Photo by Master T.

Hiraeth

August 17, 2014
Marie Rebelle
50 Comments

Challenge #25 of the 26 by 26 challenge was:

Lookup the meaning of “hiraeth” and take a photo of it.
– Bryan Schutmaat

Wikipedia says: Hiraeth is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. The University of Wales, Lampeter attempts to define it as homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed. It is a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, or an earnest desire for the Wales of the past.

I hope I have captured some ‘hiraeth’ in this photo

20140621-099wm hair
(click to enlarge)

© Rebel’s Notes

50 thoughts on “Hiraeth”

  4. Great job interpreting the challenge, and thanks for teaching us a new word! Bigger thanks, though, for sharing this picture; as usual your hair glows beautifully, and gives me naughty thoughts of feeling it against me.

    Reply

  5. You captured the word beautifully. The photo is longing yet passionate. I loved the poem that Mia shared as well. Your red hair a fiery sunset. Stunning.

    Reply

  11. That can’t be a Welsh word as it has vowels in it. And it’s well known that the dragon ate all the vowels in the Wales millennia ago! 😉

    Great photo! ;-p

    Reply

  15. Beautiful, beautiful image!

    You made me have a look at this word myself and I came across this dialogue about the word and beautiful poem by Tim Davis:-

    “Hiraeth is a Cymraeg (Welsh) word which doesn’t translate well into English. It is a deep longing for home. This poem makes an attempt at defining it. It is pronounced with two syllables. The first is like the English here except that the r is stronger. The second syllable is like how a mathematician would pronounce i-th as in the ith row of a matrix. You could also say eye-th.

    With a last name of Davis, it should be no surprise that my Davis ancestor was born in Wales in the early 1600’s. I found this out several years after writing this poem. The westward theme is in the poem because going home to Cymru (Wales) means traveling west (from, say, England).

    Hiraeth beckons with wordless call,
    Hear, my soul, with heart enthrall’d.
    Hiraeth whispers while earth I roam;
    Here I wait the call “come home.”

    Like seagull cry, like sea borne wind,
    That speak with words beyond my ken,
    A longing deep with words unsaid,
    Calls a wanderer home instead.

    I heed your call, Hiraeth, I come
    On westward path to hearth and home.
    My path leads on to western shore,
    My heart tells me there is yet more.

    Within my ears the sea air sighs;
    The sunset glow, it fills my eyes.
    I stand at edge of sea and earth,
    My bare feet washed in gentle surf.

    Hiraeth’s longing to call me on,
    Here, on shore, in setting sun.
    Hiraeth calls past sunset fire,
    “Look beyond, come far higher!”

    Source : http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~davis/Poetry/hiraeth.html

    I hope you enjoyed!

    ~Mia~ xx

    Reply

    1. Ps – the last paragraph of the poem reminded me of your red hair in your photo.

      ~Mia~ xx

      Reply

  20. I’ve never heard of that word personally but it sounds a wonderful yet complex word and I think after reading your added text, that you’ve captured it very well. I love that flame coloured hair just gorgeous x

    Reply

  22. I had two reactions to the picture the first was purely visceral and lust filled on first sight. The second was after reading the text. Both of which caused me to think and feel something; very well done!

    Reply

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