Today Is March 1st – St David’s Day

Today Is March 1st - St David's Day

Today Is March 1st - St David's Day. image: pinterest

Today Is March 1st – St David’s Day, the national day of Wales

St David’s Day is the national day of Wales and is celebrated each year on March 1, traditionally it celebrates Welsh culture and the life of the patron saint of Wales, St David, with the instantly recognisable flag of Wales being a huge part of the celebrations.

national flag of wales

St David was born in Caerfai in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and was first recognised as the patron saint at the height of Welsh resistance to the Normans. He died on March 1 589 AD and the date has since been known as St David’s Day.

Traditionally the date is celebrated with a huge parade around the Welsh capital, Cardiff, though this won’t be going ahead this year thanks to the Covid restrictions.

Children in Wales normally take part in school concerts, with young girls often wearing traditional costumes to school which are made up of a long woollen skirt, a blouse, woollen shawl, and a Welsh hat, and normally wearing a daffodil, the national flower of Wales, or maybe a leek.

St David’s Day is a perfect opportunity to sample some of the food associated with Wales, such as Cawl – soup, Bara birth – tea loaf cake, Welsh Cakes, and Welsh rarebit.

Today is March 1st so you really should learn some Welsh to be able to converse with your Welsh friends on this special day, so, here is a quick lesson:

“Happy St David’s Day” is “Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus” pronounced “Deethe goo-eel Dew-ee happ-iss”.

“Good morning” – “bore da”

or the classic,
“Ife Tom Jones sydd draw fan’na” – “is that Tom Jones over there?”

Here are some more useful words to learn in Welsh:

  • Prynhawn da – Good afternoon
  • Nos da – Goodnight
  • Shw mae? (pronounced shoo-mai) – Hello/ Alright?
  • Shwt ych chi? (pronounced – should-ee-chee) – How are you?
  • Diolch (pronounced dee-olch) – Thank you
  • Croeso (pronounced croy-so) – Welcome
  • Esgusodwch fi (pronounced ess-giss-odd-ooch vee) – Excuse me

OR, how about you REALLY impress the Welsh, by saying the name of a small village located on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, which it is claimed is the longest one-word place name in Europe and the second-longest in the world.

Have a go at this:
Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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