Our service in Church this morning was a celebration of St. David's day. It was not popular with some of the 'God Squad' as it is the first Sunday in Lent and there are those thought we should not be celebrating anything at all but the vicar valiantly plowed on anyway. He told the objectors that we were in good company as the Bishop of St. David's and the Archbishop for Wales were doing the same thing. The sermon was quite interesting, he explained that St. David was a man of devout penitence, that is what he is celebrated for, so it tied in with Lent. However, there were still a lot of sterne faces.
He also explained the Daffodil v Leek issue which has always fascinated me. Why have the Welsh got two emblems? It seems that the leek is known to have been displayed as a Welsh emblem as early as 1536, and when Shakespeare wrote Henry V, he acknowledges the leek as an ancient custom of Wales. The daffodil has no such literary claim to fame, but it has become more a favoured emblem of late.
There are many tales around about 'why the daffodil?' but it seems that the Welsh name for daffodil is 'Cenhinen Bedr' which translates to 'Peter's leek', and the Welsh for leek is 'Cenhinen'. Daffodils are also known as Lent lilies and therefore can be worn in Lent, so the confusion goes on
All through the service (conducted in part in Welsh, beautifully and fluently spoken by the vicar) we had some lovely traditional Welsh hymns and there were those in the choir and congregation who were decanting which was lovely. We finished by singing the Welsh National Anthem, which was rousing and all quite patriotic - considering our Vicar is an Englishman!
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