Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus - Happy St. David's Day

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi (St David's Day), celebrated annually on March 1st, is the national day of Wales honoring its patron saint. It is a celebration of Welsh culture, heritage, and pride, commonly marked by wearing daffodils or leeks, traditional parades, and enjoying local food like cawl or Welsh cakes.

History

Saint David (Welsh: Dewi Sant) was born in Caerfai, southwest Wales into an aristocratic family. He was reportedly a scion of the royal house of Ceredigion, and founded a Celtic monastic community at Glyn Rhosyn (The Vale of Roses) on the western headland of Pembrokeshire (Welsh: Sir Benfro) at the spot where St Davids Cathedral stands today.

David's fame as a teacher and his asceticism spread among Celtic Christians, and he helped found about 1200 monasteries. His foundation at Glyn Rhosyn became an important Christian shrine, and the most important centre in Wales. The date of Saint David's death is believed to be 1 March 589. His final words to the community of monks were: "Brothers be ye constant. The yoke which with single mind ye have taken, bear ye to the end; and whatsoever ye have seen with me and heard, keep and fulfil.

For centuries, 1 March has been a national festival. The feast day of Saint David was initially celebrated around the 10th century according to the early writings of the Annales Cambriae. Saint David was recognised as a national patron saint in the 12th century at the peak of Welsh resistance to the Normans. He was canonised by Pope Callixtus II in 1120, thanks to the work of Bernard the bishop of Menevia. The 17th-century diarist Samuel Pepys noted how Welsh celebrations in London for Saint David's Day would spark wider counter-celebrations amongst their English neighbours: life-sized effigies of Welshmen were symbolically lynched, and by the 18th century the custom had arisen of confectioners producing "taffies"—gingerbread figures baked in the shape of a Welshman riding a goat—on Saint David's Day

So, will you be celebrating this Sunday? If so, how will you celebrate?