Issue 153

My Saint David's Day

26th February 2007

Nia grew up on a farm near Seven Sisters in Wales. With Welsh as her mother-tongue, naturally she has always celebrated St. David's Day in one way or another. She remembers a similar experience to many Welsh schoolchildren today who have a special school day.

There is some debate as to whether St. David's Day should be a national holiday: some want it recognised as a bank holiday, and others think that the day has been well-preserved, particularly for children by schools, and to make it a day off would actually be detrimental.

There is also the massive problem of what to wear - leek or daffodil? Whilst the leek is more traditional, it is said that the wearing of the daffodil came about because its name in Welsh is 'Peter's Leek' when literally translated. So if you don't like leeks or just think that a daff is prettier, go ahead and wear it with pride.

1 March has always been an important date in my calendar as it is the day that we in Wales celebrate our patron saint. I remember when I was a child these celebrations would consist of me dressing up in the Welsh National Costume.

For girls, that is a red woollen skirt, a black and white pinafore, a sort of dress coat in black and red, a paisely shawl and the look is completed by a black hat. Having dressed for the day, I would then proceed by going to school where the national celebrations would, naturally, continue.

We would begin the day by meeting in assembly. Here we would hear stories about the life and times of St David. Hymns like 'Dyn Da oedd Dewi' literally 'David was a good man' and of course the Welsh National anthem 'Mae hen wlad fy nhadau' (Land of my Fathers) were and remain very popular to be performed on St. David's Day, across all of Wales in various venues.

St David would not be forgotten as lessons commenced. We would do work sheets and write stories about this most holy of Welsh men.

We knew a great deal about St David by the end of the day. A lot I am ashamed to say that I have probably forgotten by now, although I like to think the fundamentals are still engraved on my memory.

But we did not only celebrate St. David's Day in the classroom. As part of the school choir we went out to the local village all dressed in the traditional Welsh costume and we would sing in the middle of the street. I don't remember what we sang very well, although I do remember the words to a song we sang about a blackbird that was the king of the forestry.

St. David's Day for me was not the only day that I dressed up in my National Costume. I would also dress up on the nearest Sunday to St David's as well, as we would have a St David's Day concert in Sunday School.

One of the things we did every single year was hold up the letters of the words Dewi Sant (Saint David) and we would say what each letter of his name represented. For example, N stood for Non, the name of his mother, while T stood for Tyddewi (the Welsh name for St David's, Pembrokeshire) the place where he was born.

This is a tradition carried on by the Sunday school children at Godre'rhos still. Myself, I celebrate St David's Day in a much more subdued way today. I no longer dress up in the Welsh National Costume and going out singing with a choir is something that most definitely does not happen as I am a remarkably bad singer. One tradition that I have kept up though is wearing a daffodil on St. David's Day. While I still attend chapel on the nearest Sunday to St. David's Day, I no longer take part.

Now a spectator, I still enjoy hearing the same old hymns and songs performed at the concert that I took part in as a child - I find I enjoy watching the celebrations much more than I ever enjoyed taking part in them.

Nia Williams