Crowning of the Bard facts for kids
The Crowning of the Bard (Welsh: Coroni'r Bardd in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic: Crùn na Bàrdachd in Scottish Gaelic) is a very important event. It happens at special festivals in Wales called an eisteddfod and in Scotland called a Mòd. It's a big moment for poets!
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The Welsh Eisteddfod Crown
The most famous crowning ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. This exciting event usually happens on the Monday afternoon of the Eisteddfod week.
What is the Crown?
A brand new bardic crown is specially designed and made for each Eisteddfod. This beautiful crown is given to the winner of a poetry competition. This competition is for a type of poem called a Pryddest, which is written in free verse.
Free verse poetry means it doesn't have to follow strict rhyming patterns or rhythms. It's more about expressing feelings freely. However, Welsh poets also have very old, strict rules for some traditional poems.
How the Winner is Chosen
There are three judges who decide who wins the crown. Some of these judges have even won the crown themselves in the past! Famous judges include Mererid Hopwood and T. James Jones.
The first National Eisteddfod crown was given out in 1867. The crowning ceremony is led by a special leader called the Archdruid. First, one of the judges reads out why they chose the winner. They also share comments about the winning poem.
Then, the Archdruid announces the winner's name. But here's the cool part: they only use the special pen name the poet used when they sent in their work! No one knows the poet's real name until this moment. The winner is asked to stand up, then they are led to the stage and crowned.
Winning the "Double"
It's very rare and special to win both the bardic chair and the crown at the same Eisteddfod. This has only happened a few times in the long history of the Eisteddfod.
For example, in 1912, T.H. Parry-Williams was the first person to win both the chair and the crown. More recently, poets like Alan Llwyd and Donald Evans have each won both awards twice!
In August 2018, the crown was awarded to a writer from Cardiff named Catrin Dafydd.
The Scottish Mòd Crown
The Scottish Gaelic Mòd also had a Bardic Crown ceremony. It started in 1923, inspired by the Welsh Eisteddfod. The winner was known as the Bard of An Comunn for the next year.
Changes to the Mòd Crown
Unlike in Wales, the winning poem itself was not read out during the Mòd crowning ceremony. Sometimes, no award was given if the poems weren't good enough. Because of this, the Bardic Crown was no longer awarded after March 1979.
However, a special moment happened in 2011 at the Royal National Mòd. A poet named Lewis MacKinnon won the Bardic Crown. His poem was written in a special type of Gaelic spoken in Canada. This was the first time a Gaelic poet from outside Scotland had won this award!
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