BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1

Subject: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 01:14 PM

Hes the patron saint of welsh people, i think today is his birthday or something.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: gnu
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 01:20 PM

Well, since I recently learned that my forefathers may actually be from Wales originally, before coming to Canada from Erin, I'll raise to that! Slainte mhath!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: Peace
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 03:10 PM

Here's to ya!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 03:57 PM

Do what I've done to celebrate: take a leek.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 04:33 PM

and take it as far away as possible. and yer onions, shallots, chives, garlic, pickled or not.

and yer Marmite.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: sian, west wales
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 04:47 PM

On behalf of the Dewi-ites, thenkin' youse.

I am on my way out to have a drop of Penderyn, the new whisky that was launched a year ago today and has won my heart. (Ignoring the fact that Dewi was probably T-T!)

Take all opportunities to take his advice: "Lords, brothers and sisters, be merry!"

merrilly
Gwyl Dewi Hapus!

siân

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 06:04 PM

Well, that's better than Green Beer and Green Bagels.

When I was very little, growing up in NYC..I always assumed that St. Patrick was the Patron Saint of Policemen and Firemen because every St. Patrick's Day all the Cops and Firemen in my family seemed to either have the day off, march in a parade or two and/or have themselves a helluva good time. It was only later that I realized St. Michael(Archangel) (or St. Micheal if you're Irish) is the Patron Saint of Policemen! I'm sure there is a feast of st. Micheal but I'll be damned if I know when it is, lapsed Catholic that I am.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: Snuffy
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 07:24 PM

Michaelmas (pronounced "Micklemass") is 29th September, and along with Christmas, Midsummer and Lady Day is one of the English Quarter Days on which rents were paid in earlier times. Scottish Quarter Days are different, but I don't know if Wales has any of its own.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 06:39 AM

Dydd gwyl Dewi hapus (Happy St David's day)

Thank you to the England Rugby team who gave us our present two days early ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 06:41 AM

I was Christened on this day 68 years ago.

Cymru am byth!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 07:14 AM

So who was the pre-xian patron of Wales? And where do leeks come in?

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 08:58 AM

Leek as an emblem of Wales

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 09:00 AM

As to 'patrons' before the Christian era, I'm not sure such a thing would have existed, nor that it would have applied to Wales as a whole, single, entity.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 10:34 AM

We had some great holidays in Wales in the early 80s when there was a lot of good weather just at the right time, mostly '83, '84 and '85. We went to the same place every time, a fabulous (and child-friendly) guest house near Letterston in "Little England beyond Wales." In 1986, in an attempt to escape London, I damn nearly landed a job at the secondary school in Haverfordwest. That would have changed history! Later that year I got the job down here and we ended up in Cornwall instead. I did a couple of field courses in Anglesey and one in Orielton during my educashun, and I took bunches of 'A' Levellers at various times to Betws-y-Coed and Abergavenny. A good few other forays into that foreign land down the years as well. Haven't been for a good few years now and last time I was there in supping mode good beer was hard to come by. I recall one that had a rather appropriate name that sounded like "feeling foul" when you said it. I imagine things have improved!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 10:36 AM

I had a bottle of that the other day, Steve! I felt OK after :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 10:56 AM

"Felinfoel" (pr. Vel-in-vole) is still going strong, with its (possibly) most popular beer being "Double Dragon".

And yes, even locals pronounce it 'Feelin' Foul'. It gets a mentions in Max Boyce's "9-3" about Llanelli beating the All Blacks:

Oh aye, the beer flowed at Stradey
Piped down from Felinfoel
And the hands that held the glasses high
Were strong from steel and coal
And the air was filled with singing
And I saw a grown man cry -
Not because we'd won,
But because the pubs ran dry!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 12:24 PM

It was the Double Dragon I had - On offer at Home Bargains and at £1.09 a bottle it was a bargain indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: BobL
Date: 03 Mar 21 - 02:27 AM

Never met a Welshman I didn't like...







































… until I went to Wales.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Mar 21 - 04:17 AM

