WHY WAIT UNTIL St VALENTINE'S DAY WHEN YOU CAN WISH YOUR LOVED ONE 'DWI'N DY GARU DI ' (I LOVE YOU) THREE WEEKS EARLIER?

DIWRNOD SANTES DWYNWEN - ST. DWYNWEN'S DAY - JANUARY 25th

DIWRNOD SANTES DWYNWEN - St Dwynwen's Day, a time for you to get down on one knee, recite love poetry, and as all true Welsh lovers know, exchange love spoons with your beloved....  yes, love spoons - more of those later.

Think of it as the Welsh version of St Valentine's Day, St Dwynwen a 5th century Welsh girl who devoted her life to the happiness of lovers. And who is considered to be the Welsh patron saint of lovers, making her the Welsh St Valentine. Many stories about Dwynwen have been told over the years. Originally the story was passed down by word-of-mouth, in the great Welsh oral story telling tradition later the stories were written, but in differing versions, so much so that the exact history has been lost and tale moves towards myth.




DIWRNOD SANTES DWYNWEN - ST. DWYNWEN'S DAY

However, most historians agree that Dwynwen was the daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog (son of an Irish king) who had some thirty six children, twenty four of them daughters, all pretty, but Dwynwen was the prettiest of them all.

The family lived in Brycheiniog (Brecon) and it appears that a prince from the north, Maelon Dyfodrull, came down to visit them and fell in love with Dwynwen , and she fell in love with him. Regrettably, Brychan wouldn't allow them to marry as he had already arranged her marriage to another.

Children are told that her father was so very, very, angry with her, Dwynwen ran away, followed swiftly by .Maelon who himself became very angry and lost his temper with her when she wouldn't marry him. Dwynwen didn't want to marry Maelon because although she loved him dearly, she also loved her father and didn't want to hurt Brychan by disobeying him. Dwynwen was so upset that she could not marry Maelon that she begged God release her from her love and to make her forget him.

The adult version of the stories tell of how Maelon threatened to rape her and that she prayed to God to be safe.

After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and then to act as a heavenly bromide turn him into a block of ice freezing his passions when he was going to attack her.

Next, an angel came and granted her three wishes.

Firstly, she wished to be free of Maelon, and he vanished; went back home, I suppose.

Her second wish was that she would never marry and the third that she could help other lovers. She wanted to spend her life helping anyone who was in pain through love.

God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. Her first wish was that Maelon be thawed; her 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.

So she went away with her sister Cain and brother Dyfnan. Brychan's children went round Wales, preaching and establishing many Christian churches.

They sailed off in a boat which took them to a little island off Anglesey where Dwynwen established a little cell. That place is today known as Llanddwyn (Dwynwen's church).

Her sister Cain went on to establish a church on Anglesey at Llangeinwen. It's also believed that Keynsham near Bristol was named after her.

Many other girls who'd found God came to Dwynwen on Llanddwyn and a church was built on the island. People would visit, especially if they had troubles with love, to pray to Dwynwen and visit her holy well.

The cult of Dwynwen has existed for centuries and people have always made pilgrimages to Llanddwyn. There are still the remains of the church and they hold a service each year.

In the 1970s, someone drew attention to her story to establish Santes Dwynwen Day instead of St Valentine's.

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It's all based on a 5th century love story, wherein star-crossed lovers Dwynwen and Maelon have a particularly tough time of it - he attacks her in a fit of passion and is turned to ice by an angel; she begs for him to be brought back to life in exchange for her devoting her life to God. She ends the story alone, on a rock, looking out to the Irish Sea, a saint often visited by young lovers for a blessing. Your usual tragic-love shit.

So if you fancy an alternative romantic destination, try making the pilgrimage to Anglesey and Llanddwyn Island, where Dwynwen ended her days.

It's a bit off the beaten track, but then the path to true love never did run smooth.

Dwynwen was so upset that she could not marry Maelon that she begged God to make her forget him. 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. Her first wish was that Maelon be thawed; her 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.

She founded a convent on Llanddwyn, off the west coast of Anglesey, where a well named after her became a place of pilgrimage after her death in 465AD. Visitors to the well believed that the sacred fish or eels that lived in the well could foretell whether or not their relationship would be happy and whether love and happiness would be theirs. Remains of Dwynwen's church can still be seen today.

DWYNWEN
http://www.maryjones.us/jce/dwyn.html

http://areluctantsinner.blogspot.com/2011/01/st-dwynwen-britains-patron-saint-of.html
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