The Chicago Tafia Welsh Society (also known as the Chicago Tafia) is an expatriate Welsh group formed in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1999. As one of the youngest and most contemporary Welsh groups in North America, the society strives to provide a link between the present culture of Wales and the Chicago area.
The group's activities include organizing social gatherings to watch Welsh sporting events and musicians, and celebrating events such as St. David's Day. Over the years they have been involved with over a dozen concerts for Welsh male voice choirs in the Chicago area, including the Pendyrus, Penrhyn, Bangor, Black Mountain, Burlington, Hogia'r Ddwylan and CF1 choirs at prominent Chicago venues. When Welsh musicians visit Chicago, the society endeavours to get them to sign a Welsh flag, the Tafia Flag of Fame. This has been a tradition since 2002. Signatures have included those of Bryn Terfel, Tom Jones, Cerys Matthews, The Stereophonics, Jem, Eddie Izzard, Marina Diamandis, Gruff Rhys, Jon Langford, The Manic Street Preachers, The Joy Formidable, Aeronwy Thomas, and many other Welsh artists. [1]
In 2007 the group attracted the former lead singer of Catatonia, Cerys Matthews to entertain them at their annual St. David's Day party. In the same year, they successfully lobbied the Illinois General Assembly into signing into law Bill HR0149, which proclaimed March 1, in 2007 and each year thereafter, as St. David's Day in the State of Illinois, in recognition of the Welsh contribution to the state. [2]
From 2009 to 2023 the Chicago Tafia partnered with the owners of the Wrigley Building, Prudential Plaza, and other iconic Chicago buildings to illuminate the skyline red, white, and green (the colours of the Welsh flag) on March 1, St. Davids Day. [3]
In 2014 members of the Chicago Tafia started the Chicago Swansea City Supporters Club, that meets for games at Chicago area pubs.
In April 2019, following the vandalism of the Cofiwch Dryweryn mural in Llanrhystud, Wales, the Chicago Tafia partnered with the Pleasant House pub to create a tribute mural in Chicago, which has since been featured in the Cofiwch Dryweryn book published by Y Lolfa, and in an S4C documentary.
Swansea is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea.
The culture of Wales is distinct, with its own language, customs, festivals, music, art, mythology, history, and politics. Wales is primarily represented by the symbol of the red Welsh Dragon, but other national emblems include the leek and the daffodil.
Saint David's Day, or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD.
The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag.
The flag of Wales consists of a red dragon passant on a green and white field. As with many heraldic charges, the exact representation of the dragon is not standardised in law and many renderings exist. It is not represented in the Union Flag.
Llanrhystud is a seaside village and electoral division on the A487 road in the county of Ceredigion, in Wales, 9 miles (14 km) south of Aberystwyth, and 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberaeron. It takes its name from an early Welsh saint. The community includes the village of Llanddeiniol.
Cerys Matthews is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the "Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s.
The flag of Saint David represents the 6th-century Saint David, a Welsh bishop of Menevia and the patron saint of Wales. It is normally a yellow cross on a black field, but it has also appeared as a black cross on a yellow field or with an engrailed cross.
Welsh Americans are an American ethnic group whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Wales, United Kingdom. In the 2008 U.S. Census community survey, an estimated 1.98 million Americans had Welsh ancestry, 0.6% of the total U.S. population. This compares with a population of 3 million in Wales. However, 3.8% of Americans appear to bear a Welsh surname.
Myfanwy, is a popular Welsh song composed by Joseph Parry in four parts for male voices, and first published in 1875.
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St David, also known as St David's Cathedral, Cardiff, is a Catholic cathedral in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales, and is the centre of the Archdiocese of Cardiff.
The London Welsh School is a Welsh medium primary school in London, England. Welsh is the language predominantly used for all classes and activities. The school offers a bilingual education to children aged four to 11. The school also has a pre-school class for three and four-year-old children, and a baby and toddler group called Miri Mawr that meets on Friday mornings.
There are at least three associations of people with Welsh origins in Chicago. These are the Chicago Tafia, the Cambrian Benevolent Society of Chicago, and the Women’s Welsh Club of Illinois.
Over the years Chicago has been called home by many immigrant groups and cultures, the Welsh included.
The national symbols of Wales include various official and unofficial images and other symbols.
Ysgol Bro Gwaun is a secondary comprehensive school in the town of Fishguard in north Pembrokeshire. It is a predominantly English-medium school with significant use of Welsh, and has a catchment area covering the towns of Fishguard and Goodwick, the villages of Scleddau, Letterston and Newport and the surrounding areas including the Gwaun valley.
Gwalia Male Choir is a male voice choir based in London. Founded in 1967, it is one of London's oldest male choirs. Gwalia is an archaic Welsh name for Wales.
Cofiwch Dryweryn is a graffitied stone wall near Llanrhystud, Ceredigion, Wales. Author and journalist Meic Stephens originally painted the words onto the wall of a ruined cottage in the early 1960s following the decision by the Liverpool City Council to commence the Tryweryn flooding, including the community of Capel Celyn to create the Llyn Celyn reservoir. Due to its prominent location, stark message, and history of repeated vandalism, the wall has become an unofficial landmark of mid Wales. The phrase "Cofiwch Dryweryn" has itself become a prominent political slogan for Welsh nationalism, appearing on T-shirts and banners, and as replica murals.
St. Michael's School is a private day and boarding school for pupils aged from 3 to 18 years old in Llanelli, Wales.
The Epynt clearance was the forced eviction of the Mynydd Epynt community in Powys, Wales, where 200 men, women and children were evicted from their homes which included 54 farms and a pub. The eviction was carried out by the British Army and the War Office in 1940, creating the Sennybridge Training Area (SENTA), which is currently the largest military training area in Wales.