Hiraeth

In a recent email from my mother, she commented that, for me, to feel homesick is almost to be expected - because of my nationality. 'It's a well known fact,' she wrote, 'that the Welsh take longer to settle in a new place than anyone else.' I pondered this for a while and concluded that she was probably right: after all, the Welsh language does have it's own word to express a deep longing for home, 'hiraeth'. If I were a better linguist I may know whether other languages have an equivalent. I suspect, however, that they don't: the sense of cultural identity is strong within any Welsh person; especially if that person is no longer in Wales!

Yet I do believe I've turned a corner; I'm settling, slowly, into my new environment but I think that hiraeth will remain within me until my feet are firmly back on the soil of my motherland.

When I went to University in Exeter, I distinctly recall that even though I loved my time there, an underlying hiraeth remained deep within me, calling me back to Wales once I'd graduated. It was also the only time in my life I'd actively listened to a Male Voice Choir! And funnily enough, when browsing some of Kristin's photos of the area around my house, I again began to 'hear' 'We'll Keep a Welcome in the Hillsides', a traditional Male Voice Choir song. A little bizarre, I agree, but I think the lyrics are poignant:


Far away a voice is calling,
Bells from memory do chime
Come home again, come home again,
They call through the oceans of time.

We'll keep a welcome in the hillside.
We'll keep a welcome in the Vales.
This land you knew will still be singing
When you come home again to Wales.

This land of song will keep a welcome
And with a love that never fails,
Well kiss away each hour of hiraeth
When you come home again to Wales.