The Carving of St Derfel’s Horse Pic: Wales Online

Welsh History Month continues on the Wales Online website by asking what is the most important object in Welsh history? Today Dr Madeleine Gray, from the University of South Wales, argues the case for the carving of St Derfel’s horse. In the parish church at Llandderfel in Merionethshire is a huge, battered carving of an animal. Its head has been hacked away until it is no more than a stump. Its feet are tucked neatly underneath the body. The local people call it “St Derfel’s Horse”.

It is now kept safe in the church porch, but at one time it was carted round the parish on Easter Tuesday and the children were given rides on it. Alongside the animal is a decorated pole. This is usually called “St Derfel’s Staff”, but it is far too big to have been a walking-stick.

But this bizarre carving is all that is left of one of the most important cult images in medieval Wales, a carving of the warrior saint Derfel Gadarn, Derfel the Strong. According to legend, Derfel was one of King Arthur’s knights. He fought at the battle of Camlaan, where Arthur’s son and enemy Mordred was killed and Arthur himself was mortally wounded. After the trauma of the battle, Derfel gave up his warrior life and became a wandering hermit. He founded churches in north and south Wales before becoming abbot of Bardsey. There he died, and was buried alongside (according to tradition) 20,000 other saints.

As well as the church with his statue in Merionethshire, the little chapel of Llandderfel on the slopes of Mynydd Maen above Cwmbran in Monmouthshire was named after him. Pilgrims called there on their way to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys, and the chapel claimed to have a picture and a relic of the saint. It was a web of devotion crisscrossing Wales – and all that is left of it now are these two mutilated pieces of carved wood.

Saints, soldiers and stags

Derfel was not the only Welsh saint to have had an earlier career – what we would nowadays call a late vocation. Several of his fellow-soldiers at Camlaan subsequently became religious leaders. A spear which was said to be the one St Pedrog wielded in the battle was kept as a relic in his church at Llanbedrog on the Lleyn. Gwynllyw, who gave his name to St Woolos in Newport, was a soldier as a young man. He and his wife Gwladus (the parents of the better-known St Cadoc) were a wild young pair, eloping from her father’s palace in Brecon and running away over the hills. Cadfan and Illtud were both famous as soldiers before they took to the religious life.

Stag Pic: Pics Box

The animal with Derfel, though, was in fact not a horse but a stag. Many of the Welsh saints had stags as companions. Brynach’s cart was pulled by two stags. Another two stags helped Cadoc’s monks to rebuild their monastery. Illtud rescued a stag which was being hunted by King Meirchion. The animal became tame and helped to pull a cart. All these stories show the way the saints were expected to be able to control the natural world: the wildest and most terrifying of animals did their bidding.

We do not know what the story about Derfel and the stag was. The neighbouring church at Llangar was said to have been built on a site shown by a white stag, and there may have been a similar story about the stag at Llandderfel. Or perhaps Derfel rode the stag, like St Teilo. (The carving of St Teilo riding his stag in the parish church of Llandeilo Talybont, now in the museum at St Fagans, is a modern copy of a medieval carving from Brittany.)

Prayer and pilgrimage

The carving of Derfel and his stag was of enormous importance to the people of north Wales. It was very vividly carved, and parts of it could be made to move. The eyes, for example, could blink. This wasn’t necessarily to deceive people – any more than a modern computer animation at an old building is meant to deceive. But it made the statue more lifelike, and so gave it more power. We also need to remember that the statue was painted – you can still see traces of the red undercoat on the stag.

According to Ellis Price, who was sent by Thomas Cromwell to take the statue down at the Reformation, as many as six hundred people visited it on the saint’s day in April. Not that this compares with the tens of thousands (many of them Welsh) who went to Rome or Compostela on the great festival days, but it’s still pretty impressive for a little hamlet in the Welsh hills.

The world we have lost

The carving of Derfel’s companion is a very rare survival from our medieval past. At one time Wales was full of these statues. Carvings of our saints would have filled the churches and dotted the countryside. We know about a lot of these statues because the poets wrote about them. But almost all of them were destroyed at the Reformation. Carvings of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys and Cardigan, of Mary Magdalene at Usk, of local saints in almost every church, all were swept away.

