Happy St. David's Day

I'd like to wish all DW members and guests a Happy St. David's Day.

St David or Dewi Sant is the patron saint of Wales and his death (strangely!) is celebrated on March 1st. Schools across Wales celebrate this day with eisteddfodau. These consist of competitions with regard to poetry recitations, traditional dancing, choral, individual and folk singing, instruments, sketches, etc. I just finished comparing part of ours. Great day - all without a drop of alcohol! I'll wait until St. Patrick's Day for that. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_David's_Day

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/275/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21561244

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisteddfod

Here's an example of how we're governed:

Cross-party support resulted in the National Assembly for Wales voting unanimously to make St. David's Day a public holiday in 2000. A poll conducted for Saint David's Day in 2006 found that 87% of people in Wales wanted it to be a bank holiday, with 65% prepared to sacrifice a different bank holiday to ensure this.[2] A petition in 2007 to make St. David's Day a bank holiday was rejected by the office of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

[ChrisHunter]

Happy St Davids Day, I love Wales. I can't wait for the weather to pick up enough for camping and a bit of climbing.

Hope you've had a good'n diafol

[vegaseat]

I have to honestly say
that I never heard of St. Davids day.

Hope you've had a good'n diafol

Thanks Chris. Really good day - great to see the kids in a totally different light, participating in our traditional competitions. Seeing great huge bears of rugby players dancing to folk tunes and listening to duets and group recitations was truly uplifting. Good for the soul. :)

Where do you go climbing, Snowdonia?

I have to honestly say
that I never heard of St. Davids day.

Unfortunately the Welsh have never been great at self-promotion, unlike our Celtic cousins, the Irish. Hopefully, with the help of modern technology, we'll be able to share our culture for all to enjoy.

The Eisteddfod is a very old tradition, resurrected and embellished with 'false history' by Iolo Morgannwg. Llangollen (North Wales), holds an annual International Eisteddfod every year, where performers from all over the world come to compete, mostly in singing and dancing events. It is said that Luciano Pavarotti made his 'debut' at Llangollen.

here's an example for anybody who's interested:
National Eisteddfod
http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/english/content.php?nID=891

International Eisteddfod (Llangollen)
http://international-eisteddfod.co.uk/

If you have the time, take a look at some traditional clog dancing - it builds up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGwAPic9AbQ

Seeing great huge bears of rugby players dancing to folk tunes and listening to duets and group recitations was truly uplifting. Good for the soul. :)

diafol

I never heard of St. Davids day til now.

I mean St Patty been good all these years!

Where's leprechauns?

Where the pot of gold?

Do welsh drink more wine than the irish?

Imagine the leprechauns wearing Kilt.

I bet the Irish, when not making money from it, are sick to death of the twee leprechaun culture.

Do welsh drink more wine than the irish? Wine? That's a frippery - an Anglo affectation. Welshmen eat coal and drink diesel.

Where the pot of gold? We had black gold. Then Margaret Thatcher closed all our mines. We truly love the Conservative Party in Wales - NOT.

I mean St Patty been good all these years!

It's good for having a drink, but we don't really celebrate it over here though. Did you know that St. Patrick was a Welshman? http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts2.html Well, Welsh in the broad sense that most of Britain (not Scotland) was 'Welsh'.

[rubberman]

Wales - the location of the filming and production of the new Doctor Who, Merlin, and a bunch of other great TV shows! Hope to get there some day... :-)

P.S. My housemaster at Dulwich College in London where I spent a year (4th form) was from Wales, Mr. B.M.Jones! And for all of us ignorant Yanks, Jones IS a fine, respected Welsh name... So, if you are a Jones, then someone in your past was from that rocky shore!

P.P.S. I am partly a Roark, so my family hails from the Emerald Isle. In fact, one of my distant cousins was Mary Shelley, so I guess you could say that I am the cousin of Frankenstein... :-)

Did you know that St. Patrick was a Welshman?

Did not know that. It's good to know some history.

Black gold is worth more than gold

Black gold is worth more than gold

Black gold = coal

Black gold = coal = gas!

[ChrisHunter]

@diafol Yeah I usually go climbing and camping in Snowdonia, Llyn Gwynant for camping and then into the llanberis pass for a bit of boulding or a walk up snowdon. Never been to the south yet though.