AmeriCymru St David's Day Playlist

Croeso/welcome to our St David's Day Playlist. We will be adding more in the next few days. Below we have assembled some of the most traditional and patriotic Welsh songs with which to celebrate St David's Day. Enjoy/Mwynhewch!

Tracks

1   Yma o Hyd – Dafydd Iwan (English & Welsh lyrics and phonetic guide) Luca

2   Suo Gan ( Lullaby ) - Lyrics - Anthony Way and St. Paul's Cathedral Choir Somewheremaybe

3   Men of Harlech — Fron Male Voice Choir Anthems & Honors Music

4   Glan Mor Heli Carreg Lafar

5   Only Boys Aloud - The Welsh choir's Britain's Got Talent 2012 audition - Britain's Got Talent

6   Treorchy Male Voice Choir (Côr Meibion Treorci) - Myfanwy

7   Adra - Gwyneth Glyn (geiriau / lyrics)

8   Môr o Gariad, Meic Stevens - Penrhyn Gwyr (Gower Peninsula. Wales)

9   Welsh National Anthem - "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (CY/EN)

10   Welsh sing Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau in front of a packed Principality! | Guinness Six Nations

Bluetits Support Daffy Dipping For St David's Day

 
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"I have been swimming at Porthsele beach under the cliffs on my farm which overlooks Whitesands Bay for over 50 years. Up until 2014 I had never dipped in the sea over the winter months. I decided to take the plunge in October that year because I had heard of a challenge called the Ice Mile, and it sounded like the kind of extreme challenge that appealed to me. 

I began dipping, first on Porthsele, and then all over Pembrokeshire. People were intrigued by what we are doing, some were  horrified, some vaguely interested, some interested enough to join us. My husband noticed how happy we all were when we came out of the water and suggested we call ourselves something. So The Bluetits Chill Swimmers took flight. 

Over the summer months of 2015 some people who came to my campsite at Pencarnan and heard about The Bluetits and asked if they could start up a group in their home area, and  so we began to spread far and wide, first in Wales, then the rest of the UK then overseas. My Ice Mile training was pretty much a solitary affair with just me in the water and my small team of helpers around me for safety support, and I enjoyed this, I had never really been swimming with groups of people so I didn’t really know any different. Swimming with the newly formed Bluetits was the complete opposite of course, and initially I wasn’t aware of any benefits to this. As the years passed by, the extreme ice mile completed and no more solitary training to endure, I totally immersed myself in group swimming with the many people in Pembrokeshire who were now swimming under The Bluetits banner. 

With no plan, time limits or expectations from my dips I began to appreciate the benefits of meeting up with likeminded humans. We laughed, cried, ate cake, drank warm coffee after the swims whilst warming up on a beach, walked home, made friends, went shopping in our changing robes and generally became comrades in and around the cold water. The bond created between humans who are challenging themselves to do something that scares them a little is immeasurable. 

I am always asked what is it about cold water that is life changing. The cold water is the anchor that holds us all together and going into it provides the adrenalin rush that in turn allows us to free our minds of all the crap that is in our heads for a short moment in time, but enough time to allow you to see the world with different eyes. For that moment in time all your worries and fears get pushed to the back of your mind. You notice the wonderful landscape around you, laugh with the person next to you about something that is momentarily very funny, hold your hand out for someone who is nervous, rejoice in the fact the body you have can do this.
   
Pembrokeshire has always been my favourite place in the world. I have worked here used its glorious landscape as a playground all my life. I no longer look at the winter months as a time when I retreat from the world. I now look forward to it as a time when I meet up with all the friends I have made through The Bluetits and experience more adventures in the water with them all.

It means the world to me that The Bluetits are going to be part of the DaffyDips4Dewi event. We began with two people dipping on a Pembrokeshire beach and we became 100,000 people dipping on beaches, in rivers and lakes all over the world. I hope to see pictures of thousands of daffodil hats bobbing in the water on Sunday February the 26th this year in celebration of Saint David – our very own local saintly ‘waterman’. If you want to find out more about us – then check out our website here:   https://thebluetits.co/ "

You are very welcome to set up your own event, however doing a DaffyDip4Dewi is entirely at your own risk. Please make sure that you are fit and well enough to do this. YOU are responsible for your own well-being. Take warm clothing and a warm drink for after the event.

If you want to have the Saint David’s Day Anthem as part of your event (get a local school or choir on board) the Saint David’s Day Anthem can be bought here: https://tycerddshop.com/collections/types?q=&constraint=composer_gwenno-dafydd

A Message from Gwenno Dafydd: AmeriCymru St David's Day Ambassador to the World.

