St. David's Day -- Dydd Dewi Sant

[SirRichardBear]

St. David, Dewi Sant, is the patron saint of the Welsh, and March 1, his feast day, is celebrated as a patriotic and cultural festival by the Welsh in Wales and around the world.

Swords clashed as the men of Wales fought on for hours try to protect their land from the Saxon invaders. Despite their great efforts, the Welsh were slowly losing. In the heat of the battle it was difficult to tell friend from foe. The fact that both sides wore similar clothing made the fight all the more confusing.

A monk noticed that this was becoming a grave problem. As the Welsh lost more and more ground, the monk cried out to them, "Welshmen, you must mark yourselves so that you can better tell who is Saxon and who is Welsh. The monk plucked a leek plant from the ground and continued, "Here, wear these so you will know that any soldier who does not have a leek is your enemy."

Some of the soldiers thought this was a rather odd idea, but the monk was one of God's men so they went along with it. Soon every Welsh soldier was wearing a leek on his helmet. They attacked the invaders and before long, the Welsh had won the battle.

The monk who came up with the idea of wearing a leek was named David. David died on March 1st. After he died, the Catholic Church made him a saint.

St. David (Dewi Sant in Welsh) is the patron saint of Wales, and March 1, his feast day, is celebrated as a patriotic and cultural festival by the Welsh in Wales and around the world. The leek is the national flower of Wales. Welsh people all over the world proudly wear the stalk, flower or a bit of leaf from a leek plant on March 1st.

The welsh leek has a flower much like a daffodil (which is quite a bit easier to find around the world in March), so many use daffodils instead.

[Poldugarian Warrior]

Thanks for sharing again this year. I always like the refresher. Since I have the same name as that saint, but not only that he was integral to Irish/Welsh/Celtic culture. It's said that not only that he knew of the leek as a food source, he knew many other root like plants which were used for food  and medicine in the isles . Also he was one of the Uncles or the only uncle of King Arthur.