The thorns have been removed from the English rose. Now they will peel the Welsh leek. One week after the historic beating inflicted on England (10-53), the XV Rooster, still in contention for the Six Nations victory, will put on its apron to cook Wales on Saturday 18 March (at 3:45 am). pm, commentary live on TF1info). State indispensable condition to keep believing in an unprecedented double and hope to deprive Ireland of their first Grand Slam since 2018.
But when someone is struck in the chest by a bright thistle, a visionary clover or a sharp rose, even a proud rooster… how does this humble-looking root vegetable become the emblem of the Welsh? According to the official legend, it dates back to the 7th century. During the war with the Saxons, King Cadwaladr of Gwynedd, who fought under the banner of David de Menevy (Saint David or Devi Sant in Welsh), the patron saint of Wales, is said to have ordered his soldiers to wear the herbaceous plant on their helmets. The idea would have come to him during a fight next to… a leek field. At that time, uniforms did not exist, there was nothing to distinguish an ally from an enemy in the heat of the moment, since both of them were dressed in simple armor. A trick that would drive the Saxons off the island.
A curious symbol sung by Shakespeare
This masterful victory, which another legend attributes directly to Saint David, deserved leek (leek in French, ed.) his letters of nobility. But the origin, the roots of this symbol are drawn from other stories. It is also said, for example, that the leek was immortalized during the Battle of Agincourt, October 25, 1415, during the Hundred Years’ War. The Welsh would hang this green vegetable on their helmets so as not to confuse the English with the French. However, as Slate pointed out in 2015, “no historical source mentions this anecdote.” For Christophe Gilliot, former director of the Medieval Historical Center at Agincourt, malnourished soldiers, “they wouldn’t hang leeks on helmets, if they found them, they would eat them.”
There are also theories that the episode was popularized and romanticized by the play. Henry V William Shakespeare, written around 1599.
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Despite its obscure historical origins, the wearing of leeks has become a tradition inspired by the House of Tudor. There is historical evidence that the royal family that gave its name to the period of English history between 1485 and 1603 distributed leeks to their guardsmen on March 1st, Saint David’s Day, equivalent in France to July 14th. A symbol that is everywhere in Wales today: whether on coins, in the colors of the national flag and, of course, on plates with the famous hoodtraditional and hearty stew, served with… the famous leek.
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Source: TF1