Why do I feel so strongly about being Welsh?

[tomenymur]

I was born and brought up in Wales. Whilst we spoke mainly English at home, with just my dad speaking Welsh to us, I am fluent in Welsh.
I went to university in England and have lived in London ever since.
But, why do I feel so strongly about being Welsh?
I absolutely LOVE Wales, but cant move back as my job and life is here.

If I go shopping and I see that a bag of carrots are from Wales, I would buy them even if I didn't really want carrots that week.
If I can buy specialist coffee or from a wine merchant, I'd favour a Welsh one over one down the road.

Does anyone else feel like this about their home country? I almost feel like it's a duty to do everything I can to support Wales... :o as ridiculous as that sounds

My Mum was Welsh and it has a special place in my heart. I spent lots of school holidays in Monmouth with GPs .My dd is now at Cardiff University and loving Cardiff

@Wolfgirrl The link between language and culture... I'll try to explain how I see it.
The Welsh word hiraeth is the best example I can think of - there is no translation to English, longing or yearning for home is the best we can usually come up with but those don't fully capture what it means to anyone who experiences hiraeth.
My username gives a clue to the next one I can think of - I teach Yoga, and as part of that had to learn quite a bit of Sanskrit, which has the same roots as Welsh (Indo-European).
Prithvi means earth in Sanskrit, it's pridd in Welsh. In yogic philosophy it very much carries the sense being grounded, rooted, and that feels exactly the same to me as a Welsh speaker, with the language very much linked with our farming and rural heritage.
I find many who speak more than one language tend to be interested in such connections, languages occupy a non-verbal space and one's understanding almost coming from the heart. Once you become fully bilingual, you don't translate, it's more of a feeling.
I was talking to a Portugese native about gardening recently, and he was trying to find an English equivalent for 'horta' to explain the small patch of land outside his flat in Wales that he's cultivating during lockdown.
We couldn't come up with an equivalent at the time (I've just checked and Google says 'kitchen garden'), but that idea of having a kitchen garden is clearly more common and important to the way of life in Portugal than it is here. I'm assuming that's because they grow a lot more of their own food - the weather would obviously help!

Tidy.

Doesn't everyone feel like that when they get near home @justasking111?

I remember going to Cardiff for a NZ versus Wales rugby game. NZ had just had a mining incident in which miners had died. The Welsh recognised this by singing a song in the stadium (which I could remember the actual sing) - my god it was amazing, moving and just so caring 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

*wish

*song (damn autocorrect!!)

@Yoginut

Many many people in the world are bilingual, as are a lot of my family (Spanish, Polish, French). They switch between the two as needed but it doesnt provoke such an emotional reaction.

Everyone has an emotional connection to where they grew up as all your memories and youthful good times took place there. But some of the Welsh seem to think this feeling only applies to them, and they have some kind of philosophical gift everyone else can only dream of

Gaelic is the minority language of the Scottish, it doesnt get half the resources Welsh gets but they don't seem so fussed about it.

@Wolfgirrl I suspect it applies more to speakers of minority languages, especially when that language has been suppressed and is endangered.
I think there's also a connection between languages with a rich literary and cultural heritage and emotion.
I certainly haven't experienced Welsh people thinking it only applies to them, I have had interesting conversations with, for example Breton and Basque speakers who expressed similar views.

@justasking111 know exactly the view you mean, it's close to where I grew up and every time I go "home" I feel the same .

@Yoginut I don't know, I do think Welsh pride is a bit OTT but then I'm a bit suspicious of extreme patriotism a I see it as a way of filling a personality void. But, each to their own. Suppose everyone thinks their own culture is the richest and most interesting so it's probably natural.