Tuesday Cuppa Tea -Saint David's Day for Wales

Hello and welcome to our first Tuesday Cuppa Tea for March. I am celebrating the Welsh National holiday...Saint David's Day, which is the first of March.

The reason I wanted to share a teacup with a Daffodil is because the Daffodil is a national symbol of Wales, and of March 1st which is the Welsh holiday St. David's Day, the patron saint of Wales....so I looked, and found a perfect teacup from the 1930s in a pattern called Daffodil...

The bone china teacup was made by Victoria China, a trademark of Cartwright and Edwards, who existed into the 1960s era of closures and consolidations after being acquired by Alfred Clough Ltd. in 1955, then closed.

The spring floral is hand colored on transfer and has the hand applied raised red enamel  accents, which really makes the pattern pop! If you have visited this blog, you know I love these 1930s hand colored on transfer teacups! The mark dates the manufacture from 1929 to 1942. For more info on the teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos...

St David's Day is celebrated all over the United Kingdom, especially in Wales... and other parts of the world...for those of the Welsh heritage. That includes members who are considered Welsh, not by birth but of having been by grafted in or adopted, like the Prince Of Wales and William Wales better known as Prince William. That's why he visited Wales with his bride to be Catherine, just before the wedding, and I expect them to be celebrating this year as well..

Daily Express photo from 2012

 Saint David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the the Welsh language or Dayffd, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain. The day is celebrated with Welsh national dress, an Eisteddfod...which is a competitive singing, dancing and reciting festival in the Welsh language, of course, and daffodils everywhere. Leek soup is a favorite dish and it is a day for all ages.

I found this interesting website with more information:
http://sucs.org/~rhys/stdavid.html

The national flower of Wales is the Daffodil which is often paired with the leek, the national symbol of Wales with the red dragon. St. David's Day, or Dayffd's Day is celebrated with all of these symbols...but I can't say I've seen a teacup with leeks on it! 

St. David was born in the 6th century and was a hero during wars with the Normans and was canonized and became the patron saint of the Welsh. St David's Day is celebrated with traditional clothing, parades and lots of red Welsh dragons.

It is definitely celebrated at the schools, just like we play pilgrims before Thanksgiving...the photo above is children in Welsh National dress....

The dragon is the symbol of Wales...

I found these graphics on Google images, and they didn't have attributions. Neat aren't they?

I found this great list of facts about St. David, or Dayffyd's day on the Daily Mirror site...

1. St David’s Day falls every year on March 1. This was the date patron saint of Wales, St. David died in 589.

2. It wasn’t until the 18th century, though, that St David’s Day was declared a national day of celebration in Wales.

3. Saint David is typically depicted holding a dove, and often standing on a hillock. His symbol is the leek.

4. In 2007 Tony Blair rejected calls for St. David’s Day to become a Welsh national holiday, despite a poll saying that 87% of Welsh people wanted a March 1 holiday.

5. A Welsh stew, named Cawl and containing lamb and leeks, is traditionally consumed on St. David’s Day.

6. Across Wales on Mar 1 St. David’s Day parades take place, and in bigger cities food festivals, concerts and street parties also occur.

7. 2009 saw the inaugural St. David’s Week festival in Swansea, a week-long event featuring music, sporting and cultural events.

8. Bizarrely, Disney's Mickey and Minnie were turned Welsh last year for the Disneyland Paris St David's Welsh Festival.

9. St David's Day in Welsh is Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant.

10. Despite the fact that Saint David abstained from drinking and advised others to do the same, a number of Welsh breweries make special St. David’s Day ales.

from The Mirror.co.uk

Wales has always been a part pf our family's travels...it's close to the Cotswolds and Midlands in England where we and our families' are from. Often a place for a short break when we used to do annually to visit for a month...

Wales is a favorite place of ours in the UK...we have spent time in Aberysthwyth above and Abersoch below where my Honey's family often holidayed as he was growing up...

on one trip we stayed at the small Craig-y-Glyn hotel with our niece for 3 days...laughing ourselves silly on the trip trying to pronounce Welsh place names...and talking about her new found faith in Christ...my husband had just led her to the Lord a few days before...she was 24 then...she is now married to a pastor and her daughter has married another pastor and they are sharing the ministry in the town of Morecombe in the north of England...Lovely memories!

A traditional food for St. David's Day, which you can make easily...or in England find at the food halls year round of Aldi, Sainsbury's or Marks and Spencer's (lovingly known as Marks and Sparks)  is the Welsh Cake which I love. They are a great item with a cup of tea at teatime!

Welsh Cakes

from BBC Food but adapted by me

Ingredients

8 of self rising flour…preferably sifted

4oz salted butter

1 egg

Handful of sultanas

Milk, if needed

3 oz granulated sugar

Extra butter for greasing

Extra sugar for garnish

Preparation

1.      Rub the butter into the sifted flour until like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, sultanas and then egg. Mix to combine, then form into a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed.

2.       2. Roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick and cut into rounds with a 3 o4 4 inch cutter, preferably fluted.

3.        Grease a bakestone, griddle or heavy skillet with butter and wipe away excess. When heated, place the cakes on the griddle, turning once. They need 2-3 mutes per side…or until each side is caramel brown.

4.       Remove from pan and dust with granulated sugar while still warm.  Can be eaten split like scones as well, with butter and jam, or buttered as is.

   Well thanks for joining me for tea! I hope you have a wonderful week. I am currently on a cruise ship in Mexico...so will check in when possible. It is for our 42nd anniversary celebration, and they upgraded us to a suite to our surprise! Couldn't believe it! Amazing! Never thought we'd be in a suite....lots of tea as well as the ship has a tea parlor with tea sommelier....cool!

Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and can find you to visit! Thanks so much for joining me for tea!

An InLinkz Link-up