Pittsburgh hosts national festival celebrating Wales and its peopleMonday, September 07, 2009By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteAmerican Festival of Wales at Point State Park.At some point in life, after it has sunk in that you are Welsh, you have to figure out what to do about it. One option is to do nothing; the Welsh are so well blended on the American palette as to be nondescript.Another option is to join the choir.It's exciting to walk into a gathering of people who all revere the same little place, especially knowing they can harmonize on pitch at the drop of a hat. The annual North American Festival of Wales -- held over the weekend at the Downtown Hilton -- felt like Wales in a jar. There were enough native voices to flavor the air, and even American-born voices had lilt.Garnet Roth, the outgoing publicity chair of the St. David's Society of Pittsburgh, began seeking publicity for the festival -- the first one in 20 years to be held in Pittsburgh -- several months ago. She had the good sense to pitch to a Jones.The red dragon flag of Wales flies over my front door, but Wales has always been just a fun idea, a thread of ancestry dragged through Appalachia for centuries on my father's side. Now, after two days of lurking about my fellow Welsh people, I feel the pride of tribe."It's a little bit the underdog thing," said Jeannine Lanigan of Edgewood. "I'm English and Irish, too, but they don't need me."As opening ceremonies began in Point State Park Thursday, she heard the Welsh national anthem played by Northampton County's Bangor Area High School band and hurried out of the hotel carrying her Welsh-English hymnal. A crowd of about 75 had already assembled, standing in song.David Siegel, 24, of Shadyside showed up, too. He lived in Wales as a foreign exchange student, he said."It was the best time of my life. When I saw this in the paper, I thought, 'I can't miss this.' "The festival in North America follows the annual singing competitions traditional to Wales. No one has a satisfying explanation for why the Welsh are such strapping singers; it's one of our mysteries. People walked along the halls of the hotel singing, some quietly the way people absently whistle, and some people hummed in the elevator.This festival included a bus tour of Pittsburgh, a trip to the Welsh Nationality Room, which opened last year at the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland, and heritage groups' displays of efforts to promote what's Welsh about the world.Cindy Durkee of Holiday, Fla., wore a black stovepipe hat she had made of felt and lace, and she cradled a dulcimer. Her husband, Clark Owen Parry, also carried a dulcimer. They are learning Welsh as members of the Welsh Society of the Sun Coast in Florida.The tradition of women wearing tall black hats comes from the days when Norsemen commonly invaded when they thought the men were away on fishing trips. When the men were away, the women wore these funny hats, which must have distracted the Norsemen from noticing anything beneath them.Rob Willis, a storyteller, said his mother was born in Greece, and on her side he is also Jewish, but the Welsh lines of his father are the reasons he dresses in a perched hat reminiscent of a beret, a kilt, leggings, a plaid blanket, belts and heavy pins. His shield depicts the red dragon symbol of Wales."This is not authentic," he said about his get-up. "I look around for things that could contribute to a semi-convincing fifth-century ensemble." He got his shoes, which have vented toes, from www.medievalmoccasins.com.The host of the festival, the St. David's Society of Pittsburgh (www.stdavidssociety.org), mails to about 500 people and counts 225 dues-paying members. Like all heritage groups, it longs for young members.Megan Landmesser, the 30-year-old president of the Plymouth Cambrian Society, has taken on that role in Wilkes-Barre, a stronghold of Welsh-Americans. In fact, Wales contributed more immigrants to Pennsylvania than to any other state. Most came to escape poverty and work in coal mines and iron works."My mother started dragging me to these things before I wasn't old enough to say no," she said. "I just have such a feeling for the culture, the music, the literature and the struggles the Welsh people have gone through.""Welsh was looked down on," said Sian Frick of Newark, Del.She grew up in England, completely Welsh on her mother's side, and as a child wondered why she could take French but not learn her mother's language."It wasn't good for job prospects," she said. "But today, you can go to court and have your case heard in Welsh, and many parents who haven't heard Welsh since their grandparents are sending their children to Welsh schools. The percentages [of Welsh speakers] are going up. Now it's a good idea to be bilingual."Ken Davies, a retired physicist, came to Pittsburgh from his native Wales in 1962 to work for the Westinghouse Research Lab. His singing voice could make you believe he has made his living singing. He is otherwise reticent, smiling politely when asked how it affects him to hear the hymns of his homeland. "The word is 'hwyl,' " he said.Does he miss Wales?"Oh yeah," he said, almost breezily. "The word is 'hiraeth.' "A person can feel hwyl if he is part Welsh or not Welsh at all. Ms. Roth read "How Green Was My Valley" in the sixth grade and would never be just Scots-Irish again, she said."I'm not Welsh, but I think I have been to Caernarfon Castle more times than the Prince of Wales."Diana Nelson Jones can be reached at djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626.Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09250/996113-51.stm#ixzz0QPNz1y6Y