Today, 25th January, in Wales we celebrate St. Dwynwen’s Day. Dwynwen is the Welsh equivalent of Valentine, the patron saint of lovers.
Dwynwen lived during the 5th century and was one of the prettiest of Brychan Brycheiniog’s 24 daughters. Dwynwen fell in love with a prince called Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should marry someone else.
Dwynwen was so upset that she could not marry Maelon that she begged God to make her forget him. After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.
Then God, rather like the genie in the lamp, gave Dwynwen three wishes. She wished that Maelon be thawed, that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers, and that she should never marry. (Which seems like a waste of wishes. Why not wish that she be relieved of the promise to marry another and marry Maelon instead? It makes me think she didn’t really want to marry him at all, but just fancied the idea of being heartbroken.) Anyway all three were fulfilled, and as a mark of her thanks, Dwynwen devoted herself to God’s service for the rest of her life.
She founded a convent on Llanddwyn, off the west coast of Anglesey, where a well named after her became a place of pilgrimage after her death in 465AD. Visitors to the well believed that the sacred fish or eels that lived in the well could foretell whether or not their relationship would be happy and whether love and happiness would be theirs. Remains of Dwynwen’s church can still be seen today.
Now what relevance does the Welsh patron saint of love have for an author’s blog? Surely an author should be writing about writing or reading or books – and, oh, yes, that’s it: the connection.
A few years ago I read a book called The Year of Surprising Acts of Kindness by Laura Kemp. This lovely romantic novel is set in a tiny west Wales village called Dwynwen.
After her mother’s death, in order to fulfil her wishes for her ashes to be scattered in the sea in her home village, Ceri visits Dwynwen for the first time, and finds herself falling in love with the place and the people. Naturally enough the village lives up to its name.
Lovely characters, good story, happy ending. What more could you want?
