St. David's Day: Myths & Perspective
Good morning, I'm back on the voice notes. Guess what? Saint David's Day. The patron saint of Wales. Hello, Saint David.
Speaker 1:So Saint David's Day in Wales, celebration of Welsh culture. There's a big competition that happens every year called the Aestethvod, which is the poets and the singers and the dancers and all these talented musicians come together and compete for the chair, compete for the win in the basically when you're in school, all the schools, so you have like the regional competitions where you I used do like Welsh folk dancing in my school. We'd all like have your local competitions and the best local team goes against a wider like town versus town. And then the best in those areas go against each other. Then you've basically got the best from each region, you go to the Esteelefod once a year and you battle it out for the best in the country.
Speaker 1:And this is, like, all sorts of stuff. Like, yeah. I just remember, like, acting and singing and sketches, and this is it's actually amazing. Looking back, really, like, talent was phenomenal. Still goes today, obviously.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, we wear, like, leak leaks on our t shirts and shit like that because the leak is part of Welsh culture I suppose in the old cowl which is like Welsh stew. But anyway, the best thing about all this literature and stuff in Wales which is ancient is the Welsh myths. The Mabinogion, don't know if anyone's here to that but, these Welsh myths are cool as hell and they shouldn't be taught more because we got cool myths from Norway, we got cool myths from Roman times but we got even cooler myths on the British Isles, of ancient British Isles, the Britons of the old, which does, you know, what the Welsh and Scottish and Cornish and stuff are. So let's let's go through some myths, shall we? And then we'll get into some, you know, advice to start your day maybe.
Speaker 1:Here's myth number one, the Devil's Bridge. So the picture of this is three bridges, one really a really old one, and then there's another old one built above it, and then there's a new one built above it. So according to legend, the devil himself visited Ceredigion in the eleventh century after hearing about his breathtaking scenery. While there, he struck a bargain with a local woman whose cow was stranded across the river. In a bid to buy her soul, the devil said he'd build her a bridge in exchange for the soul of the first living thing that crossed it.
Speaker 1:When the bridge was built, the woman threw a loaf of bread across it, which her dog then chased. The devil was never seen in Wales again, too embarrassed at being outwitted by the old lady, in the village of Devil's Bridge today. There are three crossings across the river. The oldess is said to have been built by Satan himself. Cardyr Idris, some of you might have seen this amazingly breathtaking lake and mountain.
Speaker 1:One of Wales most iconic peaks standing in the Southern Snowdonia. Its name directly translates as Idris's Chair reference to the mythical giant who once used the mountain as his throne. There are numerous stories and legends associated with the mountain and Idris. A few of the kneel by lakes such as Talachin are reputed to be bottomless and those who venture up the mountain at night should take heed before sleeping on its slopes. Why is that?
Speaker 1:It is said that those who sleep on the mountain will awaken either as a madman, a poet or indeed never wake again. King Arthur. Arthur is heavily associated with Wales. The original story of Arthur is Welsh guy. He's Brythonic.
Speaker 1:He was the British king that fought against the invading Anglo Saxons. He's not English. The Lake Hidau, Dinas and Ogwen amongst those that claim to contain the magical Exalibur. A stone, reputed I can't say I would. Basically a stone bearing the footprint of Arthur's house, Shamurai, can be found on the banks of Lake Barovog near Betosokoid, and that's near where we were in Snowdon, guys.
Speaker 1:We were in Betosokoid. It is said that the mark was made when Arthur and his horse dragged a monster from the lake's deep waters. Arthur is also associated with Mount Snowdon where he killed the mountain's most famous resident, Dreetha, a fearsome giant who created a cape for himself out of the beards of his enemies. His corpse was covered in huge stones by Arthur's men at the summit of the mountain. And it is said, guys, Arthur rallied the the the British against the invasion of the Anglo Saxons and was a hero.
Speaker 1:Could have been based off a real person who was a proper hero in that war and then turned into a myth because he was such a, you know, incredible leader. And then, yeah, it kind of got merged into it, but he's a he's an English king, which is not alright. But it's who cares, really? The Lady of the Lake, Hinnechan Wach in Chamadanshern, near where I'm from. The story goes that there was Hinnechan Wach, a remote lake in the Black Mountains where a young farm in Gwyn won and then tragically lost the love of his life.
