Background Information for hosting church’s bulletins, announcements, or newsletters to explain the gymanfa ganu and related traditions of the Wisconsin Welsh Weekend
Below is the newsletter information and “bulletin bleeps” created by Ann Lemmenes for the 2017 Celtic Weekend for All:
Suggested content and format for information to be included in the hosting church’s bulletins and newsletters: (Someone from WGGAW will work with the hosting church to create the appropriate messages.)
About 6 weeks before the Welsh Weekend:
1. Come to Welsh Weekend hosted at the church! List of weekend events-
-presentations, te bach (afternoon tea, pronounced tay bahk), workshops, noson lawen (merry evening (informal volunteer variety show) pronounced know’-sen laow’-en), eisteddfod (pronounced eye-steth’-vod) award, pub night singing (usually at another location), the gymanfa ganu (pronounced guh-mahn’-vah gah’-nee and meaning festival of (hymn) singing)–and their times. Refer to http://wggaw.org for scheduled times and locations. Everyone is enthusiastically urged to attend all weekend events. There is no charge for attending just the noson lawen, pub night, or the Sunday gymanfa ganu. (Picture from Te Bach Tea Rooms, https://www.facebook.com/TeBachTeaRooms?fref=ts .)
2. Compete in the Welsh Weekend Eisteddfod competitions! 
Explain that an eisteddfod (eye-steth’-vod) is a pair of competitions, one for a Chair and the other for a Crown.
Compete for the Chair: in Wales the Chair competition entails writing a piece in Welsh in a specific form of poetry on a specified theme) and that our Welsh Weekend it will be a writing contest on the year’s chosen theme in the form of a short essay or poem in English or Welsh. The prize, following the tradition of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, is a chair. (Elfryn Thomas, winner of the chair in 2013, is shown with his chair at left.) Entries must be submitted by email by a deadline date so the winner can be chosen. Details of the deadline and address for submission or refer to http://wggaw.org/eisteddfod . Note: To be celebrated as the chosen bard and receive the award, the writer must be present at the ceremony.
3. Compete in the competition for the Crown: The competition for the Crown in Wales is a competition in free-verse poetry. Our Crown competition is in the visual arts–painting, photography, ceramics, textile arts, wood crafts, etc.–inspired by the theme. Go to http://wggaw.org/esiteddfod for details concerning submission deadlines and other considerations. Note: To be celebrated as the chosen artist and receive the award, the artist must be present at the ceremony.
4. Join in at the Noson Lawen (or Prynhawn Llawen if the event is held in the afternoon) Note that all–individuals or groups–are encouraged mot only to attend the noson lawen but also to contribute to the informal “merry evening” program with musical performance, jokes, readings, etc.
5. Dewch, canwn i’r Arglwydd! / Come, let us sing to the Lord! All are 
invited to attend the gymanfa ganu ( guh-mahn’-vah gahn’-nee) on Sunday. Although some of the singing will be in Welsh, the director will assist everyone not familiar with Welsh to help them pronounce the lyrics. A lavish afternoon tea–the te bach–is served after the singing session.
Repeat all the messages each Sunday until last Sunday before the eisteddfod Chair competition deadline.
Repeat messages 1,, 3, 4, and 5 each succeeding Sunday until the Sunday before the weekend.
Repeat message 5 on morning of the gymanfa ganu.