ST. DAVID’S DAY

by Joy Margetts

with white trim for the girls, and a waistcoat and flat cap for the boys. These days it seems wearing the Welsh national rugby or football shirt is enough. Red and black and green is everywhere. Welsh language, poetry and song is celebrated up and down the country.

St David’s’ day falls on March 1st. It is a day of celebration in Wales, an opportunity for this corner of the United Kingdom to celebrate its national identity and uniqueness. National flags fly high from flagpoles, and emblazon shop fronts and house windows. There are daffodils everywhere - the spring weather almost always means they have already appeared in abundance amidst our rain fed green verges. But they are also in vases, window displays and worn conspicuously on coat lapels.

Children attend school dressed in national dress. When my children were small this was primarily the recognisable plaid skirt in red and black, the pinned cape and the tall black hat

Who was St David and why is he celebrated as the patron saint of Wales?

St David is believed to have been born around the year 500, on a windswept clifftop in

Pembrokeshire. His father was Sant, the son of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion, his mother a nun called Non.

He reportedly became a renowned preacher and worker of miracles. He is said to have healed a blind man and raised a boy from the dead but his most famous miracle occurred at Llandewi Bref. Whilst preaching to a large crowd and realising that those at the back could not hear him, suddenly a white dove appeared and rested on his shoulder. At that instant the ground beneath him rose up and formed a hill so he could be seen and heard by all.

St David founded a monastery, and chose to live the life of an ascetic. He ate a very restricted diet of water and vegetables, which is where the leek being an emblem of Wales is thought to originate. He is also thought to have travelled throughout sixth century Wales and the West country and helped to found other religious houses, most notably at Glastonbury. Other legends have him journeying all the way to Jerusalem.

By his death in around 589 he had a faithful following and a saintly reputation. He was already famous outside of Wales – there are many churches and chapels bearing his name as far away from Wales as Ireland and Brittany. The last words he preached recorded by his followers were ‘Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do.’ Today the phrase ‘Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd’‘Do the little things in life’ - is still often quoted.

St David’s: Wales’ smallest city

The site where St David founded his monastery is believed to be where the 12th century St David’s Cathedral was later established. St David was recognised as a catholic saint in 1120, and his fame grew so much that St David’s Cathedral, the saints’ resting place, became a recognised site of pilgrimage. Two trips to St David’s was considered equal to one pilgrimage to Rome.

The fact that the magnificent church at St David’s is designated a Cathedral, means that the small community built up around it is designated a city. With a population of only 1600, this makes it the smallest city, not only in Wales, but in the whole of the UK. Those population numbers are swelled considerably every year by the thousands of visitors who still flock to the cathedral and the ruins of the Bishops’ place that stand beside it. It is a delightful place, set on the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast, and the cathedral is still a place of worship with its own Bishop. We have visited more than once, and we have sat in that sacred building so redolent with spiritual history. It is a deeply moving experience, especially when the choir sings and the sound fills the whole space.

National flags and emblems

Wales boast two national flags. The flag of St David is a yellow cross on a black background. More and more this flag has become a symbol of national pride and political in its use.

The more familiar flag is perhaps the red dragon on the white and green background. Where the dragon as a symbol originated is unclear. Some believe it dates from dragons carried by Romano – British soldiers in the 4th century. It is thought to have been adopted as a battle standard by Cadwalader, King of Gwynedd in the 7th century. It has appeared on Welsh flags throughout the medieval period – Welsh archers at the Battel of Crecy in 1346, Owain Glyndwr in the 1400’s, the Tudor kings themselves – all had dragons on their standards.

The leek dates as a national emblem for many centuries. Possibly because of the link to St David’s austere diet. Shakespeare himself 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 it as punishment: “If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek” (Act V, Scene 1)

The daffodil is thought to have appeared much later as a national symbol, most likely because it is widely in flower on March 1st, St. David’s Day. Wearing it as an emblem was popularised by the Welsh Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, who wore it on St David’s day, and prominently at the investiture of a previous Prince of Wales at Caernarfon in 1911.

Joy Margetts has loved writing for as long as she can remember. She also has a lifelong interest in history, and loves nothing better than visiting ancient monuments or burying herself in archive material. She was brought up in the South of England but for the last twenty five years has made her home on the beautiful North Wales coast. Her debut novel 'The Healing', a work of historic fiction, was published by Instant Apostle in March 2021 and her second novel ‘The Pilgrim’ published in July 2022. More information on Joy and her writing, and her personal blog, can be found at www.joymargetts.com

Writing Tips With Wendy

Shake It Up

Last month I spoke about creativity and how important it is to the writing process. This month I thought I would talk about motivation. Yes, I would agree, creativity is the founding precept of any writing project; without creativity your project is going nowhere Yet, many would be writers, or even established writers, have a fabulous idea for a book which never gets written or, at best, is half written. The reason for this is they either lack motivation or lose their motivational momentum. I have heard many writers say, ‘I haven’t written for months. I just can’t seem to motivate myself anymore.’ There can be a number of reasons for this, including burnout, in which case a period of rest may be necessary to take stock of life. However, in many cases, its’ because the brain has become bored and has lost its creative edge. Have you heard the saying, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. It is so true. Once you’ve stared at a blank page on your computer for long enough your brain will begin to believe it cannot write. So, my tip this month is give your creativity and your motivation a kick up the writing mojo. Move somewhere else to write – different room in the house, coffee shop, heck, why not even go on a writing retreat. It may just be what your brain needs to fire up a whole new level of creativity.

Good luck with the writing.

Wendy Wendy H. Jones Author, Publisher, Writing Coach

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