Mae tro ar fyd wedi bod ers i mi ysgrifennu atoch o Eglwys Teilo Sant y tro diwethaf. Mae pethe wedi bod yn mynd yn eu blaen yn dawel bach yno, ac mae ymwelwyr o dros y byd yn grwn yn parhau i ddod i ymweld â'r tlws lliwgar yng nghoedwig Sain Ffagan.

Amser, felly, i roi hysbys bach ichi am beth sydd gennym ni ar y gweill ar gyfer 2011! Mae rhaglen flwyddyn gron gennym sy'n ymchwilio hanes 1500-1700 mewn ffordd unigryw a hwylus. Bydd arddangosfeydd byw, gwethgareddau a pherfformiadau yn dod â chyfnod y Tuduriaid, Stiwartiaid a'r Rhyfel Cartref yn fyw fel erioed o'r blaen.

Mi gyfeiriaf chi, felly, i dudalen ddigwyddiadau'r amgueddfa, lle cewch ragor o wybodaeth am ein digwyddiadau. Bydd pob digwyddiad yn rhad ac am ddim, a bydd rhan helaeth ohonynt yn rhan o'n prosiect Creu Hanes.

'Dyn ni wedi bod yn brysur yn gweithio ar arddangosfa arbennig i gyd-fynd â'r thema Creu Hanes. Bydd adeiladau hanesyddol y safle'n troi'n gefndir lliwgar ac addas i hanes byw o'r cyfnod 1500-1700. Bydd rhai o berfformwyr ac ymchwilwyr gorau'r DU yn ymuno â ni i roi bywyd a phersonoliaeth i'r hen lawysgrifau hanesyddol.

Fe rannaf restr llawn o'r digwyddiadau â chi maes o law. Yn y cyfamser, dyma flas o beth fydd yn digwydd. Mae'r llun ar ben y dudalen yn dangos y Tudor Group, fydd yn byw yn nhŷ-hir Hendre'r Ywydd, ac yn dathlu'r Pasg o amgylch Eglwys Teilos Sant. Oddi tanynt, mae llun o fois Brwydr Towton a'u cyfaill, fydd yn cymryd rhan mewn gŵyl ddrewllyd, waedlyd ac afiach i blant o'r enw Anrhefn! Ar hyd y flwyddyn, bydd sioe ffasiwn Duduraidd, coginio Canoloesol, cosbau oes y Tuduriaid, a llawer mwy, i'w gweld ar y safle. Mi wnai gloi drwy ddweud bod rhywbeth arbennig iawn am ddigwydd yma yn Sain Ffagan dros yr haf - rhywbeth at ddant pob un sy'n licio brwydrau a chwffio trwy hanes! Cadwch lygad ar y blog a mi wnai roi gwybod ichi yn y dyfodol agos.

Slowly, more and more schools are reporting shoot sightings! Cwm Glas Primary near Swansea have reported a few more shoots but still no sign at St. Mary's Catholic Primary School in Flint.

My daffodils are about 10cms tall now and my crocus have just popped through the soil. Even my mystery bulb is starting to grow and there are buds opening on my garden trees. A true sign that spring is coming!

Take a look at the pictures so you can be sure what bulbs you have growing. Send me some pictures of your shoots or how you collect your weather.

Watch your crocus very carefully now because once they start grow they can flower very quickly. As soon as they flower, send in your record so we can see on the map where the bulbs are opening first.

Competitions. Don't for get we have two fantastic competitions this year. The Daffodil Drawing Competition and the Win a trip competition. I've already recieved some very nice drawings from Bishops Childs Church in Wales School. I look forward to seeing some more from other schools soon...

Weather wise it's been very windy for most of us - so please check that your pots haven't fallen over.

Professor Plant

An article by me, published on the website Waleshome today:

Connecting Cultures

TODAY is the Chinese New Year, and we enter the year of the Rabbit.

Although we have been celebrating the Chinese New Year for a number of years at Amgueddfa Cymru –National Museum Wales, this year is extra special for us as it coincides with the unique exhibition that we are currently hosting at National Museum Cardiff – From Steep Hillsides: Ancient Rock Carvings from Dazu, China. This exhibition has been a coup, not only for Amgueddfa Cymru but also for Wales as these sculptures have never before been seen outside of China. We feel very privileged to have been chosen as the first ever venue to host them outside of their homeland and I’m confident that this free exhibition will be popular with our visitors.

