Why the Welsh make better lovers
Gwern Gwynfil
Santes Dwynwen is the patron saint of Welsh lovers and we celebrate both her and our lovers on the 25th January every year.
As this date fast approaches what an excellent opportunity to explore why the Welsh are both culturally and naturally blessed as the world’s most magnificent lovers!
Dwynwen has been mentioned before here on Nation.Cymru, as you’d expect. She is a very significant figure in Welsh culture.
Llanddwyn on Ynys Môn bears her name and is the site of a holy well and of the church she founded. She spans Wales geographically, as she was a daughter of Brycheiniog, born and raised in Bannau Brycheiniog.
She has always been, and remains, a hugely important figure, surviving despite the overwhelming pressure of commercialised ‘love’ globally every 14th February on Valentine’s Day.
The tale of Dwynwen differs wildly in the telling but fundamentally she was unlucky in love. Her father promised her hand to a man she did not want to marry whilst she was in love with a man she could not marry.
She flees the unwanted marriage, Maelon (her one true love) is turned to ice – in some versions he dies, in others he becomes violent and vengeful towards her – but an angel appears and offers salvation.
She accepts, asking God to save Maelon, to give her the power to help all true lovers and to protect her from ever having to marry herself.
All this means that Welsh lovers already have the gift of the true patron saint of lovers in their favour.
The Valentine Pretender
Saint Valentine on the other hand is little more than a manufactured ingenue when it comes to love.
Perhaps a ‘mangenue’? He is the patron saint of epilepsy, of beekeepers, and of the Italian city of Terni but his feast day came to be associated in the Middle Ages with the concept of courtly love – he was co-opted as a plaything of the aristocracy and the rich elites.
He simply can’t compete with the authenticity of Dwynwen’s deep and true affiliation and understanding of love and lovers!
There is a marked contrast between Valentine, set up by the rich to be a symbol of their formalised and pretentious ideals of love, and Dwynwen, a saint who created a sanctuary so that she could guide and treasure innocent lovers, honourable and true, in all their endeavours – regardless of background and irrespective of wealth and status.
Welsh Passion
Then, too, there is the natural inclination of all Welsh people towards passion and affection.
Land of the cwtch, of fire, of magic, and of mystery – Wales has been creating magnificent, impassioned, and heartfelt lovers for millennia.
Dwynwen herself was making love in the 5th century, scroll forward a few centuries and Dafydd ap Gwilym (and many of his fellow Welsh bards) were writing excellent, graphic, and extremely entertaining poems, in praise of love and making love.
Many of these are hilarious: Trafferth Mewn Tafarn recounts the tribulations of an ardent lover attempting to negotiate his way to a lover’s arms late at night in a busy pub; Cywydd y Gȃl is an ode to the ease with which a man can be misled by the orchestrator of his passions; whilst Cywydd y Cedor is something of a response to Dafydd ap Gwilym by Gwerful Mechain.
Be warned that many of the translations are very poor and will not do justice to the originals! Don’t read them in Welsh or English if you have an aversion to robust sexual language.
All of this speaks to the importance of love and passion in Welsh culture across the ages and so bestows the weight of history, tradition, and culture on those of us who have inherited the lover’s mantle.
Of course we’re going to be the best lovers in the world!
Financial Benefits
There can be other practical benefits to being a Welsh lover too. Whilst declaring an interest (she is my mother!), Rhiannon honours the Welsh tradition of Dwynwen by aligning the offer for Santes Dwynwen with the date – a 25% discount. You can be sure that, come February 1st, this will reduce to a mere 14% discount for the world’s Valentines!
It would be an added bonus to see more of our homegrown Welsh companies celebrating Santes Dwynwen this way. Showing their love for the people of Wales with generosity around the feast day of our patron saint of lovers.
Celebrate your Love
If you live in Wales, if you have any Welsh connections, if you’re lucky enough to have a Welsh lover, be sure to celebrate this January 25th.
Be passionate, be honourable, be honest and true to your love, and remember that you are upholding a centuries long tradition of love and lovers. Give a nod to Dwynwen and be assured that she watches over you and wishes you joy and success in your passions.
Give a nod to Dwynwen and be assured that she watches over you and wishes you joy and success in your passions.
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I concur. After sampling lovers from all continents I finally met my Cymro. I told him he had ‘unfair advantages’ (meaning nothing intimate) the splendour of his land he showed me. For tenderness, patience, ingenuity, sheer slow tantra craft he is unequalled. I often thought he should found a university to teach other men. His loyalty desrves credit also. Not a paragon, I could do without the extremes of Welsh temper, but as a lover God on Earth.
Well, my current experience in Napoli suggests the one true patron of lovers has an outreach project here. So many people, and so many small acts of kindness shown to each other, and to me. Santes Dwynwen seems to be their inspiration, rather than the imposter from Terni.
The Neapolitan stress on the penultimate syllable of their language is also familiar to a visitor from Galles.