It's become a bit of a tradition to mark the very special occasion of St David's Day/
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi, which celebrates my nations patron saint.Today we, as a country. come together to celebrate our culture. history and everything that makes us proud to be Welsh.
As with St. Patrick’s Day, the Welsh have parades in their major cities, where you’ll see the traditional dress and the red dragon proudly on display on the Welsh flag, or the flag of St. David himself, a yellow cross on a black background,alongside the
wearing of one or both of Wales’s national emblems, the daffodil and
leek.
This is because the daffodil begins to bloom early in the year around
this time, and the
ancient tradition of eating and wearing leeks on St David’s Day
supposedly goes back to the 6th century. It is said that St David
told Welsh warriors to wear leeks in their helmets in battle
against the despised Saxons to
differentiate themselves from their enemies, and that the leeks won them victory. This is
pure legend of course, but soon the association between leeks and war was firmly
cemented in the Welsh mind. In the 14th century Welsh archers adopted
green and white for their uniform in honour of the leek. And to this day
the Royal Welch Fusiliers uphold the tradition of eating raw leeks on 1
March.
Welsh women will often dress in their national finery. The Welsh dress
was a traditional farming dress with an apron topped with a distinctive
tall Welsh hat. It was worn on special occasions such as going to
church, and today it is kept for celebrations such as St. David’s Day parades.
Schools across Wales hold celebrations, with a number of children
dressing in traditional costume – a black hat with white trim; long
skirts and shawls. Many boys, meanwhile, will wear a Welsh rugby or
football shirt. Schools across the country will also hold an Eisteddfod
(a traditional festival of Welsh poetry and music) on this day.
St David’s status as a modern national icon is a good example of how
easily myth can trump historical evidence (or rather the lack of it). He
lived and died fifteen hundred years ago, during a period of Welsh
history often referred to as ‘the Age of the Saints’. The fifth and
sixth centuries saw an intense bout of religious activity in Wales as
holy men like David preached the word of God, founded churches and, if
the monkish historians of the Middle Ages are to be believed, performed
all manner of miracles.
Yet we have very little reliable information about who St David was,
what he did, or even when exactly he lived. It seems likely that his
fame stemmed from the establishment of a monastery in modern-day
Pembrokeshire in the late sixth century – a settlement which we know
today as the cathedral-city of St Davids. However the earliest direct
references to him are found in manuscripts dating from the eighth
century, almost 200 years after his death, so it is difficult to be sure
about much else.
Luckily the Welsh have never been inclined to let a lack of evidence
get in the way of a good story. While little is known about his life, much of the traditional tales about
St David are based on Buchedd Dewi (Life of David), which was written by the
scholar Rhigyfarch at the end of the 11th Century.
Rhygyfarch's life of St David is regarded by many scholars as suspect
because it contains many implausible events and because he had a stake
in enhancing St David's history so as to support the prestige of the
Welsh church and its independence from Canterbury, the center of the
English church (still Catholic at the time). According to David Hugh
Farmer in The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Rhygyfarch's history
of St David "should be treated as propaganda, which may, however,
contain some elements of true tradition." So most of what we know about
Saint David is really legend; and none the less inspiring for it.
St David's existence at least does not seem to be in doubt; it is
attested to in written records from earlier dates. He was born in the
6th century in or around South Cardigan and North
Pembrokeshire in what is now southwest Wales, the exact year of his
birth is unknown, with estimates ranging from 462 to 515 AD. Born into
local royalty,
his mother was Saint Non, daughter of a Celtic chieftain, a woman of
great beauty and virtue.St David's father was a prince called Sant,
son of the King of Cardigan But David wasn't the child of a love-filled
marriage. He was concieved after his father either seduced or raped Non,
who went on to become a
nun.
St David's greatness was prophesied, both in
the Christian and pagan worlds. Merlin, the great mage at the court of
King Arthur, foretold his coming. St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland,
who at that time lived near St Davids, or Mynyw as it was then known, is
said to have wanted to found a monastery nearby, but was told by an
angel that the place was reserved for another who would appear in due
course. St Patrick’s disappointment was soothed by a vision which showed
him that his true vocation lay in Ireland.
St Davids father, was also warned by an angel that he would
find three treasures by the River Teifi in Cardiganshire, which should
be set aside for his son; a stag, a salmon and a swarm of bees. These
seemingly strange gifts each had a great significance. The stag, said to eat snakes, represents Christianity's conquering
Satan (the serpent); the fish represents Saint David's abstinence from
liquor; and the bees represent his wisdom and spirituality.
Even from his birth strange things have been said about St David. It is
said he was born in a wild thunderstorm, the birthing process was said
to have been so intense and fraught that
his mothers fingers left marks as she grasped a rock. As St David was born a
bolt
of lightning from heaven is said to have struck the rock, splitting it
in two and at the moment of birth a spring of pure water gushed out of
the ground. A blind old man who held St David at the baptism had his
sight restored by applying this remarkable water to his eyes. This is
one of the colourful stories about the childhood of Dewi Sant.
