scientist to survey the bug life in our urban meadow and learn to be a botanical illustrator. See the What’s On guide for further information

You can find further information and links to events for National Meadow Day on the Plantlife webpages

Also you can follow the Twitter hashtag: #magnificentmeadowsday

By Sally Whyman and Kath Slade