St David’s Day in Cardiff

You’d be forgiven for not knowing when St David’s Day is. Compared to St Patrick’s Day, where revellers all over the world declare themselves Irish for a day, the March 1st event is a low key affair - yet it is still one of the best times of year to visit Cardiff.

Travel to the city on St David’s Day and you won’t find the River Taff dyed red but you will be encouraged to get in the thick of the action and take part in the street parade, wear a daffodil or leek – the national emblems of Wales, and have a stab at singing the Welsh national anthem.

St David's Day traditions

Saint David, or Dewi Sant as he is known in Welsh, was a monk born in the 5th century. Legend has it that his father was a Welsh prince and his mother a niece of King Arthur. St David’s Day has been held as a religious celebration since the Middle Ages, but it has since become a celebration of Welsh identity.

Y Ddraig Goch (Red Dragon) flags are flown high, male voice choirs sing in the streets and school children dress up in Welsh national costume - red shawls and black bonnets for the girls and, these days at least, Welsh rugby shirts for the boys.

Just like the Irish, the Welsh also know how to enjoy themselves. Brains beer, brewed in Cardiff, produces a seasonal St David's ale every Spring; local businesses encourage staff to wear red for the day, and some even allow employees to down tools and head out into the streets to sing a few songs.

St David's Day 2008

St David's Day in Cardiff in 2008 is also set to be a special occassion. The Prince of Wales will officially open the new visitor centre at Cardiff Castle, and opera singer Bryn Terfel will perform as Falstaff in the Wales Millennium Centre, in his only operatic role anywhere in the world in 2008.

Surprisingly, however, an annual parade has only been held in the capital for the past four years. Cardiff has always been one of Wales’ most Anglocised cities, yet in recent years interest in Welsh culture has experienced a boom, and Welsh language, music and food has begun to gain prominence in the city.

Visitors can now sample typical Welsh dishes such as cawl, rarebit or Welsh black beef in dozens of restaurants and pubs; Welsh language hip-hop and rock bands are regularly heard in the local venues, and the city is home to organisations such as Welsh National Opera and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Worldwide celebrations

St. David’s Day is also beginning to gain more recognition worldwide. Since 2003 the Empire State Building is lit up in white, red and green on March 1st, and in 2006 a week long Welsh festival was held in New York with events including Welsh art exhibitions, movie screenings and food fayres.

A campiagn is also underway in Britain to make St David's Day a national holiday in Wales, but it may be some time until the event becomes a global party on the same scale as St Patrick’s Day. In the meantime, the Welsh can at least celebrate March 17th with equal enthusiasm as the Irish, as St Patrick, of course, was a Welshman.

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