Thursday, April 10, 2008

Welsh Dragon

I've commented before that it seems a shame that the Welsh national flag should contain a symbol of Satan whilst the English national flag contains a symbol of Christ, the cross of St George the Dragon Slayer.

It's worth noting that George wasn't English, of course, and didn't kill the dragon - that was the Lord Jesus Christ, after all.

But you may also be interested in a bit of blurb about why the dragon is a symbol of Wales. Its not really anything terribly sinister.

The Red Dragon is the heraldic symbol of Wales, and is incorporated into
the Welsh national flag. According to tradition, the red dragon appeared on a
crest borne by Arthur, whose father Uthr Bendragon, had seen a dragon in the sky
predicting that he would be king.

The dragon as a symbol was probably introduced into Britain by the Roman
legions. Medieval Welsh poets often compared their leaders to dragons in poems praising their bavery, for example, Gruffydd ab yr Ynad Coch said of Llewelyn ap Gruffudd Pen dragon, pen draig oedd arnaw ('A dragon's head he had').

Between 1485 and 1603, the dragon formed part of the arms of the Tudor
dynasty, but it was replaced on the royal coat of arms with a unicorn by order
of James I.

The red dragon reappeared as the royal badge for Wales in 1807, and from
then on it was often seen in the regalia of Welsh patriotic societies. At the
suggestion of the Gorsedd of the Bards, it was officially recognised by the
Queen in 1959, and is now widely used as the national flag.

Source: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/274/ - where you can also read about the leek and the daffodil. The same site contains information about Welsh Christmas traditions.

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