Celebrating St. David's Day Wales

The Welsh flag has two equal horizontal stripes, white above green, and a large red dragon passant. The dragon standard was probably first seen in Britain in the shape of the "draco" a standard carried by the cohorts of the Roman legion. The Romans appear to have been inspired by the dragon standard carried by their Dacian and Parthian enemies and had adopted this device by the third century.



The leek is known to have been displayed as a Welsh emblem in 1536 and in Henry V, Shakespeare acknowledged this as an ancient custom.
One legend tells of a battle between the Welsh and the Saxons fought in a field of leeks. At some time in the past, the leek was an important part of the diet but it is not commonly eaten today. It is delicious when part of the traditional leek and potato soup.

The daffodil has no such claim to literary and historical distinction. It has become the more favoured emblem of late, however, since some people find that it makes a more attractive buttonhole on St. David's day . Daffodils and new-born lambs herald the summer in Wales.

Welsh Cake anyone?
Homemade and delicious!

Ingredients (approx 12 cakes)
225g/8oz self-raising flour sieved.
85g/3oz caster sugar.
Handful of sultanas.
110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter (extra butter, for greasing).
1 egg.
Milk, if needed.

Method
Sieve the floor into a bowl.
Work in the butter until breadcrumb consistency.
Add the caster sugar, sultanas & the egg and mix all ingredients and form a ball (adding a little milk if needed).
Roll the pastry to about 5mm thickness.
Cut out rounds using fluted biscuit/pastry cutters and place on (lightly buttered) pan.

NB
I used a piece of kitchen towel dipped in butter to grease it, wiping excess away.

Ideally the Welsh cakes are cooked on a griddle, but you can also cook them on a heavy based frying pan. The idea is the pan retains an even heat.


Turning once, cook for 2-3 mins on each side or until the surface is golden brown.

Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm.

THE WELSH CAKE LADY

The Mary Lloyd Ministry .. reaching out to the HOMELESS
http://www.latter-rain.com/home/mary/

My Dear Sister Mary and Neighbour is fondly called
THE WELSH CAKE LADY. (member of our group Ephesiangal)
Please hit the link above and click on to see what she is doing
The Gallery and much more can be seen of our locality.
Elaine.

ON THE STREET

I work with homeless people alone on the streets of a S. Wales City in the UK. It all began for real after a sad episode in the church I loved resulted in my hitting the city streets with a heavy heart, praying as I went.
I had often found myself talking about Jesus to homeless people as I walked down town, shopping or visiting, from a long time back, maybe the early nineties. I had not realized that Jesus was calling me to ministry out there but would find that more and more I was having “divine appointments”, moments of touching the reality of God with a brother or sister out there in prayer, with tears, with confession, with shared joy.
WELSHCAKE CHALLENGE

I started to bake welshcakes to raise money for the street needs some time last year. I have no personal income and it is a way of helping them out with various items that make life a little more bearable. I have set myself a challenge of baking 100,000 and so far (late 2004) I have made more than 22,000.
I have to say I am so impressed with my community’s response to this little fundraising effort. I have a small local delivery round which gets me out and talking to the people in my neighbourhood, including in the elderly peoples’ complex and the local pub. They like to be able to help the homeless by buying my welshcakes and, since it is a charity and not a business I can offer them more cheaply than the shops.

Croeso Cymru
Welcome to Wales
Land of Song


Please click on the link below to select a song and hear our local Pontypridd male voice choir
http://www.malechoir.com/

You will find this takes you to the first page where if you scroll down just a little to hear them sing our Welsh National Anthem
This is so I was unable to bring the link here.

Welsh National Anthem
In Welsh first then in English.
listen to the Midi-music click below.
Also
Short transcript of Wales on the bottom of the music link.

http://www.geocities.com/mj_donaldson2001/wales.html

Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra m창d,
Tros ryddid gollasant eu gwaed.

< Cytgan >

Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.
Tra m척r yn fur i'r bur hoff bau,
O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau.

Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd,
Pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn i'm golwg sydd hardd;
Trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si
Ei nentydd, afonydd i mi.

Os treisiodd y gelyn fy ngwald tan ei droed,
Mae hen iaith y Cymry mor fyw ac erioed,
Ni luddiwyd yr awen gan erchyll law brad,
Na thelyn berseiniol fy ngwlad.

The Land Of My Fathers

The land of my fathers, the land of my choice,
The land in which poets and minstrels rejoice;
The land whose stern warriors were true to the core,
While bleeding for freedom of yore.

< Chorus >

Wales! Wales! fav'rite land of Wales!
While sea her wall, may naught befall
To mar the old language of Wales.

Old mountainous Cambria, the Eden of bards,
Each hill and each valley, excite my regards;
To the ears of her patriots how charming still seems
The music that flows in her streams.

My country tho' crushed by a hostile array,
The language of Cambria lives out to this day;
The muse has eluded the traitors' foul knives,
The harp of my country survives.

