Intercultural Word of the Week: "Hireath"
This is a term that sits at the very heart of Welsh culture and translates as the longing and nostalgia for the homeland. Wherever the Welsh travel in the world so they create a new society largely due to hireath.
"I know the meaning of the Welsh word - 'Hiraeth'. This has pulled at me all my life. I would happily travel west, but north, south or east was so difficult. I lived in a beautiful home on the edge of Wales, looking west. The mountains shouted hiraeth, hiraeth! Silently and patiently.
One day as my material life allowed I was able to obey the call. Eureka! I now know, yes I know what it means. Hiraeth is in the mountains where the wind speaks in many tongues and the buzzards fly on silent wings. It's the call of my spiritual home, it's where ancient peoples made their home. We're high on a hill, where saints bathed sore feet in a healing spring and had a cure.” Val Bethell, author 2003