Dydd Santes Dwynwen

...or Saint Dwynwen's Day for anyone who isn't welsh.

St Dwynwen's Day is celebrated in Wales on the 25th of January, which is today!

St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers (ooh la la) so I guess you could say she is the Welsh equivalent of St Valentine.

She lived in the 5th century and was pretty damn cute (apparantly). She was one of Brychan Brycheiniog's 24 daughters. ( he was the king of Brycheiniog, South Wales, at the time)

Wee hotty see!

Dwynwen fell in love with a prince called Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should marry someone else.

This is where the story gets pretty crazy, believe if you will.

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.

God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. Her first wish was that Maelon be thawed; her second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers; and third, that she should never marry. 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.

So yeah..there it is..why wait until Valentines Day when you can say a big "dwi'n dy garu di" (I love you) to that someone special 3 weeks sooner ;)