The Leek

Order of the Thistle

Also in Scotland exists order of the Thistle. It is the highest order of knighthood, together with the Order of the Garter. It was founded in 1687, and is mainly given to Scottish noblemen (limited to 16 in number). A Knight of the Order places the initials «KT» after his name (full title, «The Most Ancient and Most Noble of the Thistle»).

St David is the patron saint of Wales. He was a monk who lived on bread, water, herbs and leeks and died on March 1, 589 AD. The leek became the national emblem for Wales and medieval soldiers used to wear leeks as they road to battle. Leek is a vegetable related to the onion but with wider green leaves above a long white bulb.

Nowadays Welshmen all over the world on March, 1 celebrate St David’s Day by wearing either leeks or daffodils. The link between the leek and St David is the belief that he is supposed to have lived for several years on bread and wild leeks.

There is a conclusive evidence that Welshmen wore leeks on St David’s Day in Shakespeare’s time. In “Henry Y” Fluellen tells the King:

“If your Majesty is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; which, your Majesty knows, to this hour is an honourable pledge of service; and I do believe your Majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy’s day!”

The daffodil is also associated with St David’s Day, due to the belief that it flowers on that day. It became an alternative to the Leek as a Welsh emblem in the present century, because some thought the leek vulgar.

Daffodil is a very common bell-shaped pale yellow flower of early spring.

There is a very well-known poem by William Wordsworth which British people often quote when talking about daffodil. It begins:

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-06