Stori Canthrig Bwt

“The dominating authoritarianism in the western world demands people are disconnected from the land…
The lore is in the land …
Leave those who are pecking over the carcass of the earth to their dying beliefs and the rest of us can get on with rebuilding relationships, stories, knowledge and place. Quietly and with people"

- Tyson Yunkaporta

Yn 2024, fel rhan o Crone Cast a Stori’r Tir, dechreuais feddwl tybed sut beth fyddai ail-ddychmygu chwedlau/straeon merched, yn enwedig y rhai sydd i’w gweld wedi colli rhywbeth dros y blynyddoedd, a meddwl am sut y gallai’r straeon hyn fod yn berthnasol heddiw a pha ystyr dyfnach y gallent ei gael.

Mewn cydweithrediad â Wanda Zyborska, ac wedi’i hysbrydoli gan lif ymwybyddiaeth wrth edrych ar y tir o’i chwmpas, ail-ddychmygais stori Canthrig Bwt. Pwy oedd Canthrig Bwt? Mae chwedlau’n dweud ei bod hi’n ‘wrach ganibal’, cawres, a oedd yn byw o dan y Gromlech, craig ym Mwlch Llanberis y gallwn ei gweld hyd heddiw. Roedd sôn ei bod hi’n hoff o fwyta plant bach, a’i bod hi efallai wedi gwerthu ei henaid i’r diafol.

Nawr rwy’n gweld dylanwad Canthrig Bwt ym mhobman yn y dirwedd, gan newid y ffordd rwy’n teimlo am y gorffennol, y presennol a’r dyfodol. Mae hi wedi dod yn real iawn i mi! Efallai mai dyma beth mae awduron ‘go iawn’ yn ei brofi wrth iddyn nhw greu ac ysgrifennu am gymeriadau?

Mae artistiaid ac awduron lleol eraill wedi cael eu hysbrydoli gan ailddychmygu’r stori; mae Seran Dolma wedi ysgrifennu fersiwn Gymraeg, ac mae llawer o rai eraill wedi dilyn gyda celf gweledol. Daeth y syniad gan Seran – pam ddim gwahodd llawer o fersiynau eraill?

Ac felly, gan ddechrau ar y 4ydd o Orffennaf, bydd Seran Dolma, Wanda Zyborska a finnau’n arwain tri gweithdy creadigol i archwilio’r dirwedd ac i ailddychmygu stori Canthrig Bwt. Pwy allai plant Canthrig fod? Beth maen nhw’n ei gynrychioli yn y byd heddiw? Sut mae’r tirweddau mewnol ac allanol rydyn ni’n byw ynddynt yn llunio’r straeon rydyn ni’n eu hadrodd?

Mae’r gweithdai am ddim ac ar agor i bawb, a byddant yn cael eu cynnal yn yr awyr agored ac mewn mannau cymunedol o amgylch Nant Peris a Llanberis. P’un a ydych chi’n artist, yn awdur, neu’n chwilfrydig am lên gwerin a chynefin, mae hwn yn gyfle prin i gymryd rhan mewn ail-lunio stori sydd â gwreiddiau yn y tir ac yn adlewyrchu’r tir.

—o—o—o—o—o—o—

In 2024, as part of Crone Cast and Stori’r Tir I started to wonder what might it be like to re-imagine legends/stories of women, especially those which seem to have lost something over the years… how might these stories be relevant today? Can reimaginging these stories really help us think about change differently, perhaps?

Above is the beginning of trying to do that, in collaboration with Wanda Zyborska. Canthrig Bwt is ‘originally’ a terrible (and classic) story of an old witch/giant/hag who lived beneath a cromlech stone and ate the children of Nant Peris. Has this story (and equivalents across the world) lost its deeper or more nuanced meaning?

I wrote the story in a flow of consciousness. it just kind of developed, from looking at the land around me. It is striking how writing this story connected me with the details of place, and now I see Canthrig Bwt’s influence everywhere in the landscape, changing the way I feel about past, present and future. She has become very real to me! Maybe this is what ‘real’ authors experience as they create and write about characters?

A friend and author, Seran Dolma has also reimagined the story, in a much more sophisticated fersiwn cymraeg. And she has suggested we might invite many (maybe 100?) other versions… Already Siân Barlow and Pip Owen have started bringing Canthrig Bwt to life through images, and Ellen Davies, Ed Straw and A Gent Orange have been putting her story to sound.

And so, starting on the 4th of July, Seran Dolma, Wanda Zyborska and I will lead three creative workshops to explore the landscape and reimagine the story of Canthrig Bwt. Who could the children of Canthrig be? What do they represent in the world today? How do the internal and external landscapes we live in shape the stories we tell?

The workshops are free and open to everyone, and will be held outdoors and in community spaces around Nant Peris and Llanberis. Whether you are an artist, a writer, or just curious about folklore and habitat, this is a rare opportunity to take part in reshaping a story that has its roots in the land and reflects the land.

Gwahoddiad STORI’R TIR Invitation!

Three workshops in Dyffryn Peris in July, exploring the traditional story of Canthrig Bwt, a giantess or witch who lived in Nant Peris, by writing and telling a story, drawing and imagining together. Together we will reconsider the story of Canthrig, asking how this character could be reinterpreted through a contemporary lens to represent something that is important to us about our relationship with this special place, and the wider world.

Our focus will be on imagining who might be the children of Canthrig, as further development of the story, exploring symbols in the tangible landscape and the internal landscape.

With Seran Dolma, Wanda Zyborska, Lindsey Colbourne

FREE but booking essential

Part of Dyffryn Peris Story of the Land

Tri gweithdy yn Nyffryn Peris ym Mis Gorffennaf, yn archwilio stori draddodiadol Canthrig Bwt, cawres neu wrach oedd yn byw yn Nant Peris, trwy ysgrifennu a dweud stori, darlunio a chyd-ddychmygu.

Byddwn yn ail-ystyried stori Canthrig, gan ofyn a ellid ail-ddehiongli’r cymeriad yma trwy chwyddwydr gyfoes i gynrychioli rhywbeth sy’n bwysig i ni am ein perthynas gyda’r lle arbennig yma, a’r byd yn ehangach.

Bydd cyfle i’r cyfranogwyr ddychmygu plant Canthrig, fydd yn ddatblygiad pellach o’r stori, ac yn ffordd o archwilio symbolau yn y tirwedd diriaethol a’r tirwedd mewnol.

Efo Seran Dolma, Wanda Zyborska, Lindsey Colbourne

AM DDIM ond mae'n hanfodol archebu

Rhan o Stori’r Tir Dyffryn Peris

Me reading Stori Canthrig Bwt (6.10.24) with Ellen Davies creating live sound, and Pip Owen’s response!