St David’s Day Flags – Welsh Dragon, St David’s Cross & Bunting

St David’s Day, 1 March

St David’s Day is 1 March every year, and in 2027 it falls on a Monday. It is the feast of Dewi Sant, the sixth-century bishop who became the patron saint of Wales, and 1 March is traditionally given as the date of his death in 589. David founded a monastery at what is now St Davids in Pembrokeshire, the smallest city in Britain, where the cathedral still holds his shrine. His last sermon is remembered for the line “Gwnewch y pethau bychain”, do the little things, and that is the spirit of the day: children in traditional Welsh costume or rugby shirts at school, school eisteddfodau with singing and recitation, a daffodil or a leek on the lapel, and the national parade through the centre of Cardiff, with smaller parades and concerts in towns across Wales and in Welsh communities in London, Liverpool and beyond.

The Welsh dragon: Y Ddraig Goch

The Wales flag is the red dragon, Y Ddraig Goch, passant on a field of white over green. The dragon has been linked with Wales since at least the ninth century, when the Historia Brittonum told the story of a red dragon fighting a white one, and the white and green are the livery colours of the Tudors, the Welsh-descended dynasty whose Henry VII carried a red dragon banner at Bosworth in 1485. The flag in its present form was officially recognised in 1959. It comes in 20x12in, 3ft x 2ft, 5ft x 3ft and 8ft x 5ft, with a nylon version that lifts in a light breeze and the heavy-grade Wales DuraFlag for a pole that flies the dragon all year. The Cymru flag adds the Welsh name for Wales across the dragon, and the Welsh Dragon Black, Welsh Gold Dragon and St David’s Dragon flags are the variations people fly at the rugby and the party.

The St David’s Cross: gold on black

The St David’s flag is a yellow, or gold, cross on a black field. It is the saint’s own flag rather than the national flag, and it is the one used by churches, the Church in Wales and anyone who wants the religious side of the day on the flagpole. Many people fly it alongside the dragon on 1 March. It is stocked in the same sizes as the Wales flag, as a St David’s DuraFlag, and as bunting, hand flags and table flags.

Daffodils, leeks and the green and white

The leek is the older emblem of Wales; the story goes that David told Welsh soldiers to wear one in their caps to tell friend from foe, and Shakespeare has Fluellen wear his on St David’s Day in Henry V. The daffodil, Cennin Pedr, became popular in the nineteenth century and is usually in flower by 1 March. If you are dressing a classroom, a shop window or a dinner table, the green and white of the Welsh flag goes well with yellow daffodils: hang Wales bunting, put a vase of daffodils on each table and add a dragon table flag.

St David’s Day bunting

Wales bunting carries the red dragon on every pennant and starts at £9.98. The Wales triangle bunting is the traditional pennant shape for a school hall or a tea party, and the Wales giant bunting has oversized pennants on an 18.25m length for a high street, a rugby club or a shopfront. Mix in St David’s Cross bunting for the black and gold, or Welsh Dragon Black bunting for something different. A 9m length runs along one wall of a classroom or a bar; two or three lengths tied together will go round a function room.

Hand flags, table flags and car flags

Wales hand flags on wooden sticks are the ones for the school parade, the eisteddfod and the crowd at the Cardiff parade, with St David’s Cross, Cymru and Welsh Dragon Black hand flags alongside. For the St David’s Day dinner, the office reception or the restaurant table, the Wales table flag comes with a base, and there are satin, wooden and large wooden versions. The Wales car flag clips to a window, and the Wales windsock suits a garden, a caravan or a boat. For the Welsh regiments we stock the Royal Welsh Regiment flag and the Welsh Guards DuraFlag.

No flagpole? A telescopic flag pole goes up in a garden in minutes, and the wall flag pole and bracket suits the front of a house, a pub or a school. The flagpole guide explains which flag size suits which pole.

St David’s Day flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Wales Flag (20x12in to 8x5ft)from £5.99
• St David’s Cross Flagfrom £5.99
• Wales Buntingfrom £9.98
• St David’s Buntingfrom £9.98
• Wales Giant Bunting18.25m
• Wales Hand Flagswooden stick
• Wales Table Flag with Base6x4in
• Cymru Flagfrom £5.99