Non named her son Dewidd, though local Dyfed pronunciation meant he
was commonly called Dewi. David is an Anglicised variation of the name
derived from the Latin Davidus.
Brought up by his mother in Henfeynyw near Aberaeron, David is said
to have been baptised at nearby Porthclais by St Elvis of Munster. It is
said that a blind monk, Movi, was cured after drops of water splashed
into his eyes as he held David.
St David was educated at a monastery, usually taken to be Whitland in
Carmarthenshire, under St Paulinus of Wales. He is said to have cured
his tutor of blindness by making the sign of the cross. Seeing him as blessed, Paulinus sent him off as a missionary to convert the
pagan people of Britain. Having chosen
life as a missionary monk,he travelled to France, Ireland, and the
Middle East to learn and to proselytize and went from place to place
helping the poor, and teaching men to live as he did and is known for
converting his countrymen to Christianity.
It is said that once when St David was preaching at a large outdoor
gathering, in Llanddewi Brefi people complained
they couldn’t hear or see him until a white dove landed on St David’s
shoulder, and as it did, the ground
on which he stood rose up to form a hill, making it possible for
everyone to see and hear him , both near and far off, where a church now
stands. The dove became
his emblem often appearing in his portraits and on stained-glass windows
depicting him. Doves are considered pure due to their typical role as a
messenger or a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
There are many other stories about the man, no one can actually tell if
any of them are actually true or not but create a nice tale to tell
nevertheless. It is also said that he
once rose a youth from death, and milestones during his life were marked
by the appearance of springs of water.
In 550 AD, St David was named the Archbishop of Wales at the Synod of
Brefi church council and stayed in the settlement of Mynyw and set up a
large monastery. David was a bit of a disciplinarian and hard task
masker, but the monks in this monastery obeyed him and lived a simple
life, drinking water and
eating only herbs and bread. He became known as Dewi Dyrfwr (David
the water drinker) as meat and beer were forbidden. Although the monks
farmed the surrounding land, St David insisted that
they did not use animals to carry their tools,and they were to carry
them. Also none of the monks were allowed any personal possessions and
they spent
evenings praying, reading and writing.
Eventually became so unpopular with his monks for the life of austerity he made
them live, that they tried to poison him. St David was informed
about this by St Scuthyn, who as legend says, presumably in the absence
of a ferry or a Ryanair flight, travelled from Ireland on the back of a
sea-monster for the purpose.
He frequently visited other places in South Wales, and churches were
afterwards built in many of these villages in memory of him. A legend
says that he once went to Jerusalem with two companions, St Teilo
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/02/st-teilos-day-dydd-sadwrn-teilo.html?m=1
and St Padarn. The three left Wales together "with one mind, one joy,
and one sorrow." When after a hard journey they arrived at Jerusalem
they were received with joy and hospitality, and the Patriarch of
Jerusalem gave St David, before he returned to Wakes, a remarkable bell
which " shone with miracles," a staff, and a coat woven with gold.
His last words to his followers before his death are thought to have
been: "Be joyful, keep the faith and do the little things that you have
heard and seen me do." The phrase gwenwch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd - 'Do the little things in life' - is still a well-known phrase in Wales.
Here I offer you this beautiful song from Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion
called Pethau Bychain Dewi Sant ( St David's Little Things) from the
album Dore.
Geriau/ Words
Pethau bychain Dewi Sant
nid swn tan ond swn tant.
Nid derw mawr ond adar mân,
nid haul a lleuad ond gwreichion tân.
Ond o, dyna chi strach, trio cael hyd i sach
i gadw'r holl bethau bach.
Pethau bychain Dewi Sant,
y ll'godan ond nid yr eliffant.
A darnau'r gwlith nid dwr y moroedd,
ond yn y briga', stwr y mae.
Ond o, dyna chi strach, trio cael hyd i sach
i gadw'r holl bethau bach.
Pethau bychain Dewi Sant,
swn 'yn traed ni yn y nant.
Yr hada' yn disgyn yma a thraw,
a'r tamad, y tamad ola' o wenith yn dy law.
Ond o, dyna chi strach,
trio cael hyd i sach
i gadw'r holl bethau bach.
Map y byd yn llyfr y plant,
pethau bychain Dewi Sant.
Y pellter sydd rhwng dant a dant ar ol nawdeg naw a chant
pethau bychain Dewi Sant.
Ond o, dyna chi strach,
trio cael hyd i sach
i gadw'r holl bethau bach.
English Translation Lyrics:
St David's little things,
not the sound of fire
but the sound of chords.
Not a large oak but small birds,
not the sun and moon but the sparks of fire.
But oh, what a hassle it is to try and find a sack
to keep all of the little things.
St David's little things,
the mouse but not the eliphant.
