Creoso
by: Gwen Hopkins

Saturday Ramblins, Vol. 2, No. 3 (February 6, 1999)

Ed. note: Gwen is our correspondent from Wales in the United Kingdom. Her column, whose name means "welcome" in Welsh, appears monthly in Saturday Ramblins.

I lay in bed last night thinking of the times we had as youngsters here in Wales, with St. David's Day coming up on 1st March -- he is our Patron Saint -- and all that. Also the Five Nations Rugby is starting this coming Saturday.

Children all over Wales will dress in national costume, sing songs and do dances and poetry, all in Welsh. Even non-Welsh speakers do this. I used to love this as a child. Wales is known as the Land Of Song (well maybe a lot of us welsh can sing, but I assure you, that a lot of us can't either). But the spirit is there, everyone as one, instead of the petty squabbles that go on and are forgotten. Parties are held and the St. David's Hall in Cardiff hold a big celebration night.

Wales is also known for its rugby. They haven't won much over past years though, but if you're Welsh, you have to sit and watch the match (on TV) if you can't get tickets to Cardiff Arms Park. I went one year, and the atmosphere is wonderful there. But I found out one important point: before the players go on field, they all pray together. Papa Jon will probably know about these matches, his being Irish, as the teams are Wales/England/Scotland/Ireland & France. You won't dare go into Cardiff this week.

We will go to the celebrations at St Fagan's Museum Of Welsh Culture, for St. David's Day, where we will eat the meals made many hundreds of years ago, and where they still bake the bread and other foods that were around then. It is a lovely experience to share. They have the smallest chapel in Wales there, where a service will be held, as the buildings there are taken from all different parts of Wales and rebuilt, as they were in olden days, They even have the shop there that I went to as a child. Ah, Memories!

I am grateful for those of you who wrote me through my recent illness and for the prayers said. I am now fully recovered and hope to be back to top form.

Blessings
Gwen