The Proclamation Ceremony [image: A ceremony in the Gorsedd
Circle at Aberystwyth, c. 1916] A huge crowd watching a ceremony
in the Gorsedd Circle, in the Castle grounds, Aberystwyth,
either during the Proclamation Ceremony, 1914 or during the
Eisteddfod week itself, 1916. The visit of the National
Eisteddfod and the Gorsedd of the Bards to a specific area has
to be proclaimed at least a year and a day in advance. During
the ceremony the Recorder reads the Proclamation Scroll and the
first copy of the list of competitions for the following year's
National Eisteddfod is presented to the Archdruid. When Lord
Rhys held a competition for poets and musicians at his court in
Cardigan castle in 1176 it was noted that it had been proclaimed
throughout Wales, Scotland, Ireland, England and the other
islands a year in advance. This custom was revived when
eisteddfodau were re-established in Wales at the end of the
eighteenth century and likewise, in 1791, Iolo Morganwg chose to
proclaim that the Gorsedd of the Bards of