We may regret this wholesale obliteration of our cultural heritage, but the reformers believed what they were doing was good and important. After all, bringing cattle, horses and money to give to a statue in the belief that it will rescue you from hell is a rather silly thing to do. If the priests were really encouraging people to do this (and presumably pocketing the proceeds) then reform really was needed.

Icon or idol?

St Catwg window in Caerphilly Pic: Wales Online

So why is the carving of St Derfel’s stag so important? To begin with, it makes us think about the Age of the Saints in Wales. The Welsh saints were an interesting bunch, always awkward, sometimes challenging. They were expected to live in harmony with nature, but also to be able to control it. The stag was Derfel’s companion but it sat submissively at his feet.   The Welsh saints were people of holiness but also people of great power, and they could use that power in ways that seem strange to us. Derfel was a soldier: not one of the chivalrous knights of later Arthurian legend but a skilled fighter, someone trained to kill. Cadoc cheated King Arthur over a herd of cattle and blinded King Rhun of Gwynedd. Robbers from Gwynedd who attacked Winefride’s shrine at Holywell all suffered horrible deaths.

The statue also makes us think about the lives and beliefs of ordinary people in medieval Wales. They seem to have valued Derfel for his courage and leadership as much as his piety. In a way, a saint who had been a soldier was more holy because he had had to choose to change his way of life. Saints as well as soldiers were expected to be able to protect their people, in the way that Derfel did.

The battered remains of Derfel’s stag also make us think about the changes of the sixteenth century. They were traumatic for many people – but they gave us the Welsh Bible and the culture of the chapel and the gymanfa ganu, and they helped to make us the people we are today.

The later history of the carving is important, too. The way it was carried around the parish at Easter may actually be a survival of pre-Reformation parish processions, with the statue of the saint bringing blessing to the whole community. Giving children rides on the“horse’ was perhaps a way of diminishing its power, but it also shows affection. The rural dean who ordered the mutilation of the carving in 1730 was clearly aware of its power – and it’s equally clear that the locals were reluctant to damage it too much.

Now Derfel’s stag sits peacefully in the church porch. But the saint is having a new lease of life in industrial south Wales. The Ancient Cwmbran Society (motto“Discovering the Ancient History of a New Town’) has commissioned a new larger-than-life statue of the saint. Part of their exploration of the early history of the Cwmbran area has included archaeological work at the Gwent Llandderfel. The saint has an important part in the Society’s heritage trail round the valley.

The story of Derfel and his stag is not over yet.

Read the full story on Wales Online.

To find out more about Welsh history visit  www.cadw.wales.gov.uk

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

The Welsh Dragon Pic: Wales Online

Today, WalesOnline, in association with Cadw, launches Welsh History Month. Every day for the next four weeks, leading academics and historians from History Research Wales will ask, what is the most significant object in our past? Here, David Anderson, Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, wonders if it’s the meaning we attach to objects that gives them their importance. Go to the Wales Online site to read the full article. David says:

If you had to select one object of particular significance to you, what would it be? The photograph of a loved one? The book that changed your thinking? The four-leaved clover you found and preserved when you were a child? The sampler your grandmother sewed?

If you had to choose one object of significance from Wales’s past, what would it be? A miner’s lamp? A Welsh Bible? A painting of a Welsh landscape? A suffragette banner? A Celtic cross? A photograph of a village choir? An early manuscript of the Mabinogion?

It is the meaning we attach to objects that gives them their significance. A few years ago, one museum invited members of the public to contribute images of their favourite objects to its website. Some wonderful stories emerged.

One woman submitted an image of a letter in her possession. This had been written during World War Two by her father, a newly married soldier, to his young wife back at home. The letter was not delivered.

After the War, the soldier returned home, and the couple had two daughters. The girls grew up and left home. The couple grew old. The husband died. The wife married again and moved away. The street where they had lived was demolished.

Then one day a nearby barn was knocked down. A bag of undelivered post was discovered hidden behind a wall. One night, not long after, there was a knock on the door of the wife’s new home. The Royal Mail had traced her and, sixty years after it was sent from the battlefield, she received the letter written by her first husband to her younger self. She opened it, and at once her world turned upside down.

Amgueddfa Cymru – the National Museum of Wales

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales has seven sites spread across different parts of Wales. These include the National Slate Museum in Llanberis, the National Wool Museum in Drefach, the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, the National Roman Legion Museum in Carleon, Big Pit: National Coal Museum in Blaenavon, and National Museum Cardiff. All have strong connections with their communities.

