The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-08-19
INI'ELSAaANDIB B |. ! Q. 4 S.
8BAR!D,|.I|lC. /. FESTIVAL [. Al.
Days tie Ancient Dr,lid l:' Re Re,
called ibyS Quaint Ceremonies
lii Brittany.
KINDRED Gel Us NJ ". y = = = q q
SBretons Have NotS Retained Old
Language to tie Extent That s5
Welsl1lnen II lave. I'm *.
specln, Correspondent,

Special Correspondence 8 S5sS jS4 n
n Il ssS ST. BR1DUC G, 8Aug. A. II
The pan-Celtic gathering Is ovcr, and
the Bards, the Druid and tho Ova pst
have gone back agnin TO Wales. There Their
has been a considerable element of the
4picturesquc9in the proceedings Of the last
4 few days, BIZ to All outsider "a must pc
admitted that the fetcs In this pctur--
csuuc little town x have appeared nlucn
moro rs m exprassi on OF Breton GOOD y
Swillto the whole Of Great Britain rather
thai1Bus an titburst OF Cal tic EN- q
Indeed the people Of this part OF Brit
Htany, Celtic MS is their retain con-.
$pnratively few racial character lst ics%. = out
81 the huge crowd that filed the park on
Monday 3 watch the bardic ceremonies,
not f}yc III a thousand understood the
13retonlangung e and even fewer. nag - NY ~
Sidcns of Stl1cimeaning of the mystic rlte!
y Tho retention by the Welsh Of their Owl 9, Vi
iSlanguaEc despite their near union VIII ~
England and their loSalt to the iSngllsl.
Government. is ono of the most euro III, .ll n
fothnolopicnl facts of modern Europe, but
tho n Bretons have not retained th Ell
sfonei,e to anything like tho INC cXten
nm Z. language is still spoken ~ IN my
af,isirict Of Finistcrre, but T IS not tatgh
In the schools, and there are hardly 5an y
Brctpns who do not speak French tllous =. !,
there arc many Welsh still VINO 90 my y.
speak English. sB, s 35s
/ Celtic Con trasts.
Judging, too, by the men ana woI .is
Who have represented Wales mere CURING
the last few days, there would MOI seem
to be much In common bet Wee11 ing
ncter and point of view of the Two 5peo-f
MES. rho Bretons are curiousy vi ule eo
4 for Frcnchmen, but they lack the dou'rH-t
ness OF tho Welsh. They have som etElng
~ tre8 same appreciation of music. w m;
4 nyt the Welsh executive abflit Ih fieS
have tho same instructive good manners g, Y
"a are possessed by tho Irish, N eo or
Jyclsh and other Celtic pc
women, both in beauty and MI ma ~
y compared with the Irish, as N q 81 q
Although 1t was curious to note Inn $1 ~
@ca tholic priest took any prominen par
in6thc celebrations the ger Bret oil M ,
zt,nnalists arc for the most part ca ho Y
nnd conservative, ~ deyout sons OF Of = no
i church, and laters Sof Republ lcanls Isl
Democracy and NJ. cornbes: u
IL Significance Of the Fetes.
n Z, s would lie easy, indeed, to find amt1se-
4 n1ent in the sight Of the staid m MIDI
aged NNeshman attiring himself IN Willte
robes, clubbing himself Druid, ana 4 n en-
sslarging on the virtues Of ms letoo Nv.
there is an ideal behind the symbolism
3 md with keeping Of the ancient "a
r,,age there is a vast encoura gemeeht LOT OF
the writing of&poetry, the composing l anu
q singing Of songs und for the ACQUIRING
of tho general appreciation Of art when
widely cnalges the life OF = e}sNVc :. !:
4 miner and Welsh peasant, and gives nm
4 something which may be 4 called culture Illlj
SSln the best sense of the word.
So far as one can judge the w ei ~
/ national movement, which eliminates
II each year with the Eisteddfod, has no
II parallel III Brittany, and 1t is TO 9 tain
1.-THE Same power OF adding the Joys OF
imagination ia the tolls Of the modern
world that the small band 5of$enthusiasts
4 In Brittany wear national cost ume, y hola
S Druidical ceremonies and employ the
Breton tongue.
IA How far they will succeed has yet, 70
be proved On the face OF things as the
observer sees them. there would appear
to be small signs of the triumph of their
IDEAS but, on the other hand. one remem-
\ bers that 100 years ago the Czech lan-
gunge, which is now commonly talked,
was quite as dead rs the Breton Is To-
3 day, and that Gaelic, which a generation
ago had almost been forgotten, Is now
being taught in hundreds of Irish schools,
I and even by che Londona County Council.
H Soy tlG 45,,4 -" IN liz 55@S XXI G