Some
thoughts on the cultural differences
between
England and Wales
(Ry'n
ni yma o hyd)
BACKGROUND
A
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is now being developed between
the Quaker Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) and Meeting of Friends in Wales (MFW).
The responsibilities of MFW are described in Quaker
faith and practice
paragraphs
5.04/5.05. This makes it clear that MFW has national responsibilities
on behalf of BYM to represent and advance the life and witness of
Quakers within Wales, as well as informing BYM about Quakers in
Wales.
These
responsibilities include:
5.4
(d) “responding to issues which relate to living in a bilingual
society, including outreach in Wales and commissioning, translating
and publishing Quaker material in the Welsh language.”
and
5.04
(e) “representing Wales to BYM, liaising with yearly meeting
committees and departments where appropriate.”
A
Language Policy will form part of the MOU to clarify the ways in
which these responsibilities will be fulfilled by both BYM and MFW.
Clarity is also needed on the differing requirements of Quakers
living in a society which is both bilingual and bicultural. This
paper seeks to explore cultural differences other than language, in
particular those which impact on Friends’ understanding of a
culture which for some is very different from the one they have come
from, and seeks to assist Friends House when its work impacts on the
life of Friends in Wales. Simple translation is never enough.
The
paper is based on the responses of MFW Focus group, Trustees and
other Friends to an initial paper produced for discussion by the
Clerk of Focus Group. It is not exhaustive, but we hope it will be
helpful to all who read it.
SUMMARY
The
culture of Wales is heavily dependent upon its mythology and history,
a mythology which still lives in the background of Welsh thinking
with the tendrils of care for environment, people and justice running
through to current thinking. Historically Wales became a second class
partner in a supposedly united kingdom, a country of resource that
could be exploited with little regard for its inhabitants.
As
a community made up of small farms and workers’ towns, the Welsh
have retained a strong sense of belonging to place, and of justice
and equality. Although land and mine owners were only interested in a
quick return on their investments, their workers retained a wish to
invest in the future, a wish which could only show itself as valuing
the importance of education, poetry, song and performance.
Once
devolution began and gathered pace the history and culture of Wales
has shown itself in more progressive policies with a longer horizon
than those imposed by the UK Government.
DETAIL
Although
Welsh is spoken by 19% of the population (2011 census),
surveys show that its existence is valued by a clear majority of
those who don't speak it. In a number of areas, between 60% and 70%
speak Welsh.
The
modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry,
and
Cymru
is
the Welsh name for Wales. These words are descended from the
Brythonic
word
combrogi,
meaning
"fellow-countrymen" (John Davies, History
of Wales). The
word “Wales” and associated words come from the Germanic “whal”
meaning other. So these two names are quite opposite in their
derivation, broadly speaking “us” and “them”. Modern Welsh
people still see themselves as part of a community which is not
always appreciated by people attracted by low house prices in
beautiful situations, and who may not recognise any role for
themselves in their new locality's culture and society . In genetic
terms there is no difference, both nations showing exactly the same
diverse origins. It is in the history and community make-up that the
differences appear. Newcomers do not always recognise the investment
that residents are called on to make in welcoming them, sometimes for
them to have a limited stay or response. This is particularly true in
those areas where a majority of local people speak Welsh.
Wales
has its own mythology – the Mabinogion, the Triads, the Book of
Taliesin and other tales. This mythology is referred to much more
frequently in modern writing than its equivalent in the rest of the
UK. This illustrates another cultural difference, that history, both
mythological and more recent, is closer in Wales than in England.
There
appear to be strong differences in the political culture of the two
nations, but, to some extent this could be the fact that the majority
party in the United Kingdom Government has been the Conservative
Party for two Parliaments, whereas the dominant party in the devolved
Welsh Government has been Labour with Plaid Cymru as one of the major
opposition voices. Wales has never returned a majority of
Conservative MPs, or even come close, ever since universal suffrage
began.
The
devolved administrations in the home nations of the UK are elected by
proportional representation, which means that everyone can feel they
have a voice, unlike in UK general elections, which are by simple
majority vote so in practice are never won by a party having an
actual majority of the votes.
While
the UK government has governed for the benefit of a small section of
the public at the cost of the majority, Welsh politics have
concentrated on the future generations. This difference in outlook is
quite obvious in the way that decisions are made in the two
administrations. For example, in the consultation about environmental
policy following Brexit, the White paper asks where the environmental
principles should be set out. Cytûn (Churches Together in Wales)
have responded and their response provides a quite different
viewpoint to that of the paper:
“It
is our view that ‘principles’ which can be modified by Ministers
through Statutory Instruments are hardly principles at all. It is
essential that a statement of principles be encoded in primary
legislation and be amendable only by Parliament (or by the devolved
assemblies in devolved areas).