If you have not yet had the opportunity to visit the exhibition, then it is difficult to convey in words just how magical they are. The carvings originate from the steep hillsides of the Dazu World Heritage site near Chongqing, which contain an exceptional series of rock carvings dating from the middle of the 7th century and developed between the 9th and the 13th centuries. The carvings comprise some 50,000 figures in total, and are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their rich diversity of subject matter, both secular and religious, and the light that they shed on everyday life in China during this period. By a happy coincidence, a few years ago I was lucky enough to visit Dazu and see them for myself. It was an unique experience, and I remember being blown away by them. Obviously, we couldn’t bring all 50,000 figures to Wales, but this exhibition contains superb examples that have become detached from their original setting, along with accurate replicas of some of the most important sculptures still in situ and dramatic large-scale images, to give some idea of what it is like to visit these spectacular places.

Dazu is a real treasure house of Chinese art history and an important expression of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism, as well as a fascinating insight into Chinese daily life. I cannot overemphasise how remarkable these carvings are, and certainly, this exhibition would not be out of place at any world-class museum. A question that I have been asked since the exhibition opened has been why was Wales selected as a venue for this stunning exhibition rather than somewhere like the British Museum or the Victoria and Albert? The answer lies in the blossoming relationship between Wales and the Chongqing region in China, which has been led by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The origin of the relationship was a recommendation from Premier Wan Jiabao during his visit to Wales in 2000, which resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding between the Chongqing Municipal Government and the Welsh Assembly Government, agreeing to collaboration and co-operation in a number of areas, which was signed during First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan’s visit to Chongqing in March 2006. Since then Wales has welcomed a number of visitors from Chongqing and delegations from Wales have visited Chongqing. The Welsh Assembly Government also funds a schools project, managed by British Council, which links more than 50 Welsh schools with schools in Chongqing. There have been several exchange visits by the schools to Chongqing and to Wales.

This relationship has also extended into culture, and National Museum Wales has established a relationship with several cultural organisations in Chongqing. It is hoped that this exhibition is the first of many such exchanges, which will in future include sending some of our own collections to China. Not only will we be able to continue to showcase Chinese culture in Wales but we will also be able to showcase Wales to the world. Both countries are steeped in history and culture, and it is a fantastic opportunity for us to share our national stories.

Establishing strong links between Wales and China is obviously of great importance to the Welsh Assembly Government, and it was widely commented upon that Wales had been excluded from the itinerary of a recent Chinese trade delegation that visited the UK. But those critics should not despair. I believe that the Welsh Assembly Government is laying the foundations for a successful long term friendship between the two countries, not just a relationship based on business and economics. This exhibition is a small but not insignificant part of that burgeoning friendship which will hopefully evolve over time.

Pupils from Raglan VC Primary School took part in my Looking at Buildings session on Monday. Here are some pictures of just a few of the houses they made. I didn't get a chance to take photographs of all the buildings so if anyone at Raglan VC Primary School is reading this, please email me some more as everyone's building was looking so fantastic!

After being inspired by our Quilting Club (next meeting is March 5th), I have been doing quite a lot of sewing. Over Christmas I got out the sewing machine and made about 8 bags, but mainly I've been concentrating on my quilt (see picture above). I've never quilted before (or sewn much really), so am learning as I go, and have been loving it.

This foray into sewing has meant that I've been spending lots of money on material and equipment and reading lots of books and articles. One of my favourite things I've found out is that on February 8th it's Hari-Kuyo festival in Japan. This festival gives people the chance to thank and appreciate the needles they have used in the past year by sticking them in to a big block of tofu! As one of the monks from the temple said in the article I read on the reuters website 'Sometimes there are painful things and secrets that women can't tell men, and they put these secrets into the pins and ask the gods to get rid of them.'

It made me wonder if there are any pins and needles or sewing customs in Wales (and the rest of the UK), does anyone know of any? In Oriel 1 we do have a charm bottle on display which has bent pins in it which is meant to protect the owner of the bottle from witchcraft, and of course, pins would be used with a voodoo doll or a poppet...

I had a look in Steve Roud's book 'The Penguin guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland', and whereas there wasn't much about needles (other than if a needle breaks when you are sewing it will bring good fortune to the wearer of the article sewn) there are quite a few customs to do with pins. Pins used in the making of wedding dress are particularly lucky, you could also stick them into an onion as part of a love divination, but you shouldn't take pins on board a ship.

And back to quilting, and patchwork quilts in particular... 'If a lady completes one of these without assistance, she will never be married.'