There were no National Eisteddfods in 1914 or 1940, but yes, there have certainly been wartime ones otherwise. The “a oes heddwch” is part of the sword ceremony and as such refers to peace in the Eisteddfod rather than worldwide.
Apologies for pasting this making it a long post, but here is some blurb about it:
The Grand Sword
One of the Gorsedd’s oldest rites is the ceremony of partly unsheathing the Grand Sword. The Archdruid asks the following questions and the audience replies ‘Heddwch’ (Peace) three times:
‘Y Gwir yn erbyn y Byd, A oes Heddwch? (The Truth against the World, Is there Peace?)
Calon wrth Galon, A oes Heddwch? (Heart to Heart, Is there Peace?)
Gwaedd uwch Adwaedd, A oes Heddwch? (Shout above responding Shout, Is there Peace?)’
Carrying a sword was one of the rites in Iolo Morganwg’s first Gorsedd in 1792. As a pacifist Iolo wanted to emphasize that the Bards met in peace and when a naked sword was placed on the Logan Stone they proceeded to sheath it as a symbol of peace in Gorsedd.
The rite of calling out for ‘Peace’ was originally a separate one and it was first heard in Carmarthen in 1867. Gradually it became linked to the rite of the Grand Sword when admitting new members and yet again the need for ‘peace’ between contestants in the Chair and Crown competitions.
You might also find the piece ‘The Great Gymanfa’ interesting here - http://cymru1914.org/en/view/newspaper/3413411/2
I’ve only heard of Maes B and Maes D. I know Maes D stands for ‘Dysgwyr’ (learners), and I’m guessing that Maes B might stand for ‘Bandiau’ as that’s where a lot of the popular music takes place.
The rest of the Eisteddfod takes place in The Maes, which covers the whole area. There is a big main pavilion where the performances and award ceremonies take place, but there are also smaller pavilions, and stands run by lots of different Welsh societies, universities, organistations etc, plus places to buy food, drink and generally enjoy yourself.
Generally, there is the Maes (Maes A as in main/first Maes, although it’s never called ‘A’) where the main pavilion is of course, as well as lots of other regular stages and smaller pavilions, and all the stalls. then there is a separate youth ground with camping and it’s own stage called Maes B (using B as shorthand for ‘the other Maes’). The location of this depends on the areas available for the whole Eisteddfod - sometimes it can be adjoining the Maes (A), or sometimes it’s quite far removed, but it is a separate Maes. Maes C is the caravan site which usually has a smaller stage/performance area too. This again can vary in distance from the Maes (A). Maes D is the only only one that is not a separate site because - I think - it came about as a kind of a fond nickname for the learners area but has since then (obviously!) become an important member of the set!
Edited to say - Dee, your succinctness beat me to it!
Hiya all. FOllowing some discussion in the Million Speakers thread I’m experiementing with a semi-organised way of matching up people who are looking for company to practise their Welsh with at the steddfod
At the moment I’m jsut collecting who’s going to what in a form and I’ll manaully match. Considers it a human-subsitute for a clever app which might come into being one day…
So if you want company for the Chairing or just to sit with for lunch to hear a band or want to know what SSIWers are sharing your campsite and want to chat have a go filling it it!
Bear in mind it’s very much a WIP just to see if it’s useful.
Sorry, I’ve had yet another long absence from the forum and haven’t contributed for quite a while.
Because we live only about 45 minutes or so from this year’s Eisteddfod site and because we’ve just had a week’s family holiday, we won’t be staying at the Eisteddfod this year or visiting every day as we have done in the past. But we will definitely be visiting. We haven’t decided which days yet, but would certainly come if there was one big meet up organised on any given day.
My brother is caravaning, so I may well stay over one night with the kids, we’ll see how it goes. Looking forward very much to seeing some of you on the Maes!
I’m competing with Cor y Gleision on Saturday in the large choirs section (there’s 104 of us!) - we’ll be at the bar area afterwards, and we have lots of (very patient) Welsh speakers and learners (like me).
I’m going to be working on the Christian Aid / Cymorth Cristnogol stand on the Sunday most of the day - come and say hello!
I will be at the Eisteddfod daily from Wednesday until Saturday. Gareth will be there Friday and Saturday recording for the CorCenCC project. If you’d like to contribute your Welsh to the National Welsh Language Corpus, let him know! He’s @GarethW on the forum.
Within experimental error, you and I are the same age, and my memory is getting so bad that I’m beginning to be concerned. 