And the dew drops, not the water of the seas,
but in the branches, uproar is found
But oh, what a hassle it is to try and find
a sack
to keep all of the little things.
St David's little things,
the sound of our footsteps in the stream.
The seeds fall here and there,
and the scrap, the last scrap of wheat in your palm.
But oh, what a hassle it is to try and find a sack
to keep all of the little things.
The world's atlas in a children's book,
St David's little things.
The distance between a tooth and a tooth between ninety nine and a hundred - St David's little things.
But oh, what a hassle it is to try and find
a sack
to keep all of the little things.
St David is also said to have lived for over 100 years, and some say, hold your
breathe, to the age of 142 or 147 (his clean living ways, sure must have
helped him) and died on Tuesday 1
March 589, in the week after his final sermon. He was buried in the
grounds of his monastery, which was said to have been "filled with
angels as Christ received his soul".
Mynyw is now known as St David’s, the UK’s smallest
city (,near the southwestern tip of Pembrokeshire.) in his honour. The
monastery has since become the
magnificent St David’s Cathedral and was a prestigious site of
pilgrimage in the middle ages and is
still a site of immense interest to this day. It is said by some that
two pilgrimages to St Davids are equal to one pilgrimage to the Vatican
in Rome. His shrine became so famous that three English monarchs -
William 1, Henry 11 and Edward 1 are said to have made pilgramages to
it.
St David’s Day has been celebrated in Wales on 1st March since the 12th
Century when David was made a saint by Pope Callixtus II, at the height
of the Welsh resistance to the Normans. You will find churches and
chapels dedicated to him in south-west
England and Brittany, as well as Wales. His influence also reached
Ireland, where the Irish embrace his beliefs about caring for the
natural world.
The nickname ‘Taffy’ for a Welshman links back to St David as the
original and ultimate Welshman – the term dates to the 17th century and
derives from ‘Dafydd’, the Welsh for David.William Shakespeare name-dropped St David in Henry V. When
Fluellen’s English colleague, Pistol, insults the humble leek on St
David’s Day, Fluellen insists he eat the national emblem as punishment:
“If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek” (Act V, Scene I).
Whatever the true story of Dewi Sant is , there is no doubt that
he was indeed a figure of much historical and spiritual
significance that still carries with him much importance to the people
of Wales today, a cheerful and celebratory day as my country comes
together in honour of their patron saint to celebrate Welsh history,
culture, and identity with pride.
In 2000 the National Assembly for Wales voted unanimously to make St
David’s Day on the 1st March a bank holiday.to celebrate out patron saint just like they do in the Republic of Ireland and Scotland, but sadly the idea was
rejected by Westminster, surprise, surprise. Nevertheless, St David’s position as the patron
saint of Wales has only grown stronger since then, with parades and
concerts now a staple part of the festivities each year.
To conclude this post and mark Saint David’s Day this year, I share the following moving poem Rhyfel (War) in both English and Welsh by the Welsh language poet/ pacifist Ellis Humphrey Evans, better known by his bardic pen name Hedd Wyn. (Blessed Peace).
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2017/07/remembering-pacifist-poet-hedd-wynn_42.html It is one of his best known and most frequently quoted works in which he interweaves ideas about faith, music, class and conflict in a lament for the brutality and devastation caused by the First World War. This time of the year also serves to remind me that the miracle of
spring is just around the corner.Dydd Gŵyl
Dewi hapus i bawb /Happy Saint David’s Day to you all. Heddwch/ Peace.
War (Rhyfel) by Hedd Wyn
English translation by Gillian Clarke
Bitter to live in times like these.
While God declines beyond the seas;
Instead, man, king or peasantry,
Raises his gross authority.
When he thinks God has gone away
Man takes up his sword to slay
His brother; we can hear death’s roar.
It shadows the hovels of the poor.
Like the old songs they left behind,
We hung our harps in the willows again.
Ballads of boys blow on the wind,
Their blood is mingled with the rain.
Original Welsh poem by Hedd Wyn
Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,
A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;
O’i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,
Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.
Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw
Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;
Mae sŵn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,
A’i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.
Mae’r hen delynau genid gynt,
Ynghrog ar gangau’r helyg draw,
A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,
A’u gwaed yn gymysg efo’r glaw.
Links to a few earlier St David's Day/ Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Posts
Gillian Clarke - Miracle on St David's David's Day
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2013/03/gillian-clarke-8637-miracle-on-st.html
The Praise of St David's Day Showing the reason why the Welch -men Honour the Leeke on this Day
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-praise-of-st-davids-day-showing.html
Evan James (Ieuan ap Iago) An Ivorite song to be sung to the tune of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2014/03/evan-james-ieuan-ap-iago-1809-2091878.html
Harri Webb - The Red , White and Green
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2017/03/harri-webb-7920-311294-red-white-and.html
The Welsh Language - Alan Llwyd
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-welsh-language-alan-llwyd-b1948.html