But no museum is as loved by so many people across Wales as St Fagans. Here the most precious objects are not necessarily treasures of great financial value, but the ordinary homes and objects once owned by someone’s aunt or grandparents, and taken to the museum from a place maybe only five or ten miles from where you live.

Over the next few years, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Welsh Government, St Fagans will be developed to become the National Museum of History for Wales. For the first time, the nation will have a museum which brings together archaeological and historical collections from the earliest Neanderthal remains, dating to 230,000 BC, to the present.

St Fagans reminds us that culture is a living process, and that everyday objects, as much as great works of art, have the power to evoke memories, and to move and inspire us.

The past is all around us, in fields and beside the road, in town squares and in our own homes, should we choose to look. It is the foundation for our lives.

A critical understanding of how history is made by attributing meaning to this past, and how it may be used (or mis-used) in the present, is vital if we are to make informed choices about our future as a nation.

David Anderson is director-general of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Read the full article on the Wales Online website.

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Bronagh Celtic Knot Wedding Ring Pic: Celtic Wedding Rings

Irish Celtic rings are trendy and much sought after today, the most common being wedding bands, engagement and promise rings or rings given in the spirit of friendship, yet their intricate designs and patterns that include spirals, knots and scrolls can still not be accurately explained. The origin of the Irish Celtic people, their customs and traditions were orally passed down from generation to generation through folklore and legend and nothing about this ancient culture was ever written down. However, the patterns and designs that exist in their art could be looked at as a unique form of writing that has managed to capture their cultures, beliefs, and traditions. The challenge lies in deciphering them accurately and today the symbolism of Irish Celtic jewelry is mostly assumed.

What is known is that Irish Celtic rings date back to about the 1st century BCE. In light of this it is hardly surprising that the meanings attributed to their design has changed over time.

The Celts left a depiction of their life in etchings found in caves as well as carved into stone structure, and even passed their unique and beautiful patterns to the Christians who immortalized them in their books, notably the Irish Book of Kells which is richly decorated throughout with abstract Celtic designs. It is these designs that are emulated in today’s Irish rings.

Ancient history shows that due to persecution the Celts migrated to different lands, one being Ireland. These Irish Celts were later influenced by Christianity and so there are two separate views or meanings that can be attributed to Celtic jewelry. The original meaning is based in the shape of their jewelry. This changed after their conversion to Christianity when the meaning attributed to them stemmed from their designs and patterns. This has also led to Irish Celtic jewelry being dated in two ways; one going back to the time of the very ancient Celts and the other to the time after Christianity.

Significance of Rings

For the ancients, Irish Celtic rings held a much cherished tradition as they considered them to be one of the strongest symbols of marriage and they were able to convey traditional messages of never ending love either between God and humanity or between man and woman. They were beautifully crafted in precious metals such as gold or silver which themselves conveyed a message as precious metals such as these illustrated not only the wearer’s social status but also their financial status or political status. More common though, these symbolic rings were wrought from bronze or iron but even these were intricately decorated with knot work and spirals and even animals and were so carefully crafted that they too became items of great beauty. Their symbolic meaning of long lasting love or friendship stands today.

Celtic Triquetra Ring Pic: Engagement and Rings

There are perhaps many symbols that have been lost over time but the ones in vogue today reflect patterns such as the un-broken Trinity Knot also known as the Celtic triskelion, which has three sides. The number three was very sacred to the ancient Celts and it is believed that this design originally signified the three stages of pagan goddesses which are maiden, mother and old woman, or crone.

After their conversion from Paganism to Christianity the significance changed and became instead a symbol of the Holy Trinity, the father, son and Holy Spirit. Today we can attribute the meaning of love between God, man and wife and even the three way tie between God, the giver of the ring and the love they hold toward family or friends. What is evident is that the ancient Celts captured in these intricately designed rings the faith and reverence towards and their belief in everlasting love.

Claddagh Irish Rings

Gold Irish Claddagh Ring Pic: Jewelry Zen

The Claddagh ring is a modern day interpretation of these ancient Celtic rings and it holds its own significance. Although The Claddagh is shared by all Celts, in Ireland it was derived from a much older ring called the “Fede”, or faith ring. The “Fede” ring dates back to Roman times and was traditionally worn as either an engagement ring or a wedding band that was traditionally passed down from mother to daughter.

