Champion the leek.Byline: Peter Ireland I AM writing this letter to appeal for the menfolk men·folk or men·folks pl.n. 1. Men considered as a group. 2. The male members of a community or family. menfolk Noun, pl men collectively, esp. the men of a particular family of Wales to get a grip of their national symbols. Every St Davids day we see men and women walking about wearing their daffodils, with hardly a leek leek: see onion. leek Hardy, vigorous, biennial plant (Allium porrum) of the lily family, native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. It has a mild, sweet, onionlike flavour. in sight. Yet the daffodil is a very recent addition to Welsh iconography, appearing as late as the 19th century. The motives behind this development were varied. The leek has a far older pedigree, being worn by the Welsh troops at Crecy in 1346. Certainly the leek was so well established by the 16th century that it appears in the works of Shakespeare, with Captain Fluellen Fluellen pedantic Welsh captain and know-it-all. [Br. Lit.: Henry V] See : Pedantry in Henry V wearing one in his Monmouth cap. So gentlemen, my cry is let the ladies sport their daffodils proudly, but we men should maintain the ancient and noble tradition of wearing a leek on St David's Day. Peter Ireland, Rhosllannerchrugog CAPTION(S): Should our national symbol be the daffodil ... or the leak? |
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