Speaker 1:He fell in love with a beautiful woman who emerged from the water and she agreed to marry him but warned him she would leave him forever if he struck her three times. They lived happily for many years and had three sons but when Gwen struck her playfully for the third time she disappeared into the lake and he never saw it again. She would sometimes reappear to her sons and teach them the powers of healing with herbs and plants. They became skillful physicians as did their children after them. Some of the ancient remedies have survived and are in the Red Book of Hergest, one of Wales' most important medieval manuscripts.
Speaker 1:I wonder Merlin's Oak. So Merlin's Oak stood in the center of Carmarthen amid the legend that King Arthur's famous wizard had placed a protective curse in it. In local tradition the wizard said Camarthen would drown if the orc was ever removed and some even said a curious pointed notch in the tree was the face of Merlin himself. In fact the tree was poisoned in the 1850s by a local who objected to people holding meat and beneath it, but its trunk was, preserved within iron railings. It was then removed from the town when someone set it on fire at the end of the late nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1:Kemarthen then suffered its worst floods for many years. Oh, my days. Badzi Island off the coast of the Hyn Peninsula, meanwhile, is said to be the burial place of Merlin who lies in a glass coffin surrounded by the 13 treasures of Britain and nine Bardic companions. Guys, and then the last one is a sad one. Gellert.
Speaker 1:The village of Beith Gaelert in Gwynedd literally means Gaelert's grave and is supposedly the final resting place of the Wales' most famous dog. The canine belonged to Hualien the great prince of Gwynedd who one day was out hunting with his wife leaving their baby son with a nurse and a servant to look after him. The nurse and the servant went for a walk in the mountains leaving the baby alone. When Huwelin returned, Gaelert came running out of the lodge towards his master covered in blood. Hughelin rushed into the baby's room to find the cradle overturned and no sign of his son.
Speaker 1:Filled with grief, he drew his sword and killed Gaelert. As the dog died, his whimpers were answered by the sound of a baby crying from behind the overturned cradle. When Hughelin pulled aside the cradle, he found his son unharmed in the body of a huge wolf next to him. With huge remorse, Hughelin buried Gellert in a meadow nearby and marked his grave with a chiron of stones. Gellert, you legend, saved the kid's life, got killed, but he saved it.
Speaker 1:There's loads of there's loads, guys. There's there is a lot of myths. One of my favorite, is the mad dog myth and it caused the Americans to go crazy. When America was founded, there's a lot of Welsh descendants essentially, a lot of Welsh people went over to the New World and Thomas Jefferson had, you know, essentially of Welsh stock And prince Mardock was this myth that had been going around since like a thousand years ago. So prince Mardock was the son of Owen Gwynedd, one of the greatest and most important rulers in the country.
Speaker 1:In November Owen died and almost immediately a violent and very bloody dispute arose between his 13 children regarding the succession. Mardoc and his brother Ridhrid was so upset and angered by events that is going And so world. World the declaration of independence and they were trying to expand westwards and all the rumors, they actually sent out a group of men to go and find these Welsh speaking Indians, and some people claimed they found them and they had a Welsh accent and all the stuff and it was like mad dog fever all over again. So that's quite funny, ain't it? That's it.
Speaker 1:Don't wanna spend more time on the myths here. Hope you enjoyed that. Just wanna say guys, it's week five but it's not halfway through. We're actually 41% way through and that's important because some people are we're already halfway through. We've got 60% left, we've got a lot of time left on this challenge.
Speaker 1:Again, if you're slow off the mark is fine. If you're making gains, happy days. This week on the strength workouts, it is the peak week, it is where we're pushing all out. Next week we've got D Lord and then we go big in the last few weeks, right? So we've got lot of time to smash it.
Speaker 1:And I know it's quite difficult right now, to forecast, to concentrate and I urge you all to get off the news. I've been sucked into the news over the last few days, and it's hard to get off the news because it's always unfolding. Right? There's nothing we can do to change the situation that the Ukrainian crisis is in right now. I mean, if you want to go and do donate, you know, give things to, there's a few places like charities, they can send stuff over.
