Look above: look within

Festival of British Archaeology 2009

On Wednesday and Thursday this week (29th and 30th July) Sue Fielding and Geoff Ward from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales demonstrated building recording at St Fagans. Thanks to them, visitors had the chance to record a 500 year old house, Hendre’r Ywydd Uchaf, which once stood near Ruthin in the Vale of Clwyd.

I couldn't get to the event myself,  but Adam Gwilt who helped organise things sent in this report.

 

"Geoff has been getting people to look more carefully at the way the house was built and showing young and old alike how to measure and draw the exposed timbers of a wall partition inside the house.

Sue has been enlisting the help of people, using the ‘total station’ survey equipment. Using a laser beam to record the dimensions and details of one of the rooms, a 3D drawing of the room has grown in front of our eyes on the laptop computer screen. 

On Wednesday, the stream of people was slow but constant, though the torrential rain all day affected the numbers of visitors. After early showers on Thursday, the much improved weather brought people to us in significant numbers, at times queuing to enter the house to see what was going on! 

We used a red flag banner to let visitors know that something was going on in this house in the large museum grounds, while the additional building trail developed for the Festival has helped some children to hunt for evidence relating to the long use of this building.

The event was a great success with Sue commenting: ‘Many children have really enjoyed using our new survey equipment to generate an immediate visual and digital drawing of this historic house. I was really pleased that the Royal Commission was asked to contribute to the Festival events hosted by the national museum.’ "

Durga

Y Dduwies Durga yn barod ar gyfer y Puja

Y Dduwies Durga yn barod ar gyfer y Puja

Am dair wythnos yng ngwanwyn 2009 yn Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru, bu dau artist o India yn creu delweddau prydferth o’r Dduwies Durga a’u theulu. Fesul wythnos trawsffurfiwyd deunyddiau syml fel clai, papier mache, gwellt a phren yn gelfydd i greu cerfluniau manwl - pob un ohonynt â’u symbolau a’u hystyron eu hunain. Fe’u gwnaed ar gyfer Pwyllgor Puja Cymru - grŵp Hindŵaidd sydd wedi addoli yng Nghymru ers y 1970au. Gan fod eu delwedd o’r Dduwies Durga yn hen a threuliedig roedd angen un newydd arnynt.

Durga yw’r Fam-dduwies anorchfygol, sy’n marchogaeth i’r frwydr ar gefn llew. Fe’i crëwyd gan y Duwiau pan oedd drygioni’n bygwth y Bydysawd. Hi yw ‘Shakti’ y pŵer dwyfol i wrthsefyll, amsugno ac ymladd pwerau’r fall. Trwy gydol yr addoli, a elwir yn Puja, mae Hindŵiaid yn dathlu buddugoliaeth Durga dros ddrygioni.

Fe’i gwelwch yma yn ei holl brydferthwch yn arddangos cryfder, cynhesrwydd a chariad mamol. Saif yn falch ar gefn llew wrth iddi ladd Brenin y demoniaid, Mahisasura. Gyda hi mae ei dau fab, Ganesh a Kartikeya, a’i dwy ferch, Lakshmi a Saraswati.

Deuai’r ddau artist llwyddiannus - Purnendu a Dubyendu Dey - o Kolkata, India. Trwy gydol y broses o greu dilynwyd defodau crefyddol arbennig. Y pwysicaf ohonynt oedd Chakkshu Daan – Paentio’r Llygaid. Daeth Purnendu â Durga’n fyw drwy beintio’i llygaid yn ofalus. O’r pwynt hwn ymlaen addolir delwedd o’r Dduwies fel petai ganddi’r holl bwerau a roddodd y Duwiau iddi.

Mae’r Pujas yn cychwyn ar chweched diwrnod Navaratri, sef y naw noson o ddefodau i’r Dduwies Durga, gyda chroeso i’r Dduwies a’i theulu. Caiff mantrâu eu llafarganu yn Sansgrit, a chyflwynir offrymau i erfyn am fendith y Dduwies wrth ymladd drygioni.

Ar ôl naw niwrnod, daw’r Dushera, y diwrnod olaf. Dyma’r diwrnod i ffarwelio â’r Fam Dduwies a’i theulu. Yn India, fe’u dodir yn nyfroedd yr afon Ganges, gyda’r gobaith o’i chroesawu’n ôl y flwyddyn ganlynol. Yng Nghymru, fe’u storir yn ofalus ar gyfer y flwyddyn ganlynol.

Cert Celf

Mae’r Cert Celf yn dechrau ar ddydd sadwrn yma yn Oriel 1 Sain Ffagan, Amgueddfa Werin Cymru, o 11am tan 1pm, a 2pm tan 4pm. Dewch yn llu i dynnu lluniau wedi’u ysbrydoli gan Pop Peth - yr arddangosfa newydd - neu allech chi helpu gwneud ‘collage’ lliwgar i gydfynd â phrosiect Duwies Durga.

Tra eich bod chi’n mwynhau paned yn Café Bardi, neu'n cael pryd o fwyd yn y bwyty, beth am liwio llun? Mae’r lluniau isod yn dangos pa fath o weithgareddau sydd ar gael i'ch diddanu.

 

The magic flute

Festival of British Archaeology 2009

A few photos from last weekend's "Magic flute" event in which Gareth Riseborough tried to make replicas of a medieval and a possible Neolithic flute.

He was successful in both projects. The medieval flute plays very well and looks fantastic. The Neolithic whistle looks the piece, but is very difficult to play - no fault of Gareth's there, the reason he was trying to replicate the original was to see whether it was actually a whistle, or whether it might have been simply a dog-chewed bone.

Sally conjuring colours

Festival of British Archaeology 2009

More photos from finished events... This time Sally demonstrating dyeing with natural dyes.

The orange comes from madder, the yellow from weld, blue from woad, and green is a mix of woad and weld.