I had a little Welsh friend at school called Susan Jones (honestly!) and she taught me how to pronounce the incredibly long name that starts Llanfairpwll etc. She was most insistent that I 'did' the lateral lingual fricative correctly.
My husband wouldn't believe for one minute that such a long place-name existed until I showed him a photograph online of the yards-long sign!
I also had a little Jewish friend who taught me the Hebrew prayer that begins 'Baruch atah adonai'.
And a little Chinese friend called 'There is a Fairy In the Moon' (in Cantonese) who taught me to count up to ten in her native language.
All this when I was at Infants School!
I used to rabbit on in all these languages - my poor mother used to wonder why I never ever shut up. I expect people still wonder nowadays teehee.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Mar 21 - 11:53 AM

When I was in Infants' School, I had a hard enough time with English as she was then spoke in Carleton County, Ontario -- with a distinct Northern Irish twang, complete with tetrathongs.

My husband had only the slightest possible tinge of a Welsh accent, except when he was on the phone with his mother. Then he turned into Taffy-Just-Off-The-Boat.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Mar 21 - 12:28 PM

My husband does an excellent imitation of a Welsh accent (he speaks three languages, Malinke, French and English, enjoying/imitating several UK accents)
He loved the TV comedy show 'Little Britain' where the chap boasts that he's "The only gay in the village" in that sing-song Welsh voice. So the naughty man likes to tell people round here "I'm the on-ly black in the vill-age!" Now another black man has come to live up the road (and with a white wife, just like us!) So he isn't any more.
He does however greet everyone with the Norfolk hello: "Are yew orlroit bor?"

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 21 - 06:56 AM

Hark! Happy St. Cecilia's Day

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Mar 21 - 04:19 PM

More disinformation. (from a frequent source)
St Cecilia's feast day is November 22nd.
She is the patron saint of choristers.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 21 - 08:07 PM

This will show up as posted on the 4th, but I'm posting it at 1am on the 5th in the UK as I want to get in first...

So, happy St Piran's Day to all Cornish men and women and to all who show good will to the beautiful nation of Kernow!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 05:06 AM

Steve:
Just raise the St David's flag from four days ago and recolour the central cross Silver instead of Gold.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 05:56 AM

I wouldn't dream of vandalising your flag, Nigel. That would be far too imperialistic!

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: leeneia
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 11:32 AM

Today would be a good day to go to the thread called "Lyr Add: Adieu to Dear Cambria (tune Llandyfri)" and learn the tune Llandyfri. The thread offers the abc, which can be converted to sticks & dots. It also has a link to a YouTube video of someone singing the song.

Steve, this would be a good song for your ukelele.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: leeneia
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 11:35 AM

Llandyfri is pronounced Lan DOVE vree. (dove like the bird). If you wish, you can learn the special Welsh pronunciation of ll online.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 12:04 PM

I'm a bit confused. There's a town in Carmarthenshire called Llandovery, but its Welsh name is Llanymddyfri, not quite what you said. I think we need Nigel here.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 02:49 PM

I can't speak of this with any certainty, but I believe that all three names are the same place.
Many Welsh place names were named in Welsh, and then given an Anglicised spelling. In the past the anglicised version became the accepted name, and the original drops out of use. Someone then comes along and tries to do a back-formation for the Welsh name, sowing confusion.

Things can get even more complex when you add in the Welsh mutations.
Carmarthen is (possibly) named from "Merlin's fort", Caer Myrddin" but due to a 'soft mutation' it becomes Caerfyrddin.
But the initial letter 'C' can also mutate in three separate ways, so although the town is Caerfyrddin, the expression for "To Carmarthen" is "i Gaerfyrddin" which is the 'soft mutation'
There are also the 'nasal mutation' Nghaerfyrddin, and the 'aspirate mutation' Chaerfyrddin.

For the same reason you'll see posters for the rugby "Cymru am byth" (Wales for ever). But when you cross the border you'll see roadsigns "Croeso i Gymru" (Welcome to Wales). Again the soft mutation has altered the initial letter.

So, a simple query, but a complex answer.

Subject: RE: BS: Happy St Davids Day March 1
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 04:54 PM

Cheers, Nigel.