Tim Lazaro is a Celtic Symbols enthusiast. Visit All About Celtic Symbols for information on celtic jewellry (http://www.allaboutcelticsymbols.com/CelticJewelry.xhtml)  and other resources you can use right now to gain an understanding of Celtic Symbols and jewelry.

Author: Tim Lazaro
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
iphone 4 antenna problem
This is where the body of the post goes. Underneath is the standard advert for each post…

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace  in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

The Book of Kells for iPad Pic: Book of Kells.com

The Book of Kells is one of the world’s most famous illustrated manuscripts and the most elaborate manuscript of its kind to survive from the early Middle Ages. A copy of the four gospels, it was written by Irish monks in the 9th Century on calf-skin, with spectacularly intricate designs. Today, it is on display in the Library of Trinity College Dublin and seen by 500,000 visitors each year.

Now we can explore each of the pages in high-resolution detail on our iPads. The iPad app contains all 680 pages of the manuscript allowing the user to scroll through the manuscript page by page. High resolution images of the most highly decorated pages are included at up to six times their original size.

The Book of Kells for iPad was designed and developed by X Communications in partnership with Trinity College Library Dublin. This publication follows on from the award-winning CD-ROM which was published in 2000 and then later replaced by the DVD-ROM in 2006.

The images used for the iPad app were digitised by The Digital Resources & Imaging Services in Trinity College Library from transparencies provided by Faksimile-Verlag Luzern who published a facsimile of the manuscript in 1990.

X Communications is a campus company founded in 1994 by Marie Redmond from the School of Computer Science & Statistics. The company is an award-winning digital media agency and has produced interactive installations for The National Museum, The National Library, the Hugh Lane Gallery, and the National Gallery. The Book of Kells for iPad took six months to complete; the designer is Stephanie Francis and the programmer is Killian Walsh.

All images on the app are protected by Digimarc® for Images which allows invisible persistent digital watermarks to be embedded into images to show ownership and copyright and any use of the images on the Internet is monitored.

For details on the Technical Specs for the App and how to buy it, pop along to the App’s website at BookofKells.com.

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Celtic Cauldron Pic: Sylvantech

The Cauldron is a symbol that occurs throughout Celtic Mythology – from the Cauldrons of the Dagda and Ceridwen to the Holy Grail of King Arthur. In one part of the Mabinogion, which is the cycle of myths found in Welsh legend, Cerridwen brews up a potion in her magical cauldron to give to her son Afagddu (Morfran). She puts young Gwion in charge of guarding the cauldron, but three drops of the brew fall upon his finger, blessing him with the knowledge held within. Cerridwen pursues Gwion through a cycle of seasons until, in the form of a hen, she swallows Gwion, disguised as an ear of corn. Nine months later, she gives birth to Taliesen, the greatest of all the Welsh poets.

The Cauldron of Knowledge

As a goddess of the Underworld, Cerridwen is often symbolized by a white sow, which represents both her fecundity and fertility and her strength as a mother. She is both the Mother and the Crone; many modern Pagans honor Cerridwen for her close association to the full moon.

The Cauldron of Bran the Blessed

In the Celtic legend of Bran the Blessed, the cauldron appears as a vessel of wisdom and rebirth. Bran, mighty warrior-god, obtains a magical cauldron from Cerridwen (in disguise as a giantess) who had been expelled from a lake in Ireland, which represents the Otherworld of Celtic lore. The cauldron can resurrect the corpse of dead warriors placed inside it (this scene is believed to be depicted on the Gundestrup Cauldron). Bran gives his sister Branwen and her new husband Math — the King of Ireland — the cauldron as a wedding gift, but when war breaks out Bran sets out to take the valuable gift back. He is accompanied by a band of a loyal knights with him, but only seven return home.

