Dydd gwyl dewi hapus!

Daffodils in a pint glass. Can't get more Welsh than that.

March 1st was St. David's Day. St. David (Dewi Sant in Cymraeg) is the patron saint of Wales. I'll do my best to retell what I learned in my Welsh Folklore lectures about Dewi Sant. He had a cathedral built on a spot where he saw smoke rising. When a pagan king attacked him, the king was turned to stone. Once the king had repented, he was changed back (This begs the question, how does stone repent?). One thing is for sure though, you do not mess with Celtic Saints. There isn't a tradition of martyrdom among them. The leek is associated with St. David and became a symbol of the Welsh. I believe it had something to do with their victory over the Saxons.

Fun Fact #13: Shakespeare has the Welsh character Fluellen wearing a leek for St. David's Day in the play Henry V.

Fun Fact #14: Two pilgrimages to St. David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire were the equivalent of going on pilgrimage to Rome. Four pilgrimages to St. David's were equal to visiting Jerusalem. 

Lloyd George started the trend of wearing daffodils on St. David's because they smelled a lot nicer. Which brings me to my free daffodils! I got one from a group talking about teaching opportunities in Britain. The thing I always find weird is that groups like these will still engage me, even though my accent should be a dead give-away that I am not from these parts and my stay here is temporary (Seriously, bonemarrow registry group. What good is it for me to match someone in the UK if I am back in the States by that time?). I did have a nice conversation with one of the reps though. He seemed crestfallen that I seemed interested in teaching, but was not a UK student (Am I able to pass for British, at least visually? One thing I have heard is that you can't really recognise Americans until they start speaking).

For lunch I had a hearty serving of Cawl, which is a traditional lamb and leek stew.

Yum!

Laura, Kirsten and I went into town to see the St. David's Day parade. Apparently, Prince Charles was in town too, but he was nowhere to be seen. Besides, Charles? Call me when it's Prince Harry or Prince William/Kate Middleton.

I wish I'd gotten a picture when the dog was facing me. It was so funny.

Check out the guy in the Jayne Cobb hat. I started nerding out when I noticed.

Women in Welsh national costumes

                                      

The parade was surprisingly short. More the length of a Memorial Day parade than a Fourth of July one.

Oops, I blinked. Kirsten (L) and Laura (R).

Parade route

Banner on a Lamppost

After the parade, we went into the St. David shopping centre. There were so many giveaways! We got more daffodils (and our photo with Y ddraig goch, the red dragon of Wales), frozen yoghurt, and pieces of Krispy Kreme doughnut!

My impression was that St. David's wasn't a super-gigantic big deal in Cardiff. I talked with my lab partner (a guy from Pembrokeshire) about it. It seemed like something that schoolchildren celebrate. I also talked to my fellow choir-members about it. Back in the day, they had a half-day of school, and the other half was an eisteddfod (a celebration of music, poetry and dance). They would sing in Welsh. Young girls would wear the traditional Welsh costume. One of the choir ladies lamented that nowadays, the young girls are much more likely to wear rugby jerseys or princess costumes!

Fun Fact #15: Disneyland Paris holds a week-long St. David's Day celebration. 

Fun Fact #16: Whenever I mention that I have Welsh relatives in north Wales to Welsh people I meet here, they respond with, "Gogs!". For the longest time, I thought it was some sort of slur, I guess my overly-sensitised American mind picks out sounds that combine to form possibly offensive words. Upon further research, I learned that "gog" comes from the Welsh term Gogledd or "North".

If you want to try cawl, I found a recipe here.

Cheers!