The Mark of a Welshman

I don’t know about you, but around this time of year I often wake up thinking of scallions and a fistful of herbs. If you are a grumpy bugger, or you’re married to one and would not consider dreaming of a field of herbs and onions, hopefully the next story is enough to twist your arm. 

Lest you forget the delicate soul in the slender package—the scallion, the green onion, as it’s know in the US and its significance in history.

A fierce battle raged for hours in Wales. Swords clashed as the men of Wales fought to protect their land from the Saxon invaders. The Welsh were losing.

A monk with the Welsh army thought he knew why. Both sides wore similar kind of clothing. It was difficult to tell friend from foe.

The monk had an idea. As the Welsh warriors began to retreat, feeling defeat, the monk summoned them.

He passionately pleaded with them to mark themselves so that they could tell who was a Welshman and who Saxon was.

The monk reached down and pulled a leek plant from the ground. He pinned it to his fellow Welshmen and insisted they wear a leek, enabling them to recognize one another. Anyone not wearing a leek is the enemy.

The Welsh charged the Saxons and won the battle. Their country was free.

The monk who saved the day was named David. After his death, the Catholic Church canonized monk David. St. David is the patron saint of Wales. He is honored on March 1st.

The leek is the national flower of Wales, and today is a national holiday.  On this day, the Welsh people proudly wear the leek stalk in fond memory of freedom and their beloved saint.

What is:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch??????

This name is not a song by the Welsh man whingeing about going back to the old sod (Wales, that is). It is not a prehistoric old Celtic war cry although you do have to use a whiplash tongue to be able to pronounce this.  Nobody under 40 should try it.

It is just the undisputable longest valid domain name in the world meaning, "The Mary Church by the pool near the White Hazels."

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch was invented by a cobbler from Menai Bridge; little did he know that he had implemented one of the most successful tourist marketing plans of all time! At the time (1850) the village needed to encourage trains and travelers to visit their town. Iron, steel and coal kept this country alive.

Wales is not a big country. It has a maximum length of 140 miles and is 100 miles across at its widest. It has beautiful bays, beaches, peninsulas and cliffs. It is a mountainous country with a distinctive "horseshoe" shape. Population of 2.8 million people.

Welsh celebrities include poet Dylan Thomas, Tom Jones, Charlotte Church and Richard Burton.

Katharine Hepburn loved Wales.  She famously said, 'God first made England, Ireland and Scotland. Then, when he corrected his mistakes, he made Wales.'

The Triple Crown is a ball contest by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three, they win the Triple Crown.

The Six Nations Championship also includes France and Italy, but their involvement in the tournament has no influence on the result of the Triple Crown.
The Welsh took the glory beating England, 19-12, at Twickenham on 25 February 2012. They meet France next in March. Ireland has had a woeful warm up so far.

The object of the game is that two teams of 15 players, each team attempts to score as many points as possible by carrying, passing, kicking and grounding the ball with the team scoring the greater number of points being the winner of the match. It is classified as an 'end zone invasion game'.

The aim of each team is to gain possession of the ball, take it into opposition territory and to place it in the in-goal area (end zone). Rugby is a game of continuous flow, there is constant competition for the ball at the breakdown. These are called rucks and mauls.

Rugby is a team invasion game that requires athletes to pay his physical & mental dues.  It is played in over 120 countries throughout the world, with over 3 million registered players.  Over 4 billion people watched the last Rugby World Cup in France, a few years back.

The game was 'invented' in 1823, in England, when William Webb Ellis a young student of Rugby School, from which the game took its name, "with fine disregard for the rules of football (soccer) picked up the ball and ran with it".   American Football later emerged from rugby in the 1880's, I‘ve read.

The sport of rugby union holds a special place in Welsh culture and is considered by historians to be as synonymous with Wales as coal mining.

The popularity of the sport and the support of loyal fans means that all 74,500 seats at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales’s national stadium, are regularly sold out.  The players are known as the Men in Red.

As well as sports events, the stadium has also hosted music concerts by artists such as Madonna and Paul McCartney, and bands such as U2 and The Rolling Stones.

The Millennium Stadium will be a part of the 2012 London Olympics, being used for soccer games.

Welsh Rarebit, Rabbit or "Caws Pobi" gets its name quite literally from the words rare (meaning very lightly cooked) and bit (a small piece or portion). It is an ideal savory snack. Try it for Sunday morning brunch with some freshly brewed coffee.

2 to 4 slices of bread
1½ cups of grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons of milk or beer
30 grams / 1 oz of butter
1 teaspoon of mustard
Pepper

Toast the slices of bread and grate 1½ cups of cheese. Arrange the cooked toast on a baking tray ready for grilling and spread with butter. Slowly melt the cheese and milk in a small saucepan. Then add the mustard and pepper. Stir continuously. When thick and smooth, pour over each piece of toast and grill until golden brown.

The Welsh are natural storytellers, the way they speak, with an acerbic wit and an unique view of others, lends them naturally to storytelling.  Although I’ve heard some friends say it sounds more like a chorus of words from no known dialect on earth.  I say, what more could you ask for?

A Welsh lad came home from school & told his mother he had been given a part in the school play.

‘Wonderful’, replied the mother, ‘what part is it?’

The boy says, ‘I play the part of the Welsh husband’.

The mother scowls and says, ‘Go back and tell your teacher you want a speaking part’.

Now, there’s some useless information to bore your friends with the next time you’re out!

All the same, the following poem is a wonderful read from a great Welshman.  You may remember…

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.                                             

—Dylan Thomas