St Dwynwen's Day - January 25th

St Dwynwen Wales' patron saint of friendship and love which makes her a sort of Welsh St Valentine. Dwynwen or Dwyn lived during the 5th century and was said to be one of the prettiest of Welsh King Brychan Brecheiniog's 24 daughters.

Some stories say that Dwynwen fell in love with a young prince called Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should wed another. Maelon was so outraged that he raped Dwynwen and left her. Another story is that Maelon spurned her when she refused to sleep with him!

Either way, in her grief Dwynwen ran to the woods, where she begged God to make her forget him. After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.

God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. First she wished that Maelon be thawed; second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers; and third, that she should never marry. All three were fulfilled, and as a mark of her thanks, Dwynwen devoted herself to God's service for the rest of her life.

Dwynwen spent the rest of her life as a nun and she founded a convent on Llanddwyn, off the west coast of Anglesey, the remains of which can be seen today. It is here that a fresh-water well, named Ffynnon Dwynwen after her, became a place of pilgrimage following her death in 465AD. Visitors to the well believed that the sacred fish or eels that lived in the well could foretell whether or not their relationship would be happy and whether love and happiness would be theirs. To this end women would scatter breadcrumbs into the well, then lay their handkerchief on the water's surface; if the eels disturbed it, their lover would be faithful.

The popularity and celebration of St Dwynwen's day has increased considerably in recent years, with special events, such as concerts and parties, often held, and Welsh cards printed. Although still not as popular as Valentine's Day in February, St Dwynwen is certainly becoming better-known amongst today's population of Wales. In 2003 The Welsh Language Board even had bi-lingual English-Welsh cards printed which were distributed by Tesco stores throughout Wales.

So why wait until St Valentine's Day to make your romantic feelings known, when you can wish your loved one 'dwi'n dy garu di ' (I love you) three weeks earlier?

http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/stdwynwen.htm