PENARTH WINTER CARNIVAL 2019

here's Penarth's carnival encourager Richard Parry talking to the people who invented a crazy activity in mid-Wales

people from Penarth were in the heart of building the carnival that opened the 2018 National Eisteddfod

the Eden Project's "Great Big Walk" across Wales from Yorkshire finished with a big community party at Penarth in 2017

Whereas it hath long been known society cannot operate in human decency without that fundamental pillar of law which permitteth the cry of ‘habeus corpus’ - and, God’s wounds, was not it also the demand of Thomas, and does there not exist an army battalion that would clamour for its boots and braces without the occasional production of bodies - yet for what time hath it been forgot there exists a concomitant right of every man, woman and child, within or without of the law, to exercise laughter.

But that being put aside for an instant, let it be herewith noted our purposes be not to encourage private laughter or such farewell smirking which hath so its moment in destruction of the fabric of our common weal and civic dignity, rather to set forth without abstraction those canons and caveats by which we might endeavour to augment the same by a common roar of mirth, so widely set forth from worldly ire that trips and beats from bed to bowl to byre and bed again, but rather that which is appraised by those who have laboured beneath its daily yoke, to be that distant glimmen of eternal joy, made present from whence the bright sun hath dipped its solstice in the darkest broth of winter until such time as golden seed push through the jewelled ice and green our appetite for life again. So first let it be known of any official, being clerk or officer, lawyer, ordinand, marshal or sergeant, upon whom, by order of some prayer or paper held within the town or state, should come cap in hand, or cap on head, refuting truths and law herein residing that with ease predate both office, pen and epaulette, let it be known their strenuous petitions upon our long discovered jurisdiction of joy can be no more heard nor regarded as bearing authority upon the pursuit of our civic happiness than the presentation of flatus caught and preserved in a kettle.

THEN THEY CUT OFF HIS HEAD and with the head they made for Harlech, and they began a feast, and the indulgence in food and drink was begun. And as soon as they began to eat and drink there came three birds, which began to sing a kind of song to them; and when they heard that song, every other [tune] seemed unlovely beside it. It seemed a distant sight, what they could see far above the ocean yet it was as clear as if they had been right next to them. And they were at that feast for seven years. And at the end of the seventh year, they made for Gwales in Penfro. And there at their disposal was a beautiful kingly place high above the ocean – and a great hall it was. They went into the hall. They saw two open doors – the third door was closed, and that was the one facing Cornwall. ‘Look over there,’ said Manawydan ‘the door which we must never open.’ And that night they were there, lacking nothing – and were completely free of care. Of all the grief that they had witnessed or experienced themselves – there was no longer any memory, or any of the sorrow in the world. Eighty years they passed there, having never enjoyed a period of time as carefree or light-hearted as that. It was no more irksome to them – they didn’t realise from their companions how long it had been since they came there. And it was no more irksome for them having the head there, than it had been when Bendigeidfran had been alive with them. And because of that it was known as the ‘Assembly of The Wondrous Head’. (The Assembly of Branwen and Matholwch was the one where they went to Ireland). This is what Heilyn son of Gwyn did one day: ‘Shame on my beard,’ said he ‘if I don’t open the door and find out whether it is true what is said about it. So he opened the door, and looked out to Cornwall and over Aber Henvelen. And when he looked, suddenly everything they had ever lost – loved ones and companions, and all the bad things that had ever happened to them; and most of all the loss of their king – became as clear as if it had been rushing in towards them. And from that moment, they were not able to rest unless they were making for London with the head.

And they came ashore at Pen Hardd in Aber Henfelen, and as each placed his feet on the shore, carrying the head, their losses came greatly upon them, and their strength went from them.

Then Manawydan said, ‘This journey over the land ahead will not be made without some assistance beyond us.” And they looked back over the sea and saw and heard once more the birds of Rhiannon, the same which had appeared to them in Harddlech, and the head which until that time had not spoken awoke a while and said, “Be at feast here for four days, and the joys you were afforded on Gwales will not be lost to us.” And on the fifth day they continued to London, however long they were on the road, and buried the head in the White Mound.

This lovely Penarth Carnival ribbon is in woven fabric and available in town shops this week.

There'll be great carnival offers and discounts for everyone wearing a piece of carnival ribbon

Full list of offer and activities here