Speaker 1:If you can make sure you don't spread misinformation or make sure you only share verified credible information. If you do share it, you're doing your part. Unfortunately, we're small pawns in this game, and we can only focus on what we can control. And what we can control is the days the day we got ahead. And how I'm seeing it is if I'm my healthier, strongest self, that's the best version of me I'm giving to humanity.
Speaker 1:This thing, this regime over Putin's regime and all this is outside my control. But me being my healthier, strongest, most resilient self is bound to be the best thing I can give to the world. And who knows where I'm going to be used in the world. Maybe we need to do something, I don't know. But we can't do anything about it.
Speaker 1:So don't feel frustrated that it won't change because there's nothing you can do about it. That's the reality of this. I mean, you can do the things that can to help, like I said, there's a lot of, like, these movements happening, which is awesome. But we can't do anything about it. It's up to these stupid leaders of Russia and to come together and say, let's stop the war.
Speaker 1:The point war is literally pointless. Let us just live in peace like. Do you know what I'm saying? Just let us live in peace. Why do you want expand?
Speaker 1:Enjoy Putin, you got millions. You've corrupt guy. Just go and live and enjoy yourself. You know, don't put the world into war and risk nuclear war and all this nonsense. But for us, we can't let that sap us away from our energy away because what that does is he's ruining lives over there.
Speaker 1:He's causing fear, which is exactly what he wants to call through the West. He wants us all to fear and worry, right, and cause havoc is exactly what he wants to happen by saying he's got, like, the nukes already. And if we buy into that, we're buying into his scare tactics, and he's taken away our lives as well. And I think for us, I genuinely believe that the best thing we can do and look in the face of war, making money, building a brand, buy NFTs, buying designer stuff just withers away. Can see how pointless it is chasing our stuff.
Speaker 1:I know you will see a lot of tweets on this like a lot of business people and stuff like on Twitter like what's the point doing NFTs? It just feels pointless right now. What's the point building a business it feels pointless. A lot of this stuff does feel pointless in the face of a crisis and a war. Just does, it just that all gets blown away.
Speaker 1:But what will always matter is your own health, your own mindset, right. That will always matter because it's going to matter for you, your family, your friends. So it's important that we really focus on what we can control, what is in front of us today. Make sure we are still working on our mind and our bodies. And that's that's all we can do.
Speaker 1:And if you want to do extra and help happy days, I think it'd be amazing if people help in funding stuff, all our stuff, but don't feel like, yeah, just don't get sucked in too much to the news. The news is there to keep you there. Right? Most news channels need your eyeballs to survive. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 1:They love this stuff. They absolutely love it. Since 2020, we've been glued to the news. And it's never good. It takes energy away.
Speaker 1:So right now, don't look at the news. The information will come to you. I've I've been stuck in the news last week. Swear I was also saw it in in the news Twitter. Was like, my god.
Speaker 1:Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. Got a little break of the news. Feels so much better, so much better.
Speaker 1:We'll deal with the things that come our way when they come our way. So put a smile on your face, you've got a chance to improve yourself today. That. This works for me all the time. Perspective is always something that works for me.
Speaker 1:Perspective is there's people now running away from Ukraine, travelling, walking all the way to Poland to just get out of harm's way. They just want their normal life back, they just want to be able to go to the shop when the people just go to the, know, probably go to the gym or improve themselves or see their friends and they just want the basic stuff that we've got right now. And I think it's important that we do take that perspective and be like, we are very lucky and fortunate right now to be able to go on and make the most of our day, improve ourselves, speak to our loved ones, see them, speak to them, enjoy the day basically. It's very fortunate. It's really a reality kicker, this like this like potential war, World War three scenario, which I don't think will happen, but it really does bring us back to wow.
Speaker 1:We thought those days are over, but then all like kicked in the face. Wow. So yeah, smile, enjoy your face, enjoy your day, and get you one big thing done. So right as soon as this voice and finishes, write down what your one big thing today is. Might be not to watch the news at all.
Speaker 1:See how you feel. It might be just to get your workout done, be track your macros, track your breakfast, track your lunch, meal prep, anything. Just get your one big thing done. If you are lacking momentum, starts with one step. So get that done now, and I'll speak to you all on Turtle Radio.
