I would not think many visitors to this site would have realised that the 25th January is St Dwynwen’s day here in Wales and this day commemorates the patron saint of friendship and love.

Dwynwen lived during the 5th century and was, by all accounts, one of the prettiest of Brychan Brycheiniog's 24 daughters. The story goes that Dwynwen fell in love with one Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should wed another. Maelon was so outraged that he raped Dwynwen and left her.

In her grief Dwynwen fled to the woods, where she begged God to make her forget Maelon. After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.

God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. First she wished that Maelon be thawed; second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers; and third, that she should never marry. All three were fulfilled, and as a mark of her thanks, Dwynwen devoted herself to God's service for the rest of her life.

Remains of Dwynwen's church can be seen today on the island of Llanddwyn, off the coast of Anglesey. (North Wales)
Also situated on the island is Dwynwen's well, wherein allegedly swims a sacred fish, whose movements predict the future fortunes and relationships of various couples. Visitors to the well believe that if the water boils while they are present, then love and good luck will surely follow.

A few years back and you would have been hard pressed to find any mention of St Dwynwen locally as after Christmas many businesses are gearing up for Valentines Day so buying flowers, going for a meal was always that little bit less commercial (cheaper) but the popularity of St Dwynwen's day has increased considerably in recent years, with special events, such as concerts and parties, often held, and Welsh cards printed. Although still not as popular as Valentine's Day in February, St Dwynwen is certainly becoming better known amongst today's population of Wales.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 4:56 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.