Hello!
HAPPY ST. DAVID'S DAY/ DYDD GWYL DEWI HAPUS!
Ok, this story may seem pretty random and not actually having much to do with anything and you'd be right to think that, it doesn't, except to me. Today is St. David's day and as a Welsh girl and a fanfiction writer this thought just occurred to me so I'm writing it. This is just me expressing some nationalistic pride, so if you aren't interested then it doesn't really bother me.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with this except my own pride!
The assignment had been pretty straight forward. Miss Appleby had asked them to do some research on any saint that they wanted and then present their work to the class. As per usual the six teens got together afterwards to discuss what they were going to do, some had vague ideas; for example Kim wanted to research St. Valentine and Rocky liked the idea of researching St. Christopher, Adam however was strangely reluctant to explain who he was going to research: "You'll just have to wait" was all he would say on the matter, which Rocky took for meaning that he didn't have a clue who to research. However that was far from being the case.
Two days later the class prepared to give their presentations, and still Adam would not reveal which saint he had done his project on. One by one the students got up to give their presentations, however as time progressed it seemed more and more apparent that some students would have to wait until the next day to give their presentations.
As Skull finished his presentation and sat down again Miss Appleby looked over her list with a sigh.
"Thank you Skull. That was a very…individual take on the assignment. Right, it would appear that we have only enough time for one more student to do their presentation today. Is there anyone who desperately wants to do theirs today?"
Everyone was quite surprised when Adam Park's hand was raised. Anyone who knew Adam well knew that Adam hated speaking in front of people, presentations always made him nervous and because of that he always made an effort to put it off for as long as possible and be one of the last to go up to speak. For him to be volunteering to go up and present his work when he had an opportunity to put it off until tomorrow was quite unusual and Miss Appleby knew that which was why, with a hint of surprise in her voice, she called Adam to the front of the class to do his presentation. Adam got up and made his way to the front of the class, the usual feeling of trepidation of having to speak in front of people building up inside of him but he knew that this had to be said on that particular day, putting it off until tomorrow wasn't an option he could take this time. Finding the right page he took a deep breath and began to speak.
"Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus. Happy Saint David's day. Today is the first of March which means that in Wales it is the day of celebration of their patron saint. St David of Wales or Dewi Sant, was a saint of the Celtic Church. He was the son of Sandde, Prince of Powys, and Non, daughter of a Chieftain of Menevia whose lands included the peninsula on which the little cathedral town of St David's now stands. David became the Abbot of St David's and died on 1st March 589. A.D. Many miracles were attributed to him. One miracle often recounted is that once when Dewi was preaching to a crowd at Llandewi Brefi those on the outer edges could not hear, so he spread a handkerchief on the ground, and stood on it to preach, whereupon the ground rose up beneath him, so that all could hear.
March 1st, St David's Day, is now the traditional day of the Welsh. March 1 is the date given by Rhygyfarch for the death of Dewi Sant and was celebrated as a religious festival up until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the 18th century it
became a national festival among the Welsh, and continues as such to this day.
St. David is the only Welsh saint to be canonized and culted in the Western Church. He has been the patron saint of Wales since the 12th century, but very little is known about his life except that he lived an austere life devoted to God. By the 9th century he had gained the name Aquaticus because he and the monks of his establishments were supposed to have drunk only water.
His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday, they have been transcribed as: 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.' 'Do the little things' or 'Gwnewch y pethau bychain' is today a very well-known phrase in Welsh, and has proved an inspiration to many.
Saint David may not have done anything as spectacular as the other patron saints of the British nation, he did not slay the dragon like St. George of England, or die for his religious beliefs like St. Andrew of Scotland, or even drive away the snakes like St. Patrick of Ireland, but he did a lot of good work and was a good man. Today in Wales is St. David's day, so Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus."
Biting his lip out of nerves he looked to Miss Appleby to indicate that he was finished. "Thank you Adam that was very good, an interesting choice. Right, I think we'll end there. We will hear the rest of your presentations tomorrow"
The rest of the class left quickly leaving Kim, Tommy, Rocky, Billy and Aisha to wait for Adam as he collected his things.
"Never did I think I'd see the day when you would volunteer to do a presentation" teased Aisha,
"Yeah man I nearly had a heart attack I thought I'd been transported to some freaky other dimension or something" laughed Rocky. Adam rolled his eyes at their good natured teasing.
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up see if I care"
"Oh forget those two, I thought it was a really great presentation" said Kim.
"Thanks"
"Hey man why did you pick that saint though?" asked Tommy
Adam paused for a moment, then smiled his usual shy half smile.
"It just felt right"
Someone might have continued their conversation but inevitably their morphers chimed the familiar tone which meant that something was attacking Angel Grove. All thoughts on the presentation were forgotten as they teleported away in flashes of red, black, blue, white, pink and yellow to save the world again.
Well there you have it, my first power rangers fic, and my own personal expression of Welsh pride on St. David's day. If you want to review feel free, if you actually read this thing Thank you.
Cymru am byth! (Wales forever!)
Y Ddraig Goch ddyn gychwyn (The Red Dragon will show the way)