March 1st Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant

Well im not Welsh, but would love to wake up to those lovely daffodils. Happy Saint Davids day Eirlys

One of our local chapels had cawl and Welsh cakes after the service today! (Cawl is soup, most often made with lamb shank) Traditional St D's Day food.

Diolch yn fawr Eirlys :)

Our chapel (where I haven't been for many years because I've moved to another village) also has a Dewi Sant evening when they have cawl etc and sing traditional Welsh songs ...
The schools used to have a half day too. I don't know if they do these days.

Thank you Eirlys and that's a lovely Welsh name how come you have it ? Hywel the schools don't have half day off anymore :( but they do still wear their costumes to school the boys favour rugby shirts over waistcoats and flat caps ( or dai caps as we would call them )

We used to have a concert at school and I would dress in my flannel skirt and pretty top with shawl and that awful witch-like hat. I don't think they do that any more, though I may be wrong. Oh Kidsgran, you've just said that the girls still dress up in national costume. Good!

Cawl! I have made this many times but it has never tasted like the one my mother. or sister made. Delicious! The same goes for Welsh cakes. My cousin made the best ones in the village (!) and she just threw the ingredients into a bowl.

Kidsgran: It was my late sister's name and, as Hywel hinted, it's the Welsh word for "Snowdrop".

Thank you, zamaureen and Steragram for the kind words.

I am a Welsh speaker though I don't have anyone to practise my Welsh these days. My cousins and nephew favour English and I have to confess I am more fluent in written English than in written Welsh.

We are avid watchers of Countryfile,on BBC1,every Sunday evening,and it was lovely to see it filmed in Wales last night..Especially the making of Cawl in the local pub,and judging the winner..It seems very similar to English stew..every veg you can find,thrown in..can't beat it in cold weather..:o)

They didn't make it properly Sandra. You are only supposed to put root vegetables in it, and leeks, and it should be made with a hock or a neck of lamb.
The 'broth' should have stars on it and you should have a hunk of chees in it as well.
And the parsley should be chopped finely on top after it has been ladled into the bowls.
The ones last night on Countryfile didn't seem to know what it really was. 3 different types, and none like proper cawl should be :(

I've never seen it with parsley on top Hywel. I'll remember that next time we have it.

St Davids Day is still celebrated in St Davids, and there is a procession through the street with a band and uniformed organisations and schoolchildren in costume making a long dragon that winds down the main street to the cathedral. It used to be a proper dragon, rather like the Chinese ones you see in their processions but last year Health and Safety wouldn't let them do it any more so everyone had to carry their own individual bit of dragon on a pole and it just wasn't the same.There is a cawl competition among the local cafes, and you can sample it in the City Hall. I got the recipe I use from the winner a few years ago - His wife was in the same tai chi class as me.

My mother always added the adjective "best end of neck of lamb". It became a family joke.

The addition of cheese reminded of siencyn. Anyone else heard of this?

When I describe it to my family and friends they roll their eyes and fall about either in humour, or disgust.

Recipe:

One slice of thick, buttered toast cut into cubes. Place in bowl.

Add tea to cover all of toast and a bit over.

Add sugar and milk.

Drop a large cube of butter into the above.

Eat with a long spoon and a lump of cheese.

One friend said it reminded her of a Tibetan "drink" made from Yak milk and fat. My other friends just said, "Yuk!" :O0

(One of these days I am going to try this again!)

My mother used to say her grandfather had siencyn for breakfast before going to work every day :(
I don't think I could stomach it :(
But a hunk of cheese with a nice bowl of cawl is nice ...

I think if I was faced with that for breakfast I'd be shrinkin'....