Celebrate St. Davids Day on March 1st



Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2008

by
Americymru

March 1st is Saint David's Day, the National Holiday of Wales, a day to celebrate for the Welsh and Americans of Welsh descent.  In Wales, people celebrate Saint David's Day by attending church services, wearing leeks and daffodils (national symbols of Wales and St. David), holding parades and children's parties in the schools.

Saint David, Dewi Sant in Welsh, lived in the 6th Century and is unique among British saints in that a surprising amount of information was recorded about his life.   He  was probably the son of  Usai, the king of Ceredigion, and the daughter of a lord of what would later be called Pembrokeshire and was the student of another Welsh saint, Paulinus.  Dewi Sant was renowned as a teacher who founded monastic settlements and churches in mostly pagan Wales, Cornwall and Brittany.  Today, Saint David's Cathedral stands on the site of a monastery he founded in Glyn Rhosyn (Valley of Roses) in Pembrokeshire.  The monastic rule of Dewi Sant taught humility, simplicity and asceticism and he practiced these himself: that monks ploughed, planted and tended their crops themselves, without draft animals; that they drank only water and ate only bread with salt and herbs and never meat or beer; that they spent their evenings in prayer, reading and writing; that no member of the monastery had any personal possessions, everything belonged to them all.   Dewi Sant's last sermon was recorded as including the words, "Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about.... Do the little things in life," and this phrase, "Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd," ("Do the little things in life") is  a phrase used today. 

On Americymru.com there are plenty of ideas to help you mark the occasion including mouth-watering recipes for a St. Davids Day feast, lists of books by modern Welsh authors and  Radio Stations featuring St Davids Day specials. We wish the Cymry worldwide and all Americans of Welsh descent a happy St. Davids Day!

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!


Ceri Shaw is a  Welsh ex-pat currently residing in Portland Oregon. His hobbies include but are not limited to:- Standing at a window gazing vaguely into space. Sitting self-absorbed for hours on a crumbling armchair. Linux, Welsh History, Literature, Politics, Philosophy. He is a Web Designer and writer. He contributes to regularly to the  Furtive Penguin and Americymru.
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