“Then my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils…” – William Wordsworth
By Veronica MacDonald Ditko
An Accidental Anthropologist
Daffodils are truly one of the first signs of spring. Their bright and sunny heads pop out of the ground all at once, just when you think winter will last longer than Punxsutawney Phil says. And what a welcome sign they are, a radiant burst of color on a drab landscape.
The daffodil is also an emblem of Wales. When Welsh men were at war with the British, they wore leeks on their uniforms to distinguish them from their enemy, which became the daffodil over time. Leeks even share a similar name to daffodil in the Welsh Gaelic language (Cenin versus Cenin Bedr). On one of Wales’ largest holidays on March 1st, St. David’s Day, little girls wear daffodils while little boys wear leeks.
St. David is the patron saint of Wales. He was born at the end of the 5th century in Henvynwy, Wales and became a prominent figure in the Celtic church. He founded a monastery at Menevia, which became a Christian pilgrimage destination, with all roads in Wales leading to it. His most memorable miracle was he addressed a crowd and the ground rose up and a golden-beaked dove landed on his shoulder, a sign of holiness. At least that’s what 11th-century monk Rhyfygarch said.
I am very fond of the St. David’s holiday, having witnessed it when I studied in Wales. It’s not so much a holy event these days (think of St. Patrick’s Day), but lots of fun for sure. Many towns have parades, and the bigger cities in southern Wales have week-long festivities.
I remember how vivid the daffodils were in Great Britain, against the gloomy, rainy skies. All of a sudden, they appeared everywhere. They cheered me right up. I think Wordsworth said it best, “They stretch’d in never-ending line, Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”
But they bloomed in April in Wales, as they do in New Jersey, not March. I wonder where all the daffodils for the March 1st festivities come from…greenhouses? Brazil?
Wales is also known for some interesting traditional foods, which I half-heartedly tried on St. David’s Day. In the open-air market, I bought laver, a square-like patty of seaweed that you are supposed to fry in bacon drippings. It stayed in the dorm fridge until I came home. Come to think of it, it might still be there. What a wimp I am!
But I did wear a daffodil on March 1st…proudly…
Veronica MacDonald Ditko is originally from the Jersey Shore, but married and settled in northern New Jersey. Her journalism career started a decade ago after studying Psychology and Anthropology in Massachusetts. She has written for several newspapers and magazines including The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Springfield Union News and Sunday Republican, Happi, Chemical Week, The Hawthorne Press, The Jewish Standard, Suite101.com and more.