Delyth Badder | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Ysgol Feddygaeth Prifysgol Caerdydd |
| Employer | National Health Service |
| Organization | British Association of Paediatric Surgeons |
| Notable work | The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts (2023) |
Delyth Badder is a Welsh folklorist, writer and antiquarian book collector. She co-wrote The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts (2023) with fellow folklorist Mark Norman. She is also a medical examiner, National Health Service consultant and the world's first Welsh-speaking consultant paediatric and perinatal pathologist.
Badder was born in Lwynhudol near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, Wales. [1]
Badder studied at the Ysgol Feddygaeth Prifysgol Caerdydd (Cardiff University School of Medicine). [1] She is the world's first Welsh-speaking consultant paediatric and perinatal pathologist, working for the National Health Service (NHS) in Pontypridd, Wales. She is a Medical Examiner for the Welsh Medical Examiner's Office. [2] She works part-time to divide time between pathology and folklore. [1]
Badder is a Welsh folklorist with special interest in Welsh death omens, apparitions and the nineteenth-century neo-druidic movement in Pontypridd. [3] She is an Honorary Research Fellow with Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales). [2] She is studying a masters degree in the field at Cardiff University. [4]
Badder co-wrote The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts (2023) with fellow folklorist Mark Norman, curator of the Folklore Library and Archive in Devon, England. [5] [1] The book recounts historic folkloric beliefs about ghosts in the Welsh landscape, such belief in the Tylwyth Teg (fairy folk), holy ghosts, spectral white ladies and water spirits. [6] [7] Rare Welsh folk stories were collected in their original Welsh language versions from manuscripts, with several printed and translated into English for the first time. [1] [8] [9] Famous ghosts are also included in the book, like Gwynedd's Cadi’r Forwyn (Cadi the Maid), the Bwci Melyn Bach y Cwm (The Little Yellow Bogey of the Valley), the soldier Owain Lawgoch, whose ghost was supposedly captured in a bottle then flung into the deep of the River Dulas in Ceredigion, Wales, [6] [7] and Arawn (king of the otherworld realm of Annwn in Welsh mythology) [1]
Badder is a regular contributor to discussions on Welsh folklore in the media. She has been invited onto Welsh national radio to discuss Welsh folklore, [10] tell traditional ghost stories at Halloween, [11] share old Welsh rituals and traditions of the Christmas season, [12] cover how birds are presented within Welsh folklore and legend, [13] and to discuss the life and work of the "eccentric" Welsh Archdruid, physician and political activist William Price. [14] She had been a guest on podcasts [4] and the Fabulous Folklore Presents on YouTube . [15] She has delivered talks at Welsh language-events, including a talk on "Charms and Magical Powers of the Welsh Common Folk" at Bangor University in Bangor, Wales. [16]
Badder is married to Welsh children's author Elidir Jones. [2] She plays the harp and the piano. [1]