Today is the feast day of St David (Dewi Sant), patron saint of Wales. According to Rhigyfarch’s “Life of Saint David”, David lived in the 6th century and founded religious centres including Glastonbury and Croyland. He then travelled to the Holy Land and was made archbishop at Jerusalem before travelling back to Wales and settling at Glyn Rhosyn, or St David’s. There, he founded a monastery whose site is now marked by St David’s Cathedral.
Dewi and his community were said to have performed many miracles which included Dewi causing the ground to rise beneath him while preaching at the Synod of Llanddewibrefi so that everyone could see him.
Dewi died in 589 and was recognised as a Catholic saint in 1120. His feast day, 1st March, is now no longer a religious feast but is a national celebration of Wales and Welsh identity. It is traditional for Welsh people to wear a daffodil or leek on 1st March, and the leek as a symbol of Wales is linked to two legends:
- The legend of the soldiers of the ancient British king, Cadwaladyr, wearing leeks so that they would know who their comrades were in battle.
- The legend that the Welsh archers fought in a field of leeks at the Battle of Crécy when Edward, Prince of Wales, defeated France. It was said that Welshmen then wore leeks on their caps on St David’s Day to remember the courage of the archers.
W. Carew Hazlitt, in the book “Faith and Folklores”, writes of how Henry VII “having Welsh blood in his veins” felt particularly obliged to observe the feast day and records show that he paid £2 one March for a feast for Welshmen. According to the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII’s daughter, Princess Mary, she was presented with a leek by yeoman of the guard on the feast day in 1536, 1537 and 1543.*
Notes and Sources
*The gifts to the yeoman guard for bringing the leek are dated 1536, 1537 and 1543 but those are old style, with 1st March being before the Tudor New Year on Lady Day (25th March), so we’d actually refer to these dates as 1st March 1537, 1538 and 1544.
- Museum of Wales
- Why do we wear daffodils and leeks?
- Faiths and Folklores, W. Carew Hazlitt
- Privy purse expenses of the Princess Mary, daughter of King Henry the Eighth, afterwards Queen Mary, ed. Frederick Madden
Wow, I had no idea about St David’s Day! Kinda sounds like a Welsh type of St. Patrick’s Day. I was doing a little Google search and found a really cool recipe for Welsh Cawl, a dish that is usually served in Wales today:
http://www.welshholidaycottages.com/food/welsh-cawl.htm
It looks delicious! But, sadly, I’m Catholic and it’s Lent. On Fridays you aren’t suppose to have meat. :sigh:
Anyways, Happy St David’s Day to all!
🙂
BTW, here is a really cute poem about St David’s Day I found:
http://education.scholastic.co.uk/resources/44534
Believe me it is yummy, and tastes better after standing for 24hours all the flavours come out… 🙂
I knew about St David’s Day, but not that leeks were especially associated with it. What did Princess Mary do with her yearly leek, I wonder? Send it to the kitchens? Eat a ceremonial sliver? A daffodil would probably have been easier to deal with.
Claire,What were the main staples on ST.David’s day???? Bythe bye, love steak and kindey pie,and roast with yorkshire pudding sooo good. Baroness x
While, we are talking food heres one for you Dawn 1 st since your a Scot, a gentlemen from,Scotland went to Trinity he offerd his recipe for Cre”eme Bru”lee the Head Chef declined and it was nver served.The young Scot said thats ok because I will be ,Head Master Of Trinity.As history has he became Head Master Of Trinity and served his Bru’lee at his Ball.Also it’s real name is Brunt Cream,but it sounds more elagant when pronounced in French. Kind Regards To All Baroness x
The gentelmen who created Cre’em Bru’lee went by the name of Reed he was from Scotland and Head Master at Trinity in Cambridge.
Is saint David day only celebrated by catholics.
No, it’s a national festival now rather than a religious feast day. It’s celebrated by Wales and Welsh people all over the world.
Thanks for the information, i do not anything about st David.
Now when I slice leeks and put them in my salad (recommend to all), I will think of Wales!