01 March 2008

Watch out for leeks

Today is the Feast day of St David, the patron saint of Wales. It is said that he employed the leek to defeat the Saxons. Although they are good eating they are not known for their effectiveness as weapons. Apparently he had soldiers to wear them so as to identify each other during had to hand combat. As a result they became his symbol. However, nobody goes around (as far as I know) wearing them on 1 March.

But beware! 16th Century Herbalist William Turner has this to say about the tasty alium: “ The leek breedeth wind and evil juice and maketh heavy dreams. It stirreth a man to make water and is good for the belly. But if you boil a leek in two waters and afterwards steep it in cold water it will be less windy than before”

I never knew leeks were carminatives but there you have it.....

4 comments:

Dragonstar said...

I always thought it was Llewellyn that used the leek, but that's hearsay not research! Leeks were often worn when I was in school (many years ago!) but most of us had leeks made of ribbon and felt. I wore a dragon pendant yesterday (yes, of course I have a dragon pendant - or several, and dragon brooches, too!) and an enameled leek brooch.
Clever to find St David's cross - very few used to know of it.

LibertyBelle said...

Now that is funny and interesting too! :)
Happy weekend
L

Dragonstar said...

Followed your links, and now I understand. It took a football club to popularise the flag!

jams o donnell said...

I have no idea whether then did wear leeks in reality Dragonstar but it did lead into to the carminative properties of these vegetables!

Glad you like it liberybelle!