Friday, April 19, 2024

The vegetable Welsh soldiers wore on their heads

The Welsh are said to have worn leeks on their heads in battle.

World History

S t. David is the patron saint of Wales, and his feast day, celebrated on March 1, is a major national celebration full of parades and eisteddfodau (a Welsh cultural festival of poetry and music). Each year, revelers pin leeks to their lapels, as the leafy vegetable has long been a national emblem of Wales. But how did the Welsh become associated with a type of onion, of all things? According to one prevailing theory, the connection began back in the seventh century, when David, then a Celtic monk, ordered soldiers to wear leeks on their heads in battle.

As the popular story goes, David instructed soldiers to pull leeks from the ground and affix them to their helmets during a battle against Saxon invaders, so that other Welsh soldiers could easily differentiate their comrades from their enemies. (Another version of the story says the order was given by Cadwalader, king of the Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd.) However, some historians suggest the tale is just a myth, and one that got an extra boost when the Welsh scored a major military victory in a leek field at the Battle of Crécy during the Hundred Years' War. In any case, leeks became a point of national pride for the Welsh. William Shakespeare even referenced the connection several times in his play Henry V, most notably when Pistol, an Englishman, makes a disparaging remark about the vegetable. The Welsh Captain Fluellen, wearing a leek in his cap, insists that Pistol eat one in retaliation. He retorts, "If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek."

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By the Numbers

Food and drinks, including leeks, protected by the Welsh government

Daily cost of maintaining St. David's Cathedral in Wales

£2,700

Did you know?

Wales used to build a chapel every week.

Wales is known for being dense with castles; it has more of them per square mile than any other country in Europe. But it's even more lousy with chapels, with a count of more than 6,000 throughout the country. They were built as part of the Nonconformist religious movement, which resisted the doctrine of the Church of England and was particularly strong in Wales. The region saw a massive influx of chapels in the first half of the 19th century, when Welsh people were building around one chapel every eight days. By 1851, 80% of worshippers in Wales were doing so at a Nonconformist chapel as opposed to an Anglican church. Welsh devoutness peaked at the beginning of the 20th century before rapidly declining, and by the end of the century, only 1 in 10 Welsh people attended any place of worship. Some chapels are now finding new lives as homes, restaurants, venues, and offices, while others are collapsing or being demolished. The Welsh government considers 867 chapels to be historically significant.