Welsh Valentine's Day?

[cateycloggs]

I have just looked Lidl's Special Offers email and they have offers (chocolate etc) under this title. Is this a new thing? I don't pay any attention to the ordinary one except to pick up cheap chocolate after the event but just wondering if this is a new thing. Supposedly on 25 January. Ps, who would have thought my first original post would be about Valentines's Day? Not my heaps of mythyical lovers anyway.

It is a real thing! Although it's not really Valentine's Day, it's St Dwynwen's Day. A different saint.

Thanks for that DotheRightThing, I was born and bred in Wales but never in any kind of romance there so it obviously passed me by. Of course I know about St David's Day. Does that mean there will be more chocolate?

Sorry, I meant to ask what did St Dwynwen do? Sounds like the start of a limerick.

This is starting to look a bit obsessive, I promise I am not invested in the valentines/romance thing at all. Nobody less so, but just to show I am not too lazy to google. (TLTG?), St Dwynwen became a nun after refusing her father's attempt to arrange a marriage and prevent her marrying her true love. She supposedly promised herself to God and prayed for protection of all true lovers. Maybe she should be on the Feminist Chat board.

@cateycloggs

Thanks for that DotheRightThing, I was born and bred in Wales but never in any kind of romance there so it obviously passed me by. Of course I know about St David's Day. Does that mean there will be more chocolate?

I can’t believe anyone schooled in Wales wouldn’t know about it.

It probably depends how old you are and whether you went to a Welsh or English medium school.

Both mine (16 and 12) came home covered in glitter regularly around this time of year through school - both Welsh and English medium.

But I wouldn't be surprised if someone in their 30s or 40s educated English speaking schools in some parts of Wales hadn't come across it.

I’m mid-40s and went to English medium schools in Cardiff and we did something every year, certainly in the juniors and secondary.

Daughter attends Welsh medium school and it’s been part of the calendar every year since nursery (now year 5).

You know about lovespoons OP?

No, no-one ever mentioned it. St Valentines'sDay was not a big thing when I was at school (1970s) and I see from googling the legend has really only been revived since the 80s. I wrote the message below before this one but needed to check someting else first. I swear I am the person on the planet least interested in the whole romance thing, I just wanted to know if there was any basis to it. So here's one I wrote earlier:
This is starting to look a bit obsessive, I promise I am not invested in the valentines/romance thing at all. Nobody less so, but just to show I am not too lazy to google. (TLTG?), St Dwynwen became a nun after refusing her father's attempt to arrange a marriage and prevent her marrying her true love. She supposedly promised herself to God and prayed for protection of all true lovers. Maybe she should be on the Feminist Chat board.

It's true I am (a) old - ref schooling in the 70s, (b) English speaking, (c) raised suspiciously close to the border. I won't mention how desperate I was to get away as a teenager. I have only learned about love spoons from programmes like Flog It.

I attended primary school in Wales in the 80s and have never heard of this
It was an English-medium church school but we celebrated welsh cultural events and anything to do with saints, so I'm quite surprised.

I work in education in Wales so have obviously heard of it. But I went to school in Cardiff in the 60/70's and was not aware of it all

I was born and bred in south Wales and I've never heard of it

From what I have read on google, it seems her existing or timing or actions are disputed (like all saints? Valentine had nothing to do with love I believe) but the story was revived in the 19 th Century like much of Welsh folklore and has obviously become an increasing part of Welsh Language and Culture learning since.

Hmm, I do hope that does not come over as culturally superior, this starting threads can lead to some unintended consequences. I am neither Welsh nor romance obsessed nor a religious believer. Just idly curious about a Lidl email. Also show I can't spell, hope I have done all corrections, and apologies for double post above.

@doctorhamster

I was born and bred in south Wales and I've never heard of it

Me too!

Missed one - existence.

Wow! I'm amazed that there are Welsh people here who have never heard of her! The story is bonkers (esp the defrosting bit.) It was a massive part of my schooling and I've always done it instead of Valentine's day. Dwynwen is ace, and her chapel in Llanddwyn (Anglesey) is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

My own mention of limericks above made me go in search of a reference and hence to a poetry website discussing the'best' love poems. Naturally led to Elizabeth Barrett Browning (or Barret Browning as they say in the biz) where in her 'How do I love thee...' she refers to "the lost saints" which St Dwynwen could possibly be termed. Did your teachers quote or encourage you to write poetry about her?

I avoided mentioning the frozen lover part for space reasons and also was not quite sure I understood who was frozen and who defrosted. Was it her true love or the possibly arranged marriage one? Reminds me have you seen someone has been encasing what looks like a Stone Age man in an ice block in Minneapolis? i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/01/17/05/38102242-9156205-image-a-28_1610861742394.jpg Hope the link is OK? Never done one before. Looks like that story is not dead.

www.cerrigybarcud.co.uk/llanddwyn-island.htm

Hope my link works ❤️

I'm a Welsh teacher and we teach Y7 in our English medium school about Dwynwen every year.

Thanks for link TootdeLaFroot, that was one thing I did/do love about growing up in North Wales. There is so much history and culture in a very small area. I even lived very briefly as a small child in the grounds of Hawarden Castle due to my Dad's work. We had to move when he carelessly nearly died of pneumonia. But we often went back there and to the other castles in the area. Yeah I know, Norman/English colonialists.

I was just trying to see if there is any way to contact the artist creator of this new ice man in a block (Zack Schumack) to see if he knows of the connection since he states he created it to get people thinking and make connections. He is on Instagram but I don't know how that works.

So she has been a kind of Welsh secret valentine for years and now Lidl have let the cat out of the ice block.?

Also that should have been Barrett Browning with reference to "the lost saints". Not that I am suggesting she was referring to St Dwynwen. (I am still having to double check the spelling every time.) Is the name related to Gwyneth?

There's no secret! Dwynwen, along with the rest of Welsh culture, has been suppressed by English colonialism, but she's popping up again now, to add to the world's diversity!