The famous silver Gundestrup Cauldron Pic: Wiki

Bran himself is wounded in the foot by a poisoned spear, another theme that recurs in the Arthur legend — found in the guardian of the Holy Grail, the Fisher King. In fact, in some Welsh stories, Bran marries Anna, the daughter of Joseph of Arimathea. Also like Arthur, only seven of Bran’s men return home. Bran travels after his death to the otherworld, and Arthur makes his way to Avalon. There are theories among some scholars that Cerridwen’s cauldron — the cauldron of knowledge and rebirth — in in fact the Holy Grail for which Arthur spent his life searching. [source]

The Cauldron of the Dagda

In the Mythological Cycle of early Irish literature, the four treasures (or jewels) of the Tuatha Dé Danann are four magical items which the mythological Tuatha Dé Danann are supposed to have brought with them from the four island cities Murias, Falias, Gorias and Findias, when they arrived in Ireland. They were accompanied by the Dagda – Danu’s son by Bile, The Dagdha, or Good God, who is also known as the All Father, Eochaid Ollathair (Father of All), and Ruadh Rofessa (The Red One). One of the fabulous, magical treasures that they brought with them was the Cauldron of the Dagda from which no company ever went away unsatisfied. The cauldron was known as the Undry and was said to be bottomless. Another link between the legends of the Dagda and a Cauldron occurs on the eve of the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh, The Dagda visited the camp of the Fomorii, where he was forced to eat a huge cauldron stuffed with enough porridge of milk, flour, fat, pigs and goats for fifty men. This test temporarily turned him into a fat old man, but it did not prevent him from making love to a Formorii girl, who promised to use her magic against her people. (See CMP 005 – Girding the Loins for Battle for the story).

The Cauldron of Dyrnwch the Giant

The Black Cauldron Pic: Dragon’s Breath Blessings

Listed as one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain, The cauldron (pair) of Dyrnwch the Giant is said to discriminate between cowards and brave men: whereas it would not boil meat for a coward, it would boil quickly if that meat belonged to a brave man. The description probably goes back to a story similar to that found in the Middle Welsh tale Culhwch ac Olwen, in which the cauldron of Diwrnach the Irishman, steward (maer) to Odgar son of Aedd, King of Ireland, is among the anoetheu which Culhwch is required to obtain for the wedding banquet.

King Arthur requests the cauldron from King Odgar, but Diwrnach refuses to give up his prized possession. Arthur goes to visit Diwrnach in Ireland, accompanied by a small party, and is received at his house, but when Diwrnach refuses to answer Arthur’s request a second time, Bedwyr (Arthur’s champion) seizes the cauldron and entrusts it to one of Arthur’s servants, who is to carry the load on his back. In a single sweep with the sword called Caledfwlch, Llenlleawg the Irishman kills off Diwrnach and all his men. A confrontation with Irish forces ensues, but Arthur and his men fight them off. They board their ship Prydwen and, taking with them the cauldron loaded with the spoils of war, return to Britain. In Culhwch, Diwrnach’s cauldron is not attributed with any special power. However, the earlier poem Preiddeu Annwfn (The Spoils of Annwfn), refers to an adventure by Arthur and his men to obtain a cauldron with magical properties equivalent to the one in the lists of the thirteen treasures. In this poem the owner of the cauldron is not an Irish lord but the king of Annwn, the Welsh Otherworld, suggesting that the version of the story in Culhwch is a later attempt to euhemerize an older tale. Diwrnach’s name, which derives from Irish Diugurach and exhibits no literary provenance, may have been selected by the author of Culhwch ac Olwen to emphasize the Irish setting of his story. Although Dyrnwch is not himself described as an Irishman, it is probable that his name goes back to Diwrnach. The extant manuscripts of Tri Thlws ar Ddeg also present such variant spellings as Dyrnog and Tyrnog, without the Irish-sounding ending, but on balance, these are best explained as Welsh approximations of a foreign name.

The Cauldron of Manannan

Manannán mac Lir is a sea deity in Irish mythology. He is the son of the obscure Lir (in Irish the name is “Lear”, meaning “Sea”; “Lir” is the genitive form of the word). He is often seen as a psychopomp, and has strong affiliations with the Otherworld, the weather and the mists between the worlds. He is usually associated with the Tuatha Dé Danann, although most scholars consider him to be of an older race of deities. Manannán figures widely in Irish literature, and appears also in Scottish and Manx legend. He is cognate with the Welsh figure Manawydan fab Llŷr. Manannán was associated with a “cauldron of regeneration”. This is seen in the tale of Cormac mac Airt, among other tales.  Here, he appeared at Cormac’s ramparts in the guise of a warrior who told him he came from a land where old age, sickness, death, decay, and falsehood