Damn! Here it is St. David's Day Eve and I am just now getting to my decorating and cooking! Well, it's been a tough month. My dog died; I got sick with my second round of cold/flu of the season; Hub left for 9 days while I tended the homefront alone; I worked for a week at my old agency helping write a grant; I had a bit of an existential journey into "what's it all about anyway?" pondering...
Plus, I can't be blamed too much for procrastinating the St. David's Day preparations; I had never even heard of St. David's Day until 5 months ago when Hub and I were trying to come up with a less obvious than St. Patrick's Day excuse to drink beer with friends.
Our church has an annual auction in November, which is how we bring in a chunk of change to keep the place running throughout the year. One of the auction items has become the tradition of members thinking up cool and original party ideas, then having people pay (a donation to the church) to come. There are lots of great things to sign up for every year. Hub and I have hosted a 4th of July Party, a dance with a live band, and an Indian Dinner with Kirtan in the past. Great fun. This year we decided to offer something again, so we Googled "beer-drinking occasions" and out popped St. David's Day, March 1st.
St. David is the patron saint of Wales, and the Red Dragon flag is flown in his honor. It is unclear whether he would actually approve of the modern-day festivities to honor him, but it all seemed like great fun to us. Hub is off at Costco right now buying party food and ingredients for our go at some traditional Welsh dishes -- Welsh Rarebit, Welsh Cakes, and a Salmon, Leek, and Potato Soup. Quite right!
Daffodils are the "symbol" of St. David, so I went out and bought a flat of blooming daffodils and now have to get them distributed into pots to use as decorations inside and out. I've encouraged guests to wear yellow. I've already heard some grumbling about that, but I say, "Just do it!"
Leeks seem to play a big part in any St. David's Day celebration -- not only do they show up in a variety of dishes, party guests are encouraged to come with a leek around their necks; then commences a contest to determine who has the longest leek! Oh, the possibilities!
Other traditional activities include parades and competitive poetry recitations and singing. I'm printing out poems by Welsh poets (what did we do before the Internet?) for guests to read aloud, hopefully with great drama. We have 20 guests coming, among them a fair number of musicians, so hope they will show up with the usual cacophony of guitars, drums, violins, tamborines, and penny whistles.
And whatever happens otherwise, there will be beer. So, I'm predicting a good St. David's Day will be had by all.
At least, that's the view from here....©
So, Ivy! A wonderful time WAS had by all, and Eva's participation, along with your son and fiance', added a special "zing". We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.... and climbing your stairs wasn't that bad at all! The research part of the party was fun; many things to learn about St. David, but unfortunately, "he" will be remenbered less than your wonderful Welsh Rarebitt, Potato and Leek Soup (made some the next day out of my losing leek plus others!)shrimp, calamari, sage cheese and others.... Yum! Enjoyed the poetry reading, and musical interludes.... and amazing evening all around!! Love the idea of "throwing the dart" (i.e. google search for drinking parties!) and coming up with this wonderful evening! Thanks for the wonderful evening!! Love, Lulu
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