St David's Day - Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus

As the patron saint of Wales, St David's Day is celebrated every year in Wales on March 1st in commemoration of the day he died in 589 AD.  Daffodils and leeks are worn, pans of lamb cawl prepared and Welsh cakes are made; the famous red dragon flag is flown. In Wales, foundation phase children (three to seven-year-olds) returned to school last Monday after being in lockdown since before Christmas but as they are the only ones to have returned, celebrations in schools will be a bit different this year. Usually, the day is a day of parades, concerts and eisteddfodau. These are festivals of music, language and culture. Pupils attend school in national costume. My little grandson is in Reception. Today, he wore his red Welsh jersey and had dragon wings. He was going to be making Welsh cakes in class with his teacher.

My novels are always set in Wales. You will find references to the Welsh food and the landscape as well as a smattering of Welsh words used in everyday life. 

In Her Mother's Secret, there is a scene where Alexandra visits her nan, Sadie, when she is making Welsh cakes.

'I watched Nan grease the griddle and once it was hot enough, she turned the heat down, placing a creamy white circle down carefully. It took me back to the times when she'd let Claire and me cook them, telling us to wait for the sugar to turn transparent as the sign we should turn them over with the flat palette knife... She piled the cooked Welsh cakes onto the rack and filled the griddle with more to cook.'

In Her Sister's Secret, as well as references to Welsh cakes, Violet Howells cooks cawl for her family.

'Your mam makes a tasty cawl, cariad. Uses up plenty of my ol' leeks even if we can only get scrag end of lamb from Sid the Meat these days. Any more going, Violet?' 

Music plays an important place in the family, too. 

"Here, give her to me," said her mother. She began singing Suo Gan and cwtched the baby back to sleep. Rose remembered her mother singing the very same Welsh lullaby to Harri. "It always works." Her mother smiled.

Suo Gan - boy soprano, Cai Thomas, accompanied by the harp

In novel three, when Clara returns home from her university placement in Normandy, she reflects on the mid-Wales landscape she missed so much. 

'Driving back from Glaswen, I was struck by the beauty of the Radnorshire countryside. Hedges were becoming greener as new growth appeared on the stems and fields appeared like a patchwork quilt of every hue of green. Lush and verdant, the landscape glowed in the afternoon sunshine.'

Although in all three novels my characters spend time in Greece, Sicily and Northern France respectively, it is Wales they call home. Being born and brought up in mid-Wales like me, they are Welsh through and through. They would be celebrating their Saint David's day today wherever they were in the world, I'm sure.

Thank you for reading. Writers, is the area where you were born reflected in your novels? Readers, do you like to read novels set in the area where you're from? 

You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBaynham and on my Jan Baynham Writer Facebook page. 

HAPPY SAINT DAVID'S DAY TO YOU ALL!