Link to parade video: https://fb.watch/bwOO5T_sq4/

Link to parade video: https://fb.watch/bwOO5T_sq4/

St David's Day Banners 2020

 
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BUY THE ST DAVID'S DAY SONG HERE

Gwenno Dafydd - St David's Day Ambassador To The World

Gwenno Dafydd is the instigator of the Saint David's Day Anthem (Lyrics: Gwenno Dafydd Music: Heulwen Thomas) which was launched by The Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly Government, Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas in 2008. She has been promoting and developing Saint David's Day activities worldwide since 2006 when the Saint David's Day Anthem 'Cenwch y Clychau i Dewi' (Ring out the bells for Saint David) was performed in public for the very first time in the National Saint David's Day Parade in Cardiff. She has instigated the tradition of 'County Banners' throughout Wales to celebrate Saint David's Day. This year, the first County Banner, The Pembrokeshire Banner, which is kept on permanent display in the East Cloister in Saint David's Cathedral, will be joined by two new County Banners, those of Montgomeryshire and Carmartheshire.

The Saint David's Day Anthem, which will this year be sold from the very prestigious Ty Cerdd website, patron Karl Jenkins, alongside the music of Welsh composers such as Grace Williams, William Mathias, Morfydd Llwyn Owen and Gareth Glyn. The Saint David's Day Anthem has been performed not only in Wales but also numerous times in Canada, Los Angeles, Patagonia, Disneyland Paris and the Houses of Parliament. Every year the Pembrokeshire Banner is paraded around Saint David's Cathedral whilst local school children sing the Saint David's Day Anthem.

She has created an Iphone App to learn the Welsh National Anthem and is the author of 'Stand Up & Sock it to them Sister. Funny Feisty Females' which had been described by Funny Women, the UK's leading female comedy community as 'the ultimate canon of female stand-up comics'. She is a Leadership and Public Speaking Coach and works extensively via Skype and even has some clients in Los Angeles.

The truth behind the myth of Saint David has been revealed this week with the publishing of a book that will throw new light on the mysterious life of Wales’ patron saint.

In Pursuit of Saint David  by historian Gerald Morgan follows the life of Saint David, looking at how the myths and traditions that surround the historical figure have come to be and how he eventually became such an important part of Welsh history.

‘His is a most remarkable story’ says Gerald Morgan, ‘Everyone in Wales knows something about Saint David, the patron saint of Wales – that he lived long ago, that Saint Davids was his home, and that the ground in Llanddewi Brefi rose up from under his feet so everyone could hear him’.

‘But who was David really? What did he do? The purpose of my research is to help people know about the many-sided figure who was and is the patron saint of Wales – Saint David – through the centuries.’ explained Gerald, ‘It will attempt to determine what we can know about David – man, saint, patron and legend.’

And Gerald says that there will be some unexpected surprises along the way.

‘St David was and is a man for all seasons. His was a shadowy figure who became a major personage in the medieval British pilgrim movement. This is a saint whose name was a war cry on the lips of the fierce Cambro-Norman invaders of Ireland in 1176’ he explained, ‘To others, David was a figure of significance at the Reformation, when some claimed him as a representative of Christianity, uncorrupted by Roman Catholic teaching, at a time when England was pagan. To the fantasist-historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, David was a nephew of King Arthur, the successor of Dyfrig as archbishop of Caerleon and then St Davids’

‘He became a favourite of the Welsh poets until the Reformation, as well as of Henry Tudor’ added Gerald, ‘Every generation has refashioned David to fit the times and he has survived in the consciousness of the Welsh people to this day’.

Saint David’s name is now given to hundreds of colleges, schools, clubs, business centres, concert halls and hospitals worldwide. He is celebrated in Wales and in societies around the world on the 1 ^st of March.

Gerald Morgan is a teacher and historian. After teaching English at Ysgol Maes Garmon and Ysgol Gyfun Aberteifi , he became headmaster of Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni and then Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig, Aberystwyth. He has published a substantial number of books and articles, most particularly on the history of Ceredigion and Wales.

In Pursuit of Saint David by Gerald Morgan (£5.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

Contributing artist:  Gaabriel Becket

Click here for more St David's Day Ecards

1) Contact your local radio stations by late February and ask them to play Welsh music and relay "Happy St. David's Day" messages to the Welsh in your area on March 1st. There is plenty of music by Welsh artists that are readily available on most radio stations play lists. If it is a rock/pop station ask for Duffy, The Stereophonics, The Manic Street Preachers, Jem, Catatonia, or Tom Jones, if it is a classical station, you might try asking for Bryn Terfel, Charlotte Church, Paul Potts, Katherine Jenkins or Karl Jenkins.

2) Email a 'Happy Saint David's Day/ Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus' message to your friends and family.

3) Wear a daffodil, a leek, or something red on March 1st.

4) Attend a St. David's day event sponsored by your local Welsh society; there are hundreds across North America to choose from.

5) If there are no Welsh groups nearby, hold a St. David's day dinner at your home or request your local pub to stock: