Mother’s day (or Mothering Sunday) is a huge commercial day in the calendar across the world- a day to honour Mother figures by presenting them with flowers and gifts, and just generally treat them like Queens. But it hasn’t always been that way…
Dydd Santes Dwynwen hapus!
Happy St Dwynwen’s day!
St Dwynwen’s Day has finally come around and it has been growing in popularity year by year. St Dwynwen is our Welsh patron of true lovers is a day to shower your partner with love, affection and gifts!
Obviously most people celebrate Valentine’s day on the 14th February but being a nation of romantics we need to two days to express our love for one another.
If you don’t know anything about St Dwynwen’s day, then read on and spread the Welsh love today!
Over the past few months, our web development team has been working tirelessly to ensure that our ever-growing website is mobile-ready. Therefore, you can now browse and order from anywhere. You can even use your mobile device to design your own bespoke Welsh slate homeware and gifts.
We understand that life can be busy and that’s why we knew it was so important to improve our website. Our customers are always on the go – whether you’re buying a Welsh slate cheeseboard for a friend or you’re one of our stockists ordering a wealth of our Welsh slate homeware for your store, you want to be able to get it done quickly, securely and without a fuss!
We’re committed to providing an excellent service and alongside providing quality handcrafted Welsh slate items (as well as lots of other Welsh made goods), we always do our best to ensure that they arrive on time and are exactly what you wanted. With the added bonus of being able to order from your mobile, the entire purchasing experience is improved.
As well as working on the mobile side of the website, we also wanted to ensure that you have the tools you need to create personalised gifts exactly as you want them. With this in mind, we have added a variety of new fonts and motifs to the personalisation area of our website. So whether you want to design yourself a Welsh slate house sign, complete with a horse’s head motif or a Welsh slate clock engraved with a special message, in a particular style of writing, we should certainly be able to help.
If you haven’t already designed a Welsh slate gift on our website, why not give it a try? You could even keep it for yourself as a little treat – you’re definitely worth it!
At some point in our lives, we’ve all tip-toed towards the letterbox on February 14th in excited anticipation of receiving an anonymous Valentine’s Day card. In the UK (and in many other countries) it is customary to shower one another with romantic Valentines Day gifts. However, in Wales we could actually declare our love a little earlier in the year – on St Dwynwen’s Day, which falls on January 25th.
The number of people celebrating St Dwynwen’s Day has increased in recent years, with more and more of the population choosing to use the day to tell their loved ones how much they mean to them. If you’re not one of these people, then read on to find out about St Dwynwen, Wales’ very own patron saint of lovers…
A love that wasn’t meant to be…
In a tale which goes back to the 5th century, Dwynwen fell in love with a prince but sadly, her father had already arranged for her
to be married to another suitor. Dwynwen was so upset that she she begged God to make her forget him. Then, after falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel with a potion designed to erase all memory of the prince and turn him into a block of ice.
God then gave Dwynwen three wishes. Her first was for the prince to be thawed. Her second was for God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers. And for her third wish, she asked 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.
Dwynwen set up a convent on Llanddwyn Island, just off the west coast of Anglesey; the remains of which can still be seen today, along with Dwynwen’s well. It’s believed the well is home to sacred fish who can predict whether couples’ relationships will succeed. If the fish are seen to be active when visiting the well, it is a sign of a faithful husband. According to folklore, if the water of the well boils while visitors are present, love and good luck will follow.
Celebrating St Dwynwen’s Day…
Whether you choose to uphold the Valentine’s Day tradition, or mark St Dwynwen’s Day instead, at Slate House we offer a wide range of options when it comes to romantic gifts. For us, there’s nothing quite like a personalised gift to show someone how much you care. That’s why we offer the option to engrave any of our Welsh slate products with a special message of your choice. In this instance, our Welsh slate love hearts are a very popular choice.
What’s more, we also stock a variety of Welsh wines, chocolates, fragranced soy candles and natural soaps. There is something for everyone and we’re proud to say that each and every product is made in Wales. If you’re feeling romantic, take a look at our website www.slate-house.co.uk or pop to our shop in Neath. If a unique and special gift is the order of the day, we can certainly help you to find one.
And if it turns out that your trip to the letterbox is in vain this year, just remember that you don’t have to wait for someone else to treat you!