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Welsh flag
Who cares what the 'correct' Welsh flag is? Custom has rendered the familiar one legitimate. It is distinctive - you cannot mistake it for any other flag. Not like those tricolor flags that all look the same. I make this point in my book Dewi the Dragon published by Y Lolfa.
Henry VII became king because of a claim through his English ancestors. He did not fight against the English. but merely had an army with a large number of Welsh soldiers. In the Wars of the Roses the Welsh fought on both sides. If Owain Glyndwr had won, his kingdom would have included a large slice of England with English inhabitants. He married his daughters into the English aristocracy and gentry. He had English ambitions. When he lost he hid and died in England.
The main acheivement of the Welsh soldiers after Bosworth was to slaughter the Celtic-speaking Cornish rebels who had marched towards London. The Welsh are England's original Gurkhas.
Here is the definitive answer from my book Dewi the Dragon by Y Lolfa
No, I wont, Mair said. Dewi my dragon isnt imaginary. Hes real.
Of course he is, replied Professor Russell. All imaginary animals are real; we couldnt imagine them, otherwise. And even if they werent real before we imagined them, they are real afterwards. If they were not, we wouldnt be able to describe them, and there wouldnt be a Welsh flag, because we wouldnt know what it looked like. Wed have to make do with one of those funny European flags that are nothing but stripes and all look the same in the dark.
But all flags look the same in the dark, said Mair, and if its really dark, you cant even see whether its a flag. It might be somebodys washing.
True, replied the Professor, and if its darker still, you cant see anything at all. It would be like falling down an endless black hole, infinitely slowly, and a flag wouldnt be of much use to you, anyway. But consider the more interesting problem of the semiotics of invisible flags
No, said Mair, Ive come here to find a wife for Dewi, my dragon.
http://www.ylolfa.com/dangos.php?ISBN=0862437709
I wonder how many realize the significance of the colours of the Ddraig Goch the white background is for God, the Red Dragon the blood the people and their language and the green the green green grass of home! Or at least it makes a nice story ... Did anyone note how insipid the Welsh dragon looked in Twickenham without its black border I wonder if it was one of those English tricks? but I think we enjoyed the last laugh on this occassion ! lol
@David...agreed. There's probably room for more than one.
I must confess to a liking for the Red Dragon - our bar in the Vancouver Cambrian Hall goes by the same name. I am less enthused by the feathers of the Prince of Wales. Ich dien is after all a German motto, and it is doubtful if he serves Wales at all. St. David's flag is appropriately austere and maybe appeals to the Methodists in our midst (of whom I am one by upbringing). Owain Glyndwr's definitely carries a flavour of pageantry. So maybe the more the merrier!
Have to agree with Christie on this one. It has legitimised itself and it is aesthetically superior to the usual hackneyed multicolor striped arrangements.
Also I would say that there is no shame in flying the symbol of the Roman cohorts from our pennant. The tribes of north and south Wales found common cause with the empire for many centuries during which time their common enemy was the hordes of Pictish and Irish marauders who threatened both the tribal lands and the integrity of the Roman province. Celtic solidarity anyone? Certainly the Welsh tribes were keen enough to support Magnus Maximus in his bid for the purple in 383. In fact we sing about Macsen Wledig to this day.
It could be argued ( and has been, at length by Jeffrey Leedham Smith, see this post ) that North Wales was, for many centuries, the last bastion of the Roman empire in the west. A fact recognised by Edward 1st when he modelled Caernarvon Castle after the walls of Constantinople.
I'm proud of our Roman heritage. Hell I even look like the descendant of legionary deserters who shacked up with the local tribeswomen in the Bone cave after going AWOL from Coelbren. It has long been my comic fantasy that my family tree could be traced back to some such event.
Hands off the Ddraig Goch!
Just my two pence worth