Following a Wales –Wide national project, stories inspired by the night sky told in Welsh have now been saved and stored for future generations at the People’s Collection, at the National Library of Wales.
Cysur y Sêr (the comfort of the stars) was a Welsh-led and bilingual project, which saw 10 bilingual storytellers work across Wales in communities to unearth forgetting Welsh language stories about the night sky as well as work to inspire new stories.
Cysur y Sêr was a Wales wide project led by storytelling production company Adverse Camber, supported by Theatrau Sir Gâr, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Colwinston Foundation, The Darkley Trust, Arts Council Wales, Welsh Government, Prosiect Nos Partnership and People Speak Up.
Storytellers and artists, Rhodri Trefor and Gillian Brownson from Ynys Môn/Anglesey; Fiona Collins from Dee Valley, Chris Baglin from Clwyd, Ceri Phillips from Llandeilo, Hedydd Hughes from North Pembrokeshire; Stacey Blythe from Cardiff, Dan Mitchell from Pontardawe, Tamar Eluned Williams from Cardiff and Mair Tomos Ifans from Mid Wales have captured and curated these Welsh language stories which are now available for all to hear on the People’s Collection Wales website and also the Adverse Camber website for free.
“It’s been really exciting to discover the range of stories and knowledge unearthed as part of this project and we are so grateful to our partners at Prosiect Nos and all the communities who have been involved. Greek Myths about constellations which are widely known are now available to enjoy in Cymraeg. We’ve also been exploring Wales’s own stories and where they can be found plus passing on storytelling skills so that more stories can be shared in future. With the support of the People’s Collection at the National Library, future generations can now listen to stories from Wales inspired by the night sky and delve into some of the research with experts we consulted.
Told by our 10 storytellers, stories available in Welsh include stories of Orion, told by Dan Mitchell; Andromeda told by Gillian Thompson; Canis Major and Canis Minor, told by Ceri Phillips; Callisto told by Fiona Collins and two versions of Phaethon (who drove his chariot too close to the sun) told by Rhodri Trefor and Hedydd Hughes. There are also fantastic versions of myths of Asclepius, Ariadne, Midas, Orpheus and Euridice, told by Chris Baglin, Tamar Eluned Williams, Mair Tomos Ifans and Stacey Blythe. You can explore the website for free to listen to these wonderful tales and we would love to hear any other stories people know, and to build on this research further in the future,” Executive Producer, Naomi Wilds.