We
note with concern the exclusion of national security and Finance Acts
from the ambit of these principles. This means that any Government
policy badged in these ways can be put through in contravention of
environmental principles agreed by Parliament, and we strongly oppose
these conclusions.
Para
40 raises the issue of balancing the environmental principles against
other principles, such as prosperity. We would commend the approach
of the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, which
outlines well-being goals (in effect, principles) covering the whole
of Welsh Government activity (including Finance Acts) and requires
Government and statutory agencies to show how their policies
contribute to achieving all the well-being goals. It also outlines
‘ways of working’ to ensure that this happens and that the public
can be fully engaged in considering the impact of policies not only
now, but also on future generations. We believe that the England and
UK reserved matters would benefit from a similar approach and would
commend this to DEFRA. We would hope that the Inter-Governmental
Agreement which has been made between the UK and Welsh Governments
will allow Welsh policies on occasion to be adopted across the UK
rather than a mechanism for imposing English solutions in the
devolved nations.”
Although
Devolution has been limited to certain areas of control, the Welsh
Government has introduced many pieces of progressive legislation, for
example:
Active
Travel (Wales) Act 2013
Human
Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013
Social
Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
Well-being
of Future Generations Act 2015
Environment
(Wales) Act 2016
Public
Health (Wales) Act 2017
Public
Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018
In
these cases, for example in charging for plastic bags, in organ
donation, in free prescriptions, in a smoking ban, and a ban on
fracking, the Welsh government has taken positive action well in
advance of the UK government and has been quite clear in their
decision making, while the UK government has hedged about with
options, and taken much longer over reaching a decision. There have
been many cases where the UK Government has preferred to attempt to
achieve their aspirations with voluntary industry- led programmes
rather than directives. Generally speaking the health and well-being
of Welsh people have been primary for the Welsh government, while in
England targets and finance have been more important.
Although
devolution has been part of UK Government policy there has been a
tendency for the UK Govern-ment to create uncertainty about the
decisions already taken, with a real danger of back-sliding. This
tendency has become linked, particularly since the Brexit vote, to
the UK Government taking on the European Union role of coordination
as we move away from Europe. The UK Government is both the “national
government” for the UK, and the “national government” for
England. That dual role is not always clearly understood, either by
the UK Government or by the media when reporting such matters. In a
recent post from QPSW there is an item with the heading, “Should
fracking permission be given by the government?” Neither the brief
introduction nor the detailed brief mention that this policy is
specific to England. Both the Welsh and Scottish governments have
said that they will not sanction any applications to frack.
The
history of Christianity in Wales influences our present politics. The
New Testament was translated into Welsh by 1567, and the whole Bible
was translated into Welsh by 1588 (i.e. before the King James
Authorised version.) Translation of the Bible, with the arrival of
the printing press using moveable type, facilitated others than the
priesthood to explore religious concepts. Although church and chapel
attendance is mainly in decline in Wales as elsewhere in the UK,
Wales retains an underlying respect for religion; the chapels and
local churches retain an essential role in communities that contain a
high proportion of working farms, where even though the weekly
congregation may be in single figures the death of a popular local
farmer can still attract a thousand mourners.
Non-conformist
churches have a much greater cultural influence in Wales than the
Anglican church. The administration of the Church in Wales is top
down while the chapels are self-governing, with any priests being the
employees of the congregation, keeping them strongly linked to the
community. The one form of Christian practice showing growth is in
the Evangelical churches which are also very community based. The
Evangelical Alliance is not a member of Cytûn (Churches Together in
Wales), but the two bodies work together in some matters.
When
the National Assembly was established, a role for Cytûn was
included, recognising the limited time span of politicians (5 years
maximum between elections), which helps to provide a longer vision.
Because there is no established church in Wales public
events/services tend to be organised by Cytûn rather than one of the
member churches. A meeting between the First Minister of the
Government and church leaders was established very quickly; this has
now been extended to include other faiths.
Although
rural depopulation is a factor in Wales as in the rest of the UK, the
topography of Wales has caused the retention of a greater number of
small farms, which in turn retains a stronger farming community.
Possibly because of this tradition of small farms a sense of place is
an essential part of the Welsh person's nature. “Where are you
from?” is a far more likely opening question than “What do you
do?” Welsh people like to “place” others in the landscape.
Papur
bro
(local paper)
is
a Welsh language local community newsletter, produced by volunteers
and generally published monthly. There are currently 58 papurau
bro, produced
throughout Wales. With changing times and appetites, more modern,
online versions of papurau bro have started to appear. During
2015-2016, papurau bro had a combined distribution of 66,808 copies
each month, an example of the importance of local communities in
Welsh life.
Young
Farmers Clubs (YFC) are a vital and stable part of rural Welsh
community and culture. YFC is a remarkable organisation promoting
social, cultural and political awareness and involvement. Young
people involved in YFC develop confidence, knowledge, stage presence,
debating ability and an awareness of national and local matters.
Traditionally
there were very limited opportunities for young people in Wales
following the Industrial Revolution. The economy of Wales was closely
tied to mining, heavy industry and farming. Many youngsters left
Wales for careers in drapery, teaching and the churches. Those who
stayed found opportunities for personal development in organisations
such as Young Farmers Clubs and the Miners Institutes and social
clubs that were an essential feature of the towns. Although for many
these establishments provided social opportunities, they were also
essential in educating many of the working class in cultural and
political skills that resulted in a vibrant political, poetic,
musical society which includes both solo and group performance.
Eisteddfodau
and agricultural shows at all levels of Welsh community interaction
from village to nation are still vibrant. The Royal Welsh Show is
described as the pinnacle agricultural show in Britain. The National
Eisteddfod is one of the largest cultural festivals in Europe, while
the Urdd (youth) Eisteddfod and the Llangollen International
Eisteddfod continue to grow in popularity.
One
of the most popular songs in Wales since it was written in 1981 is
Dafydd Iwan's “Yma o hyd” (English: Still
Here) a
patriotic song that tells of the survival of the Welsh nation over
the centuries since Macsen Wledig
led a Romano-British army in 383 AD during the final years of the
Roman Empire, right through to “Maggie (Thatcher) and her crew”.
The chorus proudly proclaims Ry'n
ni yma o hyd, er gwaetha pawb a phopeth
which
translates as "We're still here, in spite of everyone and
everything."
It
has been argued that the song played a significant role in raising
the morale of Welsh nationalists during the 1980s, thereby inspiring
a resurgence in support for the Welsh language and culminating in
three key Acts of Parliament: the Education Reform Act of 1988, the
Welsh Language Act of 1993and the Government of Wales Act of 1998
(the last of which authorized the establishment of a National
Assembly for Wales in 1999). Today, Yma o Hyd is very popular with
Welsh folk music fans and widely considered second only to Hen
Wlad fy Nhadau (the
official national anthem of Wales). It has also become a popular song
sung by the fans of the Scarlets and Wrexham FC fans. (Wikipedia)
It
is interesting to wonder why one of the nations of the United Kingdom
needed to have its morale raised, before it could begin to establish
its own personality, but, of course Macsen Wledig and his army could
not prevent the pushing of the British peoples to the western edges
of what is now England, and, while the later Norman invaders used
intermarriage as their main tool for subduing those they lorded over,
eventually it was their force and their castles that had the greatest
effect until money and the ownership of land completely subdued the
Welsh to become what Paul Robeson recognised as a people in a similar
state to the American Negroes of his time. Aberfan was a reminder of
the oppression of industrialisation, and yet also of the strength of
community.
Many
parts of England suffered Norman invasion, land expropriation,
enclosure, industrialisation, collapse or closure of industries and
were significantly non-conformist in their religious practice, and
would recognise most of these feelings. However the Welsh were
explicitly discriminated against for extensive periods. After Edward
I’s conquest, for about 150 years, there was systematic
colonisation, with the setting up of English walled towns in which
the Welsh could not spend the night, and in rural north Wales,
thousands of acres of Welsh Princes’ lands with bond tenantships
were expropriated and leased to English settlers. Free lands without
heirs fell to the Crown. After the Glyndwr uprising, the Penal Laws
of 1402, restricted education in Wales: the Welsh were not allowed to
attend universities, hold court office, or own property in England.
These laws were not repealed until 1624, seventeen years after the
English laws against the Scots had been repealed, despite Henry
VIII’s two Laws in Wales Acts of 1536 and 1543 legally unifying the
law in England and Wales. It may seem strange to talk of the Normans,
Glyndwr and Henry VIII in a paper reflecting on cultural differences
today, but it was clear that the votes for and against devolution in
1997 followed a geographical distribution that mirrored the pattern
of Norman influence.
A
second phase of enclosures followed the beginnings of
industrialisation as the nouveau
riche created
estates out of land that had been used by farmers and peasants. The
Rebecca Riots grew from a community based vigilante process to fight
against the fences and toll gates that suddenly blocked their access.
The Government, frightened of the French Revolution spreading to
Britain, gave way to some of their demands and legislated to ensure
that the newly taxed roads were improved to reflect the taxation.
The
notorious Blue Books of 1846, written by monoglot English school
inspectors, taking much of their evidence from Anglican clergymen,
disparaged the Welsh as immoral, (i.e. non-conformist,) and ignorant,
(i.e. failing to learn much from their English-speaking teachers,)
and so recommending that the use of Welsh be stamped out. There were
remnants of that approach in Welsh schools as recently as the 1950s.
In spite of that, learning, certainly in the post war years, seemed
more important than status and not only as the vehicle to escape the
oppression of industrialisation; thus the transition via education to
professions has been more available.
