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Twmpath
The Welsh word for a village dancing green, now used for a social dance evening
A Welsh word and a Welsh dance. Twmpath first named the mound where musicians played for the dancers; from the late 1950s the twmpath dawnsiau were barn dances run by Urdd Gobaith Cymru for young people in rural Wales. Discos took over in the 1970s, and the word now names a Welsh dance evening.
When is Twmpath kept?
Twmpath is kept on no fixed date: a twmpath is arranged for a community dance evening.
Twmpath is a Welsh word. It began as the name for a hump of ground, or a village green, where the band sat to play while everyone else danced. Later it came to name the dancing itself. A twmpath today is a Welsh dance evening, the kind of gathering called a céilidh in Scotland and Ireland. People hold one to dance together, and the word also means a speed bump.
What the word means
Twmpath is a noun in Welsh. Its oldest sense is a hump or a tump, a small rise in the ground. The word was used for the mound, or for the village green, that acted as a stage: the players sat there with their instruments and the people of the place danced to what they played. That picture explains the name. Two other senses live on today. One is a speed bump, the hump in the road. The other is the dance itself, because the word moved from the ground to the evening held on it.
Origins and history
The twmpath dawnsiau were a mid twentieth century development. Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh youth movement, arranged them as entertainment for young people, and most of those who came were from rural districts. They started in the late 1950s and carried on into the 1960s. For a time they were a regular part of village life. Then discos became the fashion in the 1970s and the organised evenings faded away. The word outlived them and stayed in use for Welsh dancing.
The dancing today
Twmpath is the word used in Wales today for a community dance with live music, the sort of gathering known as a céilidh in Scotland and Ireland. The dancers are the point of it rather than an audience watching performers. A record of a twmpath dance held in a barn at Llangefni, on Anglesey, in 1963 shows the form in use more than sixty years ago. The name has come a long way from a hump of grass.
How Twmpath is kept
A twmpath puts a community in one room with music. A band plays and the dancers fill the floor. When Urdd Gobaith Cymru arranged the twmpathau dawnsiau, the young people who came were mostly from the countryside and the evening was put on for their entertainment. The essentials were the same then as now: somebody to play and people ready to dance.
When and where
A twmpath has no fixed date. The organised twmpathau dawnsiau were put on whenever a community wanted an evening of entertainment, from the late 1950s into the 1960s. A twmpath today is arranged for whatever night suits those who hold it.
The tradition belongs to Wales, and the word itself is Welsh. It is strongest where Welsh is spoken, and the twmpathau dawnsiau of the mid twentieth century drew their young dancers from rural districts. Llangefni, a town on Anglesey, is named in the record of a twmpath dance held in a barn in 1963.
What Twmpath means
A twmpath carries the idea of a community dancing for itself. In the old image the players sit raised on the hump and everyone else moves around them, with no line drawn between performers and crowd. The word's journey, from a patch of ground to the evening held on it, keeps that idea of shared pleasure and of dancing that belongs to those who turn up.
Questions people ask about Twmpath
When is Twmpath kept?
Twmpath is kept on no fixed date: a twmpath is arranged for a community dance evening.
What is a twmpath?
It is a Welsh word with several senses. The oldest is a hump or tump of ground, or a village green, where musicians sat while the community danced. Today the word also names a Welsh evening of dancing, and in ordinary use it can mean a speed bump as well.
Who arranged the twmpath dawnsiau?
Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh-language youth movement. The organisation put on these barn dances for young people, most of them from rural districts, beginning in the late 1950s and continuing into the 1960s. They stopped once discos became the fashion in the 1970s.
Is a twmpath the same as a céilidh?
The two are close in kind, but they are not the same thing. A twmpath is the Welsh gathering for dancing with live music. The céilidh belongs to Scotland and Ireland and has its own history and tunes. The word twmpath is also used for a speed bump.
See also
SteelpanA tuned percussion tradition forged from industrial steel containers in Trinidad
Christmas carolFestive songs and hymns sung during the Christmas season and door to door
Morris danceA rhythmic English folk dance performed in costume with bells, sticks and handkerchiefsRapper swordA fast-paced five-person sword dance from the coalfields of North East England, kept alive by teams worldwide.Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Twmpath", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.
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