St David's Day - March 1st
It is celebrated on March 1st all over Wales and by ex-pats the world over. It is a little like St Patrick's Day but not quite so green, drunken or rowdy!
St David or Dewi Sant, is the patron saint of Wales, although he was widely known in Cornwall (south-west England) and Brittany (France) as well. These areas were strongly linked back in his day as they shared a common language.
Photo by Pembroke Dave
How we celebrate St David's Day
We dress our little girls up in Welsh costume and all the schools have an 'eisteddfod', a concert of recitals, song and dance. Boys wear 'Sunday best', dressed in the same sort of clothes worn by Welsh farmers to church in the early 1900s.Everyone wears a daffodil or a miniature leek (usually made of ribbon) in their lapel. When I was a child all the children were given a half-day off school after the eisteddfod but it tends to depend on the school nowadays.
The Ragged Edge's daughter, aged two, dressed in Welsh costume and not very happy about it.
The Rough Guide to the Music of Wales
Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 11/27/2009) 
A History of Wales
Amazon Price: $13.60 (as of 11/27/2009)
Traditional Songs of Wales
Amazon Price: $19.98 (as of 11/27/2009)
Celtic Music From Wales
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/27/2009)
The Rough Guide to Wales 6 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
Amazon Price: $17.09 (as of 11/27/2009)
Dewi Sant - St David, who was he?
St David was a son of King Ceredig, founder of Ceredigion. His mother was known as 'Non' but this name may refer to her being a nun. According to the old story she was raped by the nasty King Ceredig and later gave birth to Dewi during a thunderstorm on a clifftop.It is thought St David was educated in Carmarthenshire and became a teacher and preacher. He was fiercely devoted to the Christian faith, which can't have been easy as Wales was, at that time, mostly pagan.
He was said to have lived for over 100 years and died on March 1st, although the year is uncertain. His last words were, "Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.'
Photo is of St David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, which stands on, or near, the site of the monastic community founded by St David.
More about St David's Day
'Saint Davids Day' () is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March each year.
The date of March 1st was chosen in remembrance of the death of Saint David on that day in 589, and has been celebrated by followers since then. The date was declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century.
In 2006 Saint Davids Day was officially celebrated on 28 February by Roman Catholics and on 2 March by the Anglican Church in Wales, because 1 March 2006 was Ash Wednesday, which is a day of penitence on which feast days are not celebrated.[http://www.indcatholicnews.com/stdavid.html Happy Saint David's Day!], Independent Catholic News.
A poll conducted for Saint David's Day in 2006 found that 87% of the Welsh wanted it to be a bank holiday, with 65% prepared to sacrifice a different bank holiday to ensure this. A petition in 2007 to make St. David's Day a bank holiday was rejected by the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair....
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Traditional Welsh Food
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Welsh National Anthem
"Land of My Fathers"
Welsh anthem (Land of my fathers)
"Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", usually translated as "Land of My Fathers", is, by tradition, the national anthem of Wales. The words were written by Evan James and the tune composed by his son, James James, both residents of Pontypridd, Glamorgan, in January 1856. The earliest written copy survives and is part of the collections of the National Library of Wales. Lyrics: Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi, Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri; Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd, Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed. Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad. Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau, O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau. Translation: The old land of my fathers is dear to me, Land of poets and singers, famous men of renown; Her brave warriors, very splendid patriots, For freedom shed their blood. Nation, Nation, I pledge to my Nation. While the sea [is] a wall to the pure, most loved land, O may the old language endure.
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curated content from YouTube
Welsh National Anthem
The cute version
Ideas for celebrating St David's Day
* Have a Welsh feast - make a traditional Cawl the day before and try your hand at Bara Brith or Welsh cakes. This guy is really funny! I bet he's from Bridgend!
Learn to be a shepherd...
Decade in the Sun: Best of Stereophonics
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Rockferry
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Shirley Bassey - The Greatest Hits
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Best of Treorchy Male Voice
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Do you think St David's Day should be a national Bank holiday in Wales?
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Reply
- jptanabe jptanabe Oct 16, 2009 @ 6:19 pm
- Oh yes, of course! Everyone should have the day off and sing! Sorry your daughter didn't like her costume, but I love the daffodils and of course the Welsh flag has a dragon so I'm excited to see that being waved!
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Reply
- Qualitee Qualitee Oct 13, 2009 @ 4:31 am
- Yes, St David's Day should be a National Bank Holiday. I love the way the Welsh keep up with their traditions.
Very interesting lens. The 'accents' guy is brilliant.
5*
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Reply
- mysticmama mysticmama Oct 12, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
- What fun!
Congratulations on Graduating RocketMom!
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Reply
- Heather426 Heather426 Oct 9, 2009 @ 4:05 pm
- Your daughter is so cute!!! Love the lens.
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- BarbRad BarbRad Oct 4, 2009 @ 7:22 pm
- I love the picture of your little girl. I'm going to lensroll this to my lens on Slava as soon as I publish it and it leaves the red zone. Meanwhile, you will be one of my featured RocketMoms lenses for it.
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Reply
- sandyspider sandyspider Oct 4, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
- Beautiful lens! The little girl is so cute!
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Reply
- oztoo oztoo Oct 4, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
- Love this lens. Wales is such a beautiful place and I believe that St David's Day should be a National Bank Holiday. I also like the fact that the National Anthem is sung in the Welsh language and kids are taught this. It is, I feel, important to remember a countries heritage with pride. Besides the people of Wales are reknown for there great singing. 5*****
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- whitemoss whitemoss Oct 4, 2009 @ 6:04 am
- I just love your anthems- wish we had some like that. Its enough to make me want to support Wales even when you're playing England!
I've added this great lens to my Boxing Day lens.
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- bdkz bdkz Oct 3, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
- Beautiful!
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- shajo shajo Oct 2, 2009 @ 3:25 pm
- Wonderful lens and adorable photo of you daughter! I like the idea of the children dressing in welsh attire and having concerts :)
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Lensmaster theraggededge has been a member since July 9 2009, has rated 847 lenses, favorited 56, and has created 47 lenses from scratch. Bev G donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund. This member's top-ranked page is "Zentangle". See all my lenses
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