The
drowning of Capel Celyn still resounds in Welsh culture and politics.
The Act of Parliament in 1957 to create the Llyn Celyn reservoir and
drown the village was opposed by 35 of the 36 Welsh MPs of the day,
but was still pushed through. Prior to that the village of Llanddwyn
was drowned in the process of building Lake Vyrwy to supply water to
Liverpool. The creation of the Elan and Claerwen Valley reservoirs
for Birmingham (begun in 1890) was forced on the local farm tenants
with two weeks’ notice to vacate. The post World War II clearance
of the Epynt for live ammunition exercises allowed the tenants six
months’ notice, but the promised return of the land is still
awaited. In 1958, without even a vote in Parliament, Trawsfynydd
Nuclear power station was imposed within a National Park that had
been set up as recently as 1951.
The
implication of these events is that Wales is still considered
exploitable. As recently as the mid 1990s John Redwood, then
Secretary of State for Wales was proud of sending £3,000,000 back to
the UK Treasury when Wales was recognised as one of the most
disadvantaged regions of Europe (GDP per capita was below 75% of the
EU average; it is still the poorest of the UK nations). That same
politician refused to answer any correspondence in the Welsh
language, returning it with “I don't speak this language”
scrawled across it. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation the
proportion of households living in income poverty remains higher than
in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and poverty among couples
with children has been rising since 2003/06
https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/poverty-wales-2018.
North-South
transport links in Wales are poor, a consequence of the topography
and the economy over centuries being part of England's with routes
tending to lead to and from England. The A470 Cardiff-Llandudno is
the only North-South trunk road except for the A487 Bangor to
Haverfordwest west coast road. There have been no North-South rail
routes within Wales since the Beeching closures in the 1960s, so
today's North-South route runs through England from Chirk to
Abergavenny. Wrexham and the North Wales north coast are further by
rail from Cardiff (4+ hours from Bangor) than London (3 1/4 hours) by
the fastest train. Reputedly Pwllheli at the end of the Cambrian
Coast line is the furthest point by time from London at about 6½
hours (and probably within Wales from Cardiff at about 6 hours) via
Shrewsbury.
Sport
has become the opportunity for the occasional triumph which usually
brings the whole nation together in celebration, and makes up for the
far more usual succession of our footballers losing to some even
smaller nation, our rugby players not quite getting to where we hoped
they would, or our athletes simply disappearing amongst the numbers
of others. So when Geraint Thomas wins the Tour de France thousands
of us travel to wave our dragon flags and cheer.
The
status of Wales as a small nation tends to lead its people to a
greater awareness of other small nations and minorities (e.g.
Bretons, Catalans, Croatians, Native Americans). This, with the
concepts of community and of the well-being of future generations
leads to empathy with other peoples. The Gorsedd of Bards may well be
historically poppycock, but its creation had pacific foundations that
are embedded in the call “A oes heddwch? (Is there peace?)”
during the bardic ceremonies. That has implanted itself in the psyche
of many Welsh people and Jane Harries' lecture at the Eisteddfod this
year was a reminder that there is a strong peace message driving some
aspects of Welsh consciousness. There seems to be a great sense of
the importance of equality and lack of class in
Wales,
as there is in other parts of the UK away from the main areas of
population.
CONCLUSION
There
is still indignation among Welsh people related not just to history
but also to an ongoing injustice in the way this part of the UK is
financed. There is a recognition too that in some matters Wales is
approaching the problems of today in a more progressive way than the
UK Government is. Devolution is allowing Wales to develop a different
character to other parts of the UK, and that character is
increasingly attractive, and anyway ry'n ni
yma o hyd, er gwaetha pawb a phopeth!
Peter
Hussey, Clerk of MFW Focus Group (with MFW Wales Focus Group and
Trustees, with others)
October
2018
Nothing
looked too daunting, though the enthusiasm cooled somewhat when we
looked inside the woodshed! Fortunately, the man with the woodshed plan
was yet to arrive. Tony, with his van and array of power tools, tackled
this job with relish. Malcolm arrived as we were washing up so we were
all present for our first epilogue in the meeting room. Here we met with
a special silence and an atmosphere which was comforting and welcoming.
We entered the room a collection of individuals and left it a
community; the retreat had properly begun.
I
opted to cook breakfast on Sunday with Tony. A feast of egg, beans,
tomatoes and mushrooms which was well-received. We went on to sing and
speak and be silent around the newly revealed pond. There was a joyful
accompaniment from some resident frogs. Our worship continued at
Llandrindod Wells meeting house where we swelled the numbers
considerably. This is a simple, modern, purpose-built meeting house set
back from the road and shaded, so peaceful and cool.
Silence
lies at the heart of the Christian spiritual tradition and is the major
feature of Quaker worship. Come and explore how to use silence and
discover how it draws us closer to God and one another.