The St. David's Society of Minnesota was formed to celebrate the heritage and culture of the Welsh immigrants to Minnesota. To these ends, St. David's Society members celebrate and cultivate all things Welsh - in literature, history, music, dance, art or ideas, traditional and contemporary.
Saturday, June 7, 2025, 11:45 am - 1:00 pm on Zoom
Join us to discuss Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams OBE, a Welsh-Guyanese award-winning writer, academic, and cultural critic. This book won Wales Book of the Year in 2003. “ Sugar and Slate is a ‘classic’, enshrined in the pantheon of Welsh literature, yet too little known...Williams pushes us to ask what ‘Welsh’ means, what Guyanese means, as much as her luminous words and intricate structure force a deeper understanding of ‘classic’." From nation.cymru review
Other Books Selected for 2024-35
Aug. 2: Clear by Carys Davies
Spring Gymanfa Ganu
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 2 pm at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, 2323 Como Ave. W., St. Paul
This will be the St. David’s Society’s Centennial Gymanfa Ganu [Welsh Hymn Sing]!If you own a Welsh hymnal, please bring it along. The Gymanfa director will be Naomi Karstad of St. Paul, a lifelong lover of communal singing. Her roots in the Swedish/ Norwegian tradition fostered a love of singing hymns and singing with others. Karstad began her choral career with the Gustavus Choir and remembers being part of Gymanfaoedd led by Ellis Jones there. It was there she discovered there were other ethnic groups that loved to sing in harmony! She has sung with the Bach Society, Minnesota Chorale, the Minnesota Opera Chorus, MacPhail’s Sonomento and is the choir director at St. Anne’s numerous church choirs. Naomi is currently on the voice faculty at MacPhail,Episcopal Church in Sunfish Lake, and loves to sing opera when the opportunity presents itself.
David Evan Thomas, St. David’s Society member, will accompany on the grand piano. Marianne Reininger, Minneapolis harper, will play Celtic tunes on her pedal folk harp, while singers rest their voices. She retired from teaching kindergarten for 42 years in Wisconsin to take care of her granddaughters in Bloomington. She loves to travel at any opportunity. She enjoys playing piano, harp, handbells. She and her son perform with a faith-based drum group throughout the Midwest. She is excited to be part of the Gymanfa Ganu.
The Cymnfa Ganu will be livestreamed on the SAPLC YouTube channel: https://tinyurl.com/SAPLC-livestream. Church members will provide Welsh cakes [Pice ar y Maen] and Welsh tea (free) after the singing. Cawl Cennin, Potato Leek Soup, with Soda Bread, prepared by an SAPLC chef, will be served later. Reservations are required for the soup supper ($5/person). When reserving, please indicate if you prefer vegetarian potato leek soup. Reserve by Monday, April 28 by contactingMary Mergenthal at mary.mergenthal@gmail.com or call her at 612-670-8510. Payment will be collected May 4. (Cash or checks payable to St. David’s Society of Minnesota. No credit cards.)
Sgwrs Cymraeg, Welsh Conversation
Any learners or would-be learners welcome to any or all of these classes. ALL held via Zoom, on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 10:30am - 12:30pm. Contact conversation facilitator: Laurel Bradshaw, llawryf@yahoo.com for Zoom link and more information.
Interviews of Society Members
Our First Member Interview: Ellis Jones! On November 1, 2021, one of our board members, Hywel Roberts, interviewed our long-time member and past president, Ellis Jones. Click hereto read the transcript of the interview. We will eventually create a video of excerpts from this and future interviews.
Laurel Bradshaw: in March of 2025, Mary Morris Mergenthal interviewed Laurel about how she learned Welsh and became a Welsh dance instructor. Read her responses here.
Did you know the on-line game Wordle was invented by a Welshman? Read about his story here.
Today's Harlech: Our member Ryan Evans has produced a recording of Welsh-Minnesotans singing the folk song Tros Y Garreg (Over the Stone) set to his original electronic music accompaniment. He has also created a website with this music and stories and poems written by and read by our members about their Welsh heritage. (Click on the title above to get to the website.)
History of Wales links: Scott Lloyd, one of our Welsh speakers over Zoom,has generously shared many links to learn abour Welsh history and ancient sites.
Contact us at mailto:stdavidsofmn@gmail.com or visit and "like" our Facebook page to learn more about the Welsh and Wales at local, national, and international levels: Go to facebook
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