25 January 2022

Let’s celebrate Wales and unique Welsh traditions

From the romance of St Dwynwen's Day to the eerie Mari Lwyd, Wales is home to so many traditions and customs. This is one of the countless reasons why it’s such a great place to call home. 

So, let’s take a moment to have a look at a handful of these rich Welsh cultural traditions.

St Dwynwen's Day 

Love is in the air on 25th January, which is St Dwynwen's Day or Dydd Santes Dwynwen, Wales's very own version of St Valentine's Day. 

The day is named after Princess Dwynwen, the fourth century daughter of the king of south Wales. Unable to marry the man she loved, she ran away and became a nun, choosing to instead help other lovers find happiness. She’s now Wales’s patron saint of love.

Welsh love spoons 

These intricate tokens of affection have been hand-crafted in Wales since around the seventeenth century. Made from wood, usually a single piece, they feature symbols such as hearts and horseshoes.

Traditional Welsh dishes

You don’t really need an excuse to get stuck into a warm, moreish slice of Welsh rarebit or melt-in-the-mouth Welsh cakes. These traditional delights are there to be enjoyed all year round. 

If you don’t know your cawl from your bara brith, here’s a rundown of some of Wales’s traditional dishes:

Cawl: a reminder of gran’s home cooking for many, this is a classic stew, made with whatever meat or veg is available.
Welsh rarebit: a tasty cheese-based sauce slathered on slices of toasted bread. But is it rarebit or rabbit? The original name of this dish was Welsh rabbit, but it became rarebit as it is in fact, totally meat-free.
Laverbread: there’s no bread in this healthy, protein-rich dish, which has been described as ‘Welshman’s caviar’. It is made from laver seaweed, which is boiled for up to 10 hours.
Welsh cakes: also known as bakestones, Welsh cakes are a traditional tea-time cake. These little sugar-covered disks of flaky joy are easy to make and even easier to consumer. 
Bara brith: translating as "speckled bread", bara brith is another tea-time favourite. It’s a traditional tea bread made with mixed dried fruits.
Glamorgan sausages: predating Linda McCartney’s efforts by over a hundred years is Wales’s famous veggie sausage, the Glamorgan. The main ingredients are Caerphilly cheese, leeks and breadcrumbs. 

St David’s Day celebrations

Arguably the most important date on the Welsh calendar, March 1st, is when we celebrate St David’s Day, Wales’s national day. This means parades and celebrations in towns and cities across Wales. 

While St David’s Day isn’t a national holiday in Wales like St Patrick’s Day is in Northern Ireland, parts of Wales have campaigned for it to be for years, with Gwynedd Council announcing it as a bank holiday for 2022. 

To mark the day, many people wear a leek or daffodil, which are Wales’s national emblems. The folklore around the leek harks back to a time when Welsh soldiers used the vegetables to recognise each other in battle, while the daffodil is a more modern – and more fragrant – alternative. 

Schools across Wales are also central to St David’s Day celebrations, with schoolchildren often dressing up in traditional Welsh dress. Schools also host their own eisteddfods, with singing, traditional Welsh folk dancing and literary competitions in honour of Wales’ National Eisteddfod, an annual tradition – more on that below.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Happy St David’s Day!

Eisteddfods

The word Eisteddfod, comes from the Welsh words eistedd, meaning 'sit', and fod, meaning 'be', roughly translates as ‘sitting together’ and is the name of an annual Welsh celebration. Several traditional Eisteddfods are held annually – usually around the Summer – across Wales, as well as a youth Eisteddfod. The Welsh language festivals celebrate music, literature and culture and are famous for their poetry competitions, in which the winner is awarded a crown in a ceremony known as the ‘crowning of the bard’.

Mari Lwyd

Let’s finish with a less well known, more offbeat Welsh tradition: the Mari Lwyd.

A Mari Lwyd is part of a Welsh folk custom involving a horse's skull mounted on a pole, decorated with festive lights and decorations, and carried by someone hidden under a cloth.

This seemingly-macabre horse is taken from house to house, traditionally between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, by a group of locals who then sing Welsh language songs or wassails. They may also exchange rude rhymes with the person who lives there.

We hope this quick tour of some of Wales’s customs and traditions has inspired you to find out more about our wonderful country!

Published: 25/01/2022