Customs of St David's Day
Happy St David's Day! David, or Dewi, the patron saint of Wales celebrates his national day today and heralds the arrival of spring. Customs associated with St David's Day include the wearing of one of the national symbols of Wales, either a leek in the hatband or a daffodil in the buttonhole. The daffodil has been preferred in recent times because it's a little more practical than trying to fix a leek in a hatband. The similarity of the word daffodil to the name Dafydd, a Welsh form of David, is however probably co-incidental because the saint is known as Dewi in Wales and the name daffodil comes from affodil, a variant of the asphodel. The significance of the leek has been the subject of a certain amount of debate. It is suggested that St David ordered his men to wear leeks in battle so that they could be identified from the enemy. Shakespeare makes reference to this in Henry V. An alternative explanation may be that leeks and daffodils are both supposed to be readily av...