Yn Gymraeg...

Here it is again in Welsh...in which its central theory sounds more convincing, I like to think.

Fel ewyn ton a dyr ar draethell unig,
Fel cân y gwynt lle nid oes glust a glyw,
Mi wn eu bod yn galw'n ofer arnom-
Hen bethau anghofiedig dynol ryw.

o’r gerdd Cofio gan Waldo Williams

Gan mai Cynefin ydi enw’r cwmni y bu i Mike Hotson a minnau ei sefydlu yn y flwyddyn 2000, mae ceisio egluro ystyr ‘cynefin’ i bobl ddi-Gymraeg wedi bod yn dasg i mi ers peth amser. Mae iddo, wrth gwrs, yr hen ystyr amaethyddol ynglŷn â defaid a thiriogaeth. Ond teimlaf fod y gair, yn nwylo ac ar dafod hudolus ein beirdd, wedi ei gyfoethogi i’r fath raddau na ellir ei gyfieithu’n syml i eiriau ieithoedd eraill. Yn arbennig felly’r ieithoedd hynny a ddatblygwyd o gwmpas y syniadaeth fodern, cwbl estron i ddiwylliannau brodorol, mai eiddo dyn ydi natur.

Fe es i drwy gyfnod o egluro ein bod ni’n teimlo poen hiraeth oherwydd cysylltiad corfforol rhyngom ni a bröydd ein mebyd - cysylltiad o atgofion synhwyraidd am leoliad a chyfnod ein plentyndod sy’n plethu’n rhaff, yn llinyn bogail, sy’n ein clymu ni i’r fam ddaear.

Erbyn hyn, wedi dilyn trywydd yr eglurhad i’r fath eithafion, mae’r argraff yr ydw i’n ei greu ar yr holwr diniwed yn un o ddyn sydd ychydig yn wallgof. Ond nid trigfan atgofion dwfn a phersonol yn unig yw cynefin. Mae o hefyd yn ymwneud â theimladau encilion yr ymwybod - bod y graig, y coed, y dŵr, y ddaear, yr awyr o’n gwmpas yn ein cofio ni ac yn llawenhau yn ein dychweliad atyn nhw.

Cefais ryw gyffyrddiad o hyn wrth i mi ddychwelyd i Gaerdroia am y trydydd tro, i baratoi Heuldro Gaeaf. Ond digon tymhestlog fu’r berthynas ers hynny. Bu’r gwynt a’r glaw’n diasbedain o’n cwmpas ac oni bai am y grŵp anhygoel o actorion a gwirfoddolwyr fu wrthi, mi fyddent wedi achosi tranc y prosiect gor-fentrus efallai, hwn. Roedd y syniad o greu perfformiad ganol gaeaf ar gopa bryn ym mherfeddion coedwig Gwydir yn hynod apelgar yng nghanol haul Mehefin, pan fuom ni yma’n perfformio Heuldro Haf - o leiaf mi fuasai’r piwiaid cythreulig yna wedi diflannu. Rhyw ddelwedd ramantus o dawel nos, clustog o eira ar y coed a’r wybren heb gwmwl i guddio Siôn Corn a’i geirw, oedd gen i!

Y gwirionedd oedd gwynt a glaw, llifogydd a mwd llithrig ac, wrth ysgrifennu hwn, yr un yw’r rhagolygon ar gyfer gweddill mis Rhagfyr. Ac felly fe hoffwn i dalu teyrnged i chi, oherwydd os ydych chi’n darllen hwn mi fyddwch wedi bod ar antur anghyfforddus Heuldro Gaeaf. Rydw i’n gobeithio’n arw bod y daith wedi datgelu trysor o ryw fath i chi. Mae llwyddiant ein perfformiadau’n crogi bob amser o linyn main tenau, y llinyn unigryw hwnnw y mae angen i bob aelod o’r gynulleidfa ei ddarganfod a’i ddefnyddio i gysylltu’r profiadau synhwyraidd y maen nhw’n dod ar eu traws wrth gerdded llwybr Caerdroia. Bwriad Heuldro Gaeaf yw dod â ni’n agosach at yr hyn a welwn ni ydi ysbryd y Nadolig.

