Emma wears the Welsh dragon. Today is the feast day of St David, the patron saint of Wales. March 1st was chosen in remembrance of the death of Saint David on that day in 589. The date was officially declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century, but the first of March had been a national festival for centuries before that, possibly since the death of the saint himself. St David was first recognised as a national patron saint at the height of Welsh resistance to the Normans. To celebrate this day, people wear a symbol of either a leek or a daffodil. The leek is a patriotic symbol, arising from an occasion when a troop of Welsh patriots wore a leek in order to distinguish each other from a troop of English soldiers who were dressed in similar fashion. An alternative emblem developed in recent years is the daffodil (known in Welsh as cenhinen Pedr or Peter‘s leek) preferred by the British Government as it lacks the overtones of patriotic defiance associated with the traditional leek.Archive for February 2010
Emma wears the Welsh dragon. Today is the feast day of St David, the patron saint of Wales. March 1st was chosen in remembrance of the death of Saint David on that day in 589. The date was officially declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century, but the first of March had been a national festival for centuries before that, possibly since the death of the saint himself. St David was first recognised as a national patron saint at the height of Welsh resistance to the Normans. To celebrate this day, people wear a symbol of either a leek or a daffodil. The leek is a patriotic symbol, arising from an occasion when a troop of Welsh patriots wore a leek in order to distinguish each other from a troop of English soldiers who were dressed in similar fashion. An alternative emblem developed in recent years is the daffodil (known in Welsh as cenhinen Pedr or Peter‘s leek) preferred by the British Government as it lacks the overtones of patriotic defiance associated with the traditional leek.
