Man-o-Man-a-Mwnci

Photo © Rob Jones

Happy Saint David’s Day - Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus.

I will be honest and say that sometimes I struggle with being Welsh.

In common with many people in the Principality, my origins are shrouded in history. Technically I have three English grandparents, one of whom was half Welsh. Though the Welsh one, was half English. I was born in a county which only latterly (last 50 years is latterly in Welsh history books) became part of Wales (Monmouthshire). And though I speak Welsh, it’s the ‘wrong kind’ for where I live. But I still identify as Welsh above any other nationality. Sometimes more comfortably than being British.

What’s interesting is maybe how over the centuries the level of migration into Wales has been massive. And yet you’d be hard pressed to find any descendants of these migrants saying they are anything other than Welsh.

The north saw a big influx of Cornish tin miners heading for the slate caverns once the tin in their native land was exhausted. You can see it in their names, and the survival of the Welsh languages in the north is allegedly down to the Cornish speakers who arrived there in the 18th century. Likewise the south Wales coalfields saw the biggest inward migration in the world, exceeded in the 19th century only by migration to the United States.

Like my ancesters they came from Mid-Wales, Somerset and Wiltshire, but also Ireland, Scotland and even as far as Australia.

Some parts of the Valleys saw enclaves of Spaniards, Russians, Poles, and French. And of course the Italians who are maybe the most visible group - other than maybe the Chinese, South Asians and Afro-Caribbeans - with the ubiquitous Italian cafes.

And of course it went the other way … like my 2nd Great Uncle Zephania, a renowned Chartist was shipped off to Australia (Admittedly involuntarily). Others went to Canada, the US and New Zealand.

You still find Welsh speaking communities in Canada, Patagonia and the US.

Some came home. Some didn’t.

Hiraeth - touted as a Welsh trait - more or less means ‘There’s no place like home.’

And Man-o-man-a-mwnci? That means ‘Might as well be.’