HISTORY OF WELSH NATIONAL COSTUME/More on Wales
THE WELSH NATIONAL COSTUME

The Welsh national costume - tall black hat, white frilled cap, long dress - evolved in the late 18th century as a development of the costume worn in town and country. The national emblems of Wales are the leek and the daffodil, both of which are highly visible on March 1st, St David's Day. The humble leek's national status may originate from the ancient custom of wearing in it the cap as a mark of identification during battle. The national flag is a fiery Red Dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) set against a green and white field.

Wales shares many characteristics with its Celtic cousins across the Irish Sea. We like to socialise. We like to talk. There's a genuine warmth and friendliness here, expressed in the traditional welcoming greeting of croeso. You'll have no difficulty at all in meeting the people. Jut call into a pub or country inn - and if your visit coincides with an international rugby match, you'll be doubly sure of a memorable time. Rugby isn't just Wales's national sport. It's a national passion - and the Welsh aren't afraid to express it.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that Wales is the same as everywhere else. There's a distinctive cultural life here that manifests itself in many ways. The Welsh are warm, emotional and never indifferent (something to do with their Celtic roots, perhaps). There's a passionate love of rugby, even when the Welsh team isn't conquering the world. The Wales of today is a confident, forward-looking country which pays due respect to tradition and heritage - male voice choirs are still going strong, even though the mining communities that created them have disappeared.

popularise a sense of Welsh national identity.

Augusta Hall, later Lady Llanover (her husband* was elevated to the Peerage late in life) was what nowadays would be called an “activist”

She wanted her home – Llanover House – to become known for the promotion of Welsh language and culture.

Her influence lives on, in that her ideas of what an "idealised" Welsh costume should be, have now become the basis for a “recognised form” of our National Costume.

Mrs Stevens of the Museum of Welsh life says

“The costume regarded as national dress is based on clothing worn by Welsh countrywomen during the early nineteenth century, namely a striped flannel petticoat, worn under a flannel open-fronted bedgown, with an apron, shawl and kerchief or cap"

*She married Benjamin Hall, who as Commissioner for Works at the Houses of Parliament gave his name to the bell "Big Ben"



The ancient King of Gwynedd, Cadwallon ap Cadfan, is said, in AD633, to have given leeks to his men to wear on their hats to distinguish them from their Saxon foes. The medicinal properties of the leek were also recognised by the ancient physicians of Myddfai, who recommended it amongst other things for the treatment of bruises and broken bones. It’s somewhat coincidental that the Welsh name for daffodil - Cenhinen Bedr , translates to “Peter’s leek”.

Given its appearance and lack of a pungent odour, it is not surprising that the daffodil has overtaken the leek as the symbol of Wales. It is said that Lloyd George pushed for the daffodil to replace the leek as a symbol of Welsh identity. The leek will continue, however, to hold a stronger place in the culture of Wales than the more glamorous and recently acquired daffodil.



MUSICAL NATION

Male voice choirs were born of the community spirit forged in the coalmines of South Wales and the slate quarries of the north. Nowadays, they consist not of miners but a mix of professions. Yet the spirit is still there. Wales is a musical nation. Harmony comes naturally when people sing together. But with male voice choirs that innate skill is honed to a fine art. It's a moving experience to hear a choir in full voice. Around 100 still perform, and most have an open-door policy during rehearsals, which are often as enjoyable as a full-scale concert.

HISTORY & WhatsonWales with copywrite permission

St. David’s Day is celebrated on the 1st March. The patron saint of Wales was a Celtic monk who lived in the sixth century. Much of his life and work was not recorded until many centuries later, so it is difficult to distinguish fact from legend.

During his life he served as Archbishop of Wales and helped to spread Christianity throughout western Britain. Educated at a monastery, he established churches throughout Wales and a monastery at Glyn Rhosyn where the cathedral city of St. David stands today.

The earliest celebration of St. David’s Day was in 1120 when St. David was cannonised by Pope Callactus the Second.



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St David

Saint David, or Dewi Sant as he's called in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales.

His influence is shown in the number of churches dedicated to him in Wales.
St David's Day is 1st March, and it's a day of celebration all over Wales.

St David Factfile
There aren't many facts about St David; but here are the only undisputed ones.

He really existed
He was at the heart of the Welsh church in the 6th century
He came from an aristocratic family in West Wales
His mother was a saint, Saint Non
His teacher was also a saint, St Paulinus
He founded a large monastery in West Wales
He was one of the early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of Western Britain
He became Archbishop of Wales, but remained in his community at Menevia (now called St Davids)
He was active in supressing the Pelagian heresy
His shrine became a great place of pilgrimage; four visits to the shrine at St David’s was considered the equivalent of two to Rome, and one to Jerusalem!
The most famous story about Saint David tells how he was preaching to a huge crowd and the ground is said to have risen up, so that he was standing on a hill and everyone had a better chance of hearing him.

St David's Day has been a national festival in Wales since the 18th century, and is still marked with gusto.



Many people will wear either a daffodil or a leek, which are both symbols of Wales.


The other Welsh symbol, Y Ddraig Goch (the Red Dragon, Wales's national flag), will be flown on many more buildings than usual.