Druid calls for high‑tech future for Wales' oldest myths

A modern-day druid is calling on the Welsh government to breathe new life into the legendary mythologies of The Mabinogi, by creating an immersive experience at a new National Museum of Mythology.

The Mabinogi is a collection of 11 tales featuring mythical kings, sorcerers and giants, and is believed to have inspired JRR Tolkein's world-famous fantasy books, such as The Hobbit.

Deborah Rose Hālani, a member of the Anglesey Druid Order, said The Mabinogi should be given a futuristic makeover using virtual reality, to ensure the medieval collection "survives generations to come".

"I am on a mission to time-travel the mythologies into the future," she said.

The Mabinogi's original medieval manuscripts are held in vaults at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

The stories were believed to be compiled between the late 11th and early 13th centuries, with Lady Charlotte Guest later translating the prose collection into English as The Mabinogion.

The collection of tales served as the inspiration for famous works such as Tolkein's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and gave rise to the Arthurian legends.

"We do not celebrate them enough on the world stage," said Hālani.

"It is encouraging the mythologies are part of the new National Curriculum, but for them to survive they also need to also be relevant outside the classroom," she added.

Hālani is launching a campaign to see The Mabinogi at the centre of an immersive experience similiar to The Van Gogh Exhibition, which drew crowds to the Wales Millennium Centre last year.

That show featured the Dutch artist's work in a 360-degree, digital show, utilising virtual projection technology and sound effects to bring his masterpieces to life.

Hālani wants to see the collection of ancient mythologies celebrated digitally, championing both Wales's "rich oral storytelling tradition" and The Mabinogi's national roots.

"Why can't we digitally immerse ourselves in our mystical mythologies in a space dedicated entirely to them?" she said, drawing comparisons with the Harry Potter Studio experience in London.

Cardiff-born Hālani said she did not feel a strong sense of identity as a child growing up in Ely in the 1960s.

"I wasn't taught my cultural heritage or language at school. It was only when I travelled to other lands... I understood the importance of cultural connection and belonging," she said.

The former telecommunications engineer and businesswoman lived in Australia for 20 years before "returning to her trees" in Cardiff last year.

She sees it as her role to celebrate Wales as "not only the land of song, but of the bard", with The Mabinogi hailed as 'the jewel in Cymru's mythical crown'.

She has written to CADW, the Welsh government's historic environment service, as well as cultural departments at Welsh universities.

"I am on a mission to time-travel the mythologies into the future, so they survive generations to come.

"I cannot think of a more entertaining and enduring way to reclaim them."

Hālani is set to release a book chronicling her journey of self-discovery and her initiation into druidry, entitled Coming Back to My Trees, later this month.