SB In The St David’s Day Parade!

Yesterday was St. David’s Day in Wales.

St. David is our country’s patron saint, and every year on March 1st, he’s celebrated with a series of events across the country. Lots of people carry or wear daffodils or leeks (usually pretend ones!), children have a dress-up day in school, and there are parades in many of the big towns and cities in the country. Back where we used to live, there were never any parades, but where we are now has a big one, so we decided to take SB along. The local association for promoting Welsh language in babies was there too, so it was lovely to get to go and speak to them about upcoming events – it’s really important to us that SB grows up bilingual, and introducing her to her country’s heritage is so important. Technically she is only half-Welsh, as I was born in England, but having lived here so long I consider myself Welsh, and hope SB will grow up to do the same.

Most children dress up for these parades – the shops sell a load of clothing and items at this time of year, as it’s so popular in schools. You can get novelty daffodil hats, traditional Welsh costume, and of course – the rugby shirt. We couldn’t resist, and dressed SB up as a traditional ‘Welsh Lady’ for the parade.

(although not before she’d tried a daffodil hat on for size)

Eventually though, she settled on the Welsh Lady outfit, and was kind enough to let me wear the daffodil hat for the parade.

She had a whale of a time! She was given a little Welsh flag, and we walked the entire route of the parade with her waving it about. She was adored by everyone around her (I think she was the youngest one there in traditional dress), and we even got stopped at one point to have our pictures taken for a newspaper! Everyone commented on her smile and her beautiful outfit – I couldn’t have been prouder.

She’s gone into nursery today in the same outfit (having had a wash after she smeared Dairylea sandwiches all over it), for their St. David’s Day celebration. I’m so happy we’re raising SB to be proud of her heritage and to celebrate it, and really happy that her nursery and the local area do the same.

Plus… it makes for some really adorable pictures!