St David's Day takes place on March 1
Celebrated on March 1, St David's Day marks the national day for Wales. With the help of Cadw,the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group, we can share some excellent information about the patron saint who is said to have been born around 520 AD.
David was around when it was a time when Welsh kings ruled small kingdoms and their people made a living by farming. Most people in Wales were Christians, and monasteries were important centres of prayer and learning.
His birth is said to have taken place on the cliffs in a wild thunderstorm, near the city which is now named after him. Some believe that David was the son of Sanctus, king of Ceredigion and a nun called Nonnita (Non).
David's life as a monk
Around the year 550, David is said to have founded a monastery close to the place where he was born. Here, he and his fellow monks lived a simple life, drinking only water and eating only bread and herbs. Meat and beer were forbidden and David became known as Dewi Dyfrwr (David the water drinker).
The monks farmed the land, but David insisted they pull the plough and carry their tools without the help of animals. They weren't allowed any personal possessions and spent the evenings in prayer, reading and writing.
The stories of St David's miracles
There are many stories of the miracles of St David which include bringing a dead boy back to life by splashing the child's face with tears, and restoring a blind man's sight.
David's best-known miracle allegedly took place in the village of Llanddewi Brefi. He was preaching to a large crowd, but some people had difficulty hearing him. Suddenly a white dove landed on David's shoulder, and as it did, the ground on which he stood rose up to form a hill, making it possible for everyone to see and hear him.
The legacy of St David
Today, a church stands on the top of this hill. The dove became St David's emblem and often appears on his portraits and stained glass windows. Churches and chapels dedicated to David are found not just in Wales but also in south-west England and Brittany. David's influence also spread to Ireland, where the Irish embraced his beliefs about caring for the natural world.
His final words to his followers were: "Do the little things, the small things you've seen me doing." These words still inspire many people today. St David is believed to have died on March 1, 589.
Five hundred years later, his first biography was written by Rhygyfarch of Llanbadarn. As his popularity grew, poems and songs were written about him.
By the 12th century, more than 60 churches in Wales had been dedicated to him and pilgrims visited his monastery at St Davids.
Why do we wear leeks and daffodils?
In Arthur E Hughes' essay "The Welsh national emblem: leek or daffodil?" which appeared in the journal Y Cymmrodor 26 (1916), 147-90) the author explains that the origins of the leek as national symbol are uncertain.
Shakespeare popularized the idea that wearing the leek originated as recognition of Welsh soldiers' bravery at battle of Crécy 1346 in his play Henry V (1598/9).
Sources from the 17th century onwards claim that St David was responsible for custom of wearing leeks in memory of David's custom of fasting on water and leeks, as said in Michael Drayton's works Polyolbion (1612).
Wearing daffodils was promoted in particular by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Daffodil is cennin Pedr (i.e. Peter's leek) in Welsh, easy to conflate "cennin" (Leek) and "cennin Pedr". The investiture of Edward as Prince of Wales in Caernarfon 1911 saw Welsh dragons and daffodils used as symbols on thrones and regalia rather than leeks.
How St David's Day is marked
Many mark St David's Day by wearing a leek or a daffodil, the national emblems of Wales, or by displaying the flag of St David, which features a yellow cross on a black background. Schools across Wales will hold festival celebrations, with children dressed up in traditional costume.
St David's Day facts
1. The nickname Taffy for a Welshman links back to St David as the original and ultimate Welshman – the term dates back to the 17th century and derives from Dafydd, the Welsh for David
2. The shrine of St David at his cathedral – located in Britain's smallest city, St Davids in Pembrokeshire – was thought of so highly by Pope Callistus II that he states that two pilgrimages to the shrine was worth one to the Vatican in Rome
3. King Edward I of England took the head and the arm of St David from the cathedral after his 1284 conquest in Wales. He displayed the remains along with a number of other holy relics in London
4. David was the only Welsh saint to be canonised by the Western Catholic Church
5. Yet the abbey at Glastonbury claims St David as its patron
6. St David's Day was raised to principal feast status in the church calendar after Henry V's success at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, reportedly in thanks to the Welsh saint for intervening on his behalf against the French (luckily David was able to repeat his kind favour for last Friday's Six Nations rugby match...)
7. In Shakespeare's Henry V, Fluellen's English colleague, Pistol, dares to insult the humble leek on St David's Day, Fluellen insists he eat the national emblem as punishment: "If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek." (Act V, Scene I)