Book of Days

Or, in English: Happy St. David’s Day! St. David is sacred to Wales, one of the Celtic countries of the United Kingdom. It is a day of national pride and national celebration, similar to St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. It is a day of leeks and daffodils. Both are similar in name in Welsh, and of course it is springtime, so the daffodils by now perhaps are blooming beautifully. As for the leeks, this goes back to ancient battle in Wales in which St. David himself is said to have advised the Welsh troops to wear leeks in their caps in order to distinguish themselves from the Saxon troops they were fighting. The leek has since become a symbol of Welsh national pride.

This animosity between the Celtic Welsh and the Saxon-descended English went on for some time. I’m not sure if bakers in England are still making gingerbread taffies for St. David’s Day, but it was a long standing tradition to make these cookies in mockery of the day. The taffies depicted a Welshman riding a goat. There is an old story, as well, of a man on horseback in the north of Wales who comes to a river that he wishes to cross. There was a man working the field nearby, so he asked, in English, if it was safe to cross the river and the laborer replied, in English, that it was indeed. The horse, however, knew better, and refused to pass into the river. So the man upon the horse asked the laborer once again if it was safe to cross the river, this time in Welsh. “Oh, I beg your pardon, sir,” said the man on the ground. “I thought you were an Englishman.”

And so the English made their gingerbread taffies, and hung effigies of Welshmen for St. David’s Day, while in Wales, the folks celebrated in kinder ways, still to this day, with parades and the wearing of national costumes and of course leeks and daffodils. And perhaps the making of Welsh cakes. Here’s a recipe for Welsh Cakes from the folks at King Arthur Flour; the one suggestion I might make is that Welsh Cakes often have a scalloped edge, so if you are making them and if you happen to have a scalloped biscuit cutter on hand, you might want to use that one instead of a plain circle. You might serve them with butter or, for a more savory treat, with cheese and leeks.

I love leeks and I love Wales, though I’ve never been there. But I have seen pictures and it looks so utterly beautiful there, and I have heard the language in word and song, and I love the poetry of Dylan Thomas, and the books of Gregynog Press, or Gwasg Gregynog as it’s called there, and while I don’t have a bit of Welsh anything in me, I have long been enthralled by the place. And so Happy St. David’s Day: Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Image: Welsh Cakes, photographed by Mindmatrix, 2009. [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

Hopefully this doesn’t become a habit, but I’m beginning this Book of Days chapter with an apology, just as I did a couple of chapters ago. It’s the First of March, and you’d be right in expecting your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for March about now, but it will have to be delayed a day or two. Something about Adobe plug-ins. Something, too, about procrastination… but that’s another story.

March brings the feast days of a good many saints, many of which bring a little levity (and generally good food) to this somber time of lent. The first of them comes today with St. David’s Day, sacred to Wales, in particular. I’ve got scones baking in the oven as I write this, and that, I realize, is not a very Welsh thing, but it is, nonetheless, what popped into my mind as I awoke this morning. (The coffee is on and the scones are smelling pretty wonderful, by the way.)

The day is given mainly to leeks and daffodils, which may seem an odd combination until you ponder the words for both in Welsh: cenhinen for leek and cenhinen pedr for daffodil. Both leeks and daffodils are symbols of Wales, and some say this is because there has been so much confusion over the centuries about the two. Leeks became a symbol of Wales through an ancient battle in which the Welsh troops distinguished themselves from the Saxon troops by wearing leeks in their caps, and daffodils, perhaps just by linguistic association. Be that as it may, in Wales on this first day of March you’ll be sure to see folks wearing leeks and daffodils on their lapels (and perhaps in their caps). Any meal that involves leeks (and how delicious are leeks!) is sure to be fitting for this day.

The month of March is also a big month for weather lore. Perhaps this is because many folks in northern climes are growing very weary, by now, of winter. March is a month that brings great transition, and it is known to begin and end in opposites: in like a lamb, out like a lion, and then the reverse, of course, should it come in like a lion rather than a lamb. To be sure, generally foul weather is to be expected during this transition period as winter melts to spring. The first few days of March that follow St. David’s Day are given to saints who are ancient and largely forgotten here on Earth: St. Chad tomorrow and St. Winnal on the Third, and there is an old weather rhyme that many know but perhaps do not understand why these odd names come into play:

First comes David,
Next comes Chad,
Then comes Winnal,
Roaring mad.

Whether the Third of March is generally a stormy day I cannot say, nonetheless St. Winnal has developed a bit of a reputation. As for the shift away from winter’s darkness toward summer’s light, we come nearer and nearer to the equinox, which occurs later this month. Vernal for the Northern Hemisphere, autumnal for the Southern, but it is a time of balance for both as the Earth continues to shift in its seat, as it does, always. For today, enjoy the leeks, enjoy the daffodils, should they blooming where you are, and if they are not, rest assured they will be soon. Outdated Adobe plug-ins may stop some things from happening, but luckily for us, this planet operates on a rather timeless system, and that constant rearrange never needs updating.

Image: The gathering of leeks, an illustration from the Tacuinum of Vienna, a 14th century book. [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.