Welsh Emblems
Daffodil
The daffodil is the national flower of Wales and is worn on St David’s Day (1 March) in Wales. The Welsh name for the daffodil is ‘Cenhinen Pedr’ which means ‘Saint Peter’s leek’.
The daffodil has been the emblem of Wales since the late 19th century. The flower was first associated with the country in the 18th century when it was used as a symbol of Welsh nationalism.
The daffodil became a popular motif on Welsh flags and banners during the 19th century and was adopted as the official floral emblem of Wales in 1959.
Leek
According to one legend recorded by the English poet Michael Drayton in the early 1600s, the leek was associated with St. David the Patron Saint of Wales who died in 589 AD. It is possible that the poet made up the story; however, it tells how St. David ordered his soldiers to wear the leek on their helmets in a battle against the hated pagan Saxon invaders of Britain. The battle itself is also said to have taken place in a field full of leeks.
Another legend suggests that during Elizabethan times, Shakespeare refers to the custom of wearing a leek as an “ancient tradition”, and his character Henry V tells Fluellen that he is wearing a leek “for I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.” Even earlier than this, entries in the household accounts of the ‘Welsh’ Tudor Kings of England record payments for leeks worn by the household guards on St. David’s Day. It is also known that the feared Welsh archers adopted the green and white colours of the leek for their uniforms, perhaps at the Battle of Crecy.
Dragon
The Welsh Dragon (Welsh: y Ddraig Goch, meaning ‘the red dragon’) is a heraldic symbol that represents Wales and appears on the national flag of Wales. As an emblem, the red dragon of Wales has been used since the reign of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd from around 655AD and is historically known as the “Red Dragon of Cadwaladr”.
The red dragon appears in the ancient Mabinogion story of Lludd and Llefelys where it is confined, battling with an invading white dragon, at Dinas Emrys.
The story continues in the Historia Brittonum, written around AD 829, where Gwrtheyrn, King of the Britons is frustrated in attempts to build a fort at Dinas Emrys. He is told by a boy, Emrys, to dig up two dragons fighting beneath the castle. He discovers the white dragon representing the Anglo-Saxons, which is soon to be defeated by the red dragon of Wales. The red dragon is now seen as symbolizing Wales and its people.
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