The Welsh celebrate the 1st of March with a lot of singing, poetry, traditional food and - not to forget - daffodils...

Who was St. David?
St. David, or "Dewi Sant", as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He lived in the 6th century and during his life he was a celtic monk and archbishop, and he was one of the many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain.

Dewi travelled far on his missionary journeys through Wales, where he established several monasteries. The one he founded in Menevia in south-western Wales was noted for extreme asceticism.

David and his monks drank neither beer nor wine - only water - while putting in a full day of intense study and manual labour to help maintain live at the monastery and to keep themselves fed - as well as the many pilgrims and the poor and needy in their neighbourhood.

It is claimed that Dewi ate mostly bread and herbs. Despite this supposedly meagre diet, it is reported that he was tall and physically strong. He is also known as 'Dewi Ddyfrwr' (David the Water Drinker). Dewi is said to have been of royal lineage. His father, Sant, was the son of Ceredig, who was prince of Ceredigion, a region in South-West Wales. His mother, Non, was said to be a niece of King Arthur.

St. David's Day, as celebrated today on March 1st (the day of his death in 589), dates back to 1120, when Dewi was canonised py Pope Callactus the Second, and March 1st was included in the Church calendar.
It is not certain how much of the history of St. David is fact and how much is mere speculation, as the first manuscripts recording his life date from the 12th century, nearly five hundred years after his death. In 1996, though, bones were found in St. David's Cathedral, which, it is claimed, could be those of Dewi himself....

How came the leek to be the national emblem of Wales??

'I like the leeke above all herbes and flowers.
When first we wore the same the field was ours.
The Leeke is white and greene, wherby is ment
That Britaines are both stout and eminent;
Next to the Lion and the Unicorn,
The Leeke the fairest emblyn that is worne.'
'A collection of pedigrees', B.I.Harleian MS

A popular legend tells us that St. David advised the Britons on the eve of a battle with the Saxons to wear leeks in their caps so as to easily distinguish friend from foe. This helped to secure a great victory. It is still a surviving tradition that soldiers in the Welsh regiments eat a raw leek on St. David's Day. Possibly one of the reasons why the daffodil is used as an emblem is that the words for daffodil and for leek are the same in Welsh: 'Cenhinen' = Leek and 'Cenhinen pedr' = Daffodil. This confusion means that both have been adopted as national emblems

St David was the son of Sandde, Prince of Powys, and Non, daughter of a Chieftain of Menevia whose lands included the peninsula on which the little cathedral town of St David's now stands. St David is thought to have been born near the present town of St David's. The ruins of a small chapel dedicated to his mother, Non, may be seen near St. David's Cathedral.

David became the Abbot of St David's and died on 1st March 589. A.D. An account of his life was written towards the end of the 11th century by Rhygyfarch, a monk at Llanbadarn Fawr near Aberystwyth. Many miracles were attributed to him. One miracle often recounted is that once when Dewi was preaching to a crowd at Llandewi Brefi those on the outer edges could not hear, so he spread a handkerchief on the ground, and stood on it to preach, whereupon the ground rose upbeneath him, and all could hear.
He was buried in what is today St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire. His holiness was such that medieval pilgrims equated two pilgrimages to St David's were worth one pilgrimage to Rome - a great saving in journeying at that time! Fifty churches in South Wales alone bear his name.

March 1st , St David's Day, is now the traditional day of the Welsh. March 1 is the date given by Rhygyfarch for the death of Dewi Sant, was celebrated as a religious festival up until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the 18th century it became a national festival among the Welsh, and continues as such to this day.

The celebration usually means singing and eating. St. David's Day meetings in Wales are not the boisterous celebrations of that accompany say St Patrick's Day in Ireland, but that may be because Welsh nationalism is kept in check.

The singing of traditional songs followed by a Te Bach, tea with teisen bach and bara brith. Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon, is flown as a flag or worn as a pin or pendant, and leeks are worn, and sometimes eaten. St David's Day is now celebrated by Welsh people all over the world.