Also called the Red Dragon, the Dragon of Wales.
Their story
In the Historia Brittonum, King Vortigern's fortress at Dinas Emrys kept collapsing, and the boy Emrys revealed that two dragons, one red and one white, were fighting in a pool beneath it. The red dragon stood for the Britons and the white for the Saxons, and the red would win in the end. In the tale of Lludd and Llefelys, the dragons' screams every May Eve brought barrenness to Britain until Lludd trapped them with mead and buried them at Dinas Emrys.
Best times to give to them
- St David's Day (1 March)
- Calan Mai, when the dragons screamed in the tale
What they like being given
- learn a few words of Welsh
- visit Dinas Emrys in Snowdonia respectfully
- honour Welsh language and culture
How to honour them
- Fly or draw the dragon as a sign of love for Wales and its history.
- Read the tale of Lludd and Llefelys in a translation of the Mabinogion.
How they can help you
- pride and resilience
- protection of heritage
- the tales teach that the hidden will rise
Symbols
- the red dragon
- Dinas Emrys
- the pool beneath the fort
Sources
- Historia Brittonum
- Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys
- Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae
More Celtic beings
- Bres The beautiful, ungenerous king
- Balor Fomorian king of the deadly eye
- The Fomorians The dark powers from under the sea
- Taliesin The chief of bards, born of the cauldron