Monday 1 March 2021

dewi sant

Patron of poets, vegetarians and the Welsh, Saint David (*500) is fรชted on this day, the occasion of his death in 601 at an advanced age. David’s monastic rules prescribed that the monks had to plough their own plots of land without the aid, abuse of draught animals and adopt ascetic practises that avoided meat and beer—giving rise to his associated symbol, the leek. The saint’s other iconography includes a flag—sable a cross or—representing the nation the same way the crosses of George, Andrew and Patrick stand for England, Scotland and Ireland respectively though this alternate banner (engrailed rather than offset) is not as prevalent as the Red Dragon. Reminiscent of the admonition “Be kind to small things” it is reported that David’s last words were “Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd”—“Do ye the little things in life,” a well-known saying in Wales.