For many Countries around the world ‘love’ is traditionally celebrated on February 14th and is associated with St. Valentine, but here is Wales, we have another date which we associate with romance: St. Dwynwen’s Day on 25th January – but who was Dwynwen and why is she associated with love?
It is said that Dwynwen (pronounced (Duinwen) was a Welsh Princess who lived in the area known today as the Brecon Beacons. Daughter of an early Medieval King, she fell in love with a young man called Maelon Dafodrill. However, their relationship soon ended as Dwynwen rejected Maelon’s premarital advances. As his demands on their relationship grew stronger, Dwynwen became more fearful and disheartened and prayed to God for his help. Cooling her former suitor’s passion, it is said that Maelon was turned into a block of ice and Dwynwen was granted three wishes for her purity.
Dwynwen asked that for her first wish, Maelon should restored to his former self. Her second wish was that her prayer for ‘true lovers’ everywhere should be answered and that “they should either obtain the objects of their affection, or be cured of their passion”. Her last wish was that she should never have to marry.
OnAnglesey, there is a little Church named after her ‘Llanddwyn’, where it is said after many faithful years of service to God as a nun, she ended her life