St David's Day and Mother Wales

This is a head shot taken from one of Steve Mallett's photos taken for the Martha Morgan Country project.  The model is Rhiannon James.

St David's Day is past for another year, and next up we have Mother's Day next Sunday.  This got me thinking about patron saints and the manner in which most of our reverence is reserved for men rather than women.  St David is a male patron saint, like most of the others, and that's maybe not surprising given the emphasis put on male rights and achievements during historical time.  There are female patron saints, but they are relatively few in number.  I'm not sure of this, but surely the word "patron" must have its roots in "pater" or father -- so the patron saint is historically a paternal or father figure.  So St David is essentially seen as "Father Wales"..........

So why is there no equivalent Mother Wales?  Well, if you delve back into history there is one shadowy figure referred to as "Mother Wales" -- namely Katheryn of Berain.  This is what Wikipedia says about her:  

"Katheryn of Berain (Welsh: Catrin o Ferain) (born 1540 or 1541; died 27 August 1591), sometimes called Mam Cymru ("mother of Wales"), was a Welsh noblewoman noted for her four marriages and her extensive network of descendants and relations."

She's a bit of a shadowy figure, and none of her husbands or children were particularly important in the history of Wales, so her main claim to fame seems to have been that she was a natural grandchild of Henry VII (via an illegitimate birth), married four times and did rather a lot of breeding.  Some people refer to her as Katheryn Tudor of Berain.   That's certainly not a sufficient basis for anybody to be referred to as Mother Wales.

In contrast, Mistress Martha Morgan of Plas Ingli has a MUCH better claim to be an iconic Mam Cymru.  For many readers, Martha represents "Mother Wales" since she encompasses in her character most of the virtues -- and the vices -- of the people of Wales.  For others she is a very modern heroine,  refusing to submit or conform, and determined to fashion her own destiny at a time when women (even among the gentry) had very few rights.  For most of her life she is a widow who runs her own estate -- something that is virtually unheard of in Regency and early Victorian Britain.  And it is not easy for her, here in the "Wild West", given that corruption is rife and that resentment and social discontent lead to protest and violence in every one of the eight stories of the Saga.