Rydw i o’r farn, hen ffasiwn erbyn hyn, bod gan y Nadolig drysor i’w ddatguddio. Dyma adeg y flwyddyn pan fydd y teimlad o gynefin yn ymestyn y tu hwnt i gornel bach yr unigolyn i gynnwys ‘hen bethau anghofiedig dynol ryw’. Wrth i ni ddychwelyd unwaith eto i’r cynefin ehangach hwn, mae’r byd yn cofio amdanom ni ac yn teimlo llawenydd - ac mi fyddwn ninnau hefyd yn teimlo llawenydd yn sgil hynny wrth sylweddoli mor hael ydi’r byd yn ei hanfod. Dyna, rydw i’n tybio, yw tarddiad yr holl chwedlau caredigrwydd sy’n gysylltiedig â’r ŵyl, neu efallai'r chwedlau yw tarddiad y teimlad?

Iwan Brioc, Cyfarwyddwr Artistig Cynefin

The Meaning of Cynefin

I'm posting here something I wrote for the programme of the last Cynefin performance - Heuldro Gaeaf. It has within it some ideas I've been having about interspecies communication brought about by reading a book called - "A Language Older than Words" by Derrek Jensen. It reminded me of my own experience of nature as a child and less so (saddly) as an adult.

Like the white waves that lap at lonely beaches
Like the windsong where there is no ear to hear,
I know they call in vain to us -
The old forgotten things of man.
From Cofio, Waldo Williams

Since it is the name of the company Mike Hotson and I started in 2000, I’ve been trying for some time to explain the meaning of the word ‘cynefin’ to non-Welsh speakers. It has, of course, an agricultural origin involving sheep and their territory. But in and on the magical hands and tongue of our poets the word has been enriched to signify something that can not easily be translated to other languages. In particular languages associated with a modern concept which is quite alien to native cultures – the concept that man owns nature.

I went through a period of explaining that we had this thing called ‘hiraeth’, which was a physical pain from being distant from our homeland, because we had a physical connection to the place of our birth - a collection of sensory memories of the time and place of our childhood which pleats a rope like an umbilical cord which connects us to mother earth.

By now, having evolved my explanation to extremes, I give the impression of being a little crazy to innocent inquirers. ‘Cynefin’ is not only a place in which deep personal memories reside, but places which bring about a feeling on the fringes of awareness, that the rock, the tree, the water, the earth and the sky around you remember you and are joyful at your return.

I felt this a little on returning to Caerdroia for the third time to prepare Heuldro Gaeaf: but since then our relationship has been unsettled. There was unremitting rain and wind which, were it not for a group of incredible actors and volunteers, would have inevitably led to the demise of this foolhardy project. The idea of creating a mid-winter performance on the top of a hill deep in the Gwydir Forest was appealing in the June sun, when we were last here performing Heuldro Haf: at least the midges would be gone. I had romantic images of silent nights, the snow like a blanket over the trees, the starry sky without a cloud to hide Santa and his reindeer!

But as it was we worked every day in rain and wind, flood and slippery mud and as I write the forecast is the same for the rest of December. So I would like to pay tribute to you because if you are reading this you dared go on the uncomfortable adventure that is Heuldro Gaeaf. I dearly hope that the adventure led to the discovery of a treasure for you. It is always by a thread that the successes of our performances hang, and that is the unique thread which each audience member must discover which connects the sensory moments they encounter along the path of the Caerdroia. These moment in Heuldro Gaeaf attempt to bring us closer to what we mean by the spirit of Christmas.

I have the now old fashioned impression that Christmas has indeed within it a treasure to discover. This is a time of year when the feeling of ‘cynefin’ is stretched beyond our little corner to include the old forgotten things of man. And in returning again to this wider ‘cynefin’ the world remembers us and feels joy, and we feel joy to know that the essential nature of the world is beneficent. That, I’m guessing,, is the source of these stories of kindness associated with the season, or perhaps the stories are the source of the feeling.

Iwan Brioc, Artistic Director, Cynefin