Welsh Christian Party

St. David’s Flag

The Welsh Christian Party flies the St. David’s flag – the flag of the patron saint of Wales, the gold cross on a black background. Representing the light of the Gospel shining through the darkness, the flag embraces the heart beat of the Welsh Christian Party and of 1904 revivalist Evan Roberts who wrote:

"As I was burdened for Wales and prayed for the success of the kingdom of God and battled against the forces of darkness I was burdened by the necessity of removing the dragon from being the emblem of our country. As the religion of Wales is based on the Holy Scriptures and because the red dragon in the scriptures is a symbol of the devil is it not scriptural to remove it? When the devil sees his symbol on the flag of a Christian country that professes to hate him it is a source of joy to him. Is there not a cry in the hearts of thousands of followers of the Lamb in Wales against this inconsistency between their profession and their emblem?"

As we are now flying the St. David’s flag at our HQ here since October, we have had lots of interest and enquiries in the history of this Welsh flag.

The history is somewhat ambiguous, though it seems to have emerged, or re-emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. One theory is that it was developed to fly atop Anglican churches in Wales, in the same way that the St George's Cross was flown outside churches in England, though since 1954 churches are more likely to fly a flag bearing the armorial bearings of the Church in Wales, granted that year. Others claim that the flag is much older than this; the accepted year amongst folk-historians is 675 AD.

On a slightly different tack, but entirely topical is the new “Welsh gold” kit seen for the first time in the Millennium Stadium, last November when Warren Gatland’s men took on Canada. The new shirt, which breaks with the tradition of black or grey away strips in recent times, has the flag of St David as the basis of it design.

As we’re sure you know, St David was known as a proud Welshman whose last words were said to have been: “Be joyful and keep your faith and your creed.” He is known to have made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and is credited with performing miracles as he rose to prominence as a teacher and preacher and was eventually made an archbishop. “The responsibility we bear to this jersey and sense of duty to the nation is something we instill in the players who join the Wales team,” said coach Gatland. “So the symbolism of these new colors is very important.

“We hope this design will carry a special meaning to all the people of Wales,” said Peter Mahrer, Under Armour president for Europe. “We have worked hard to ensure our designs link closely with the history of this great nation and this particular shirt has a bond with one of the most famous Welshman of all time. “The symbolism dates to a time of chivalry and heraldry when events took place which created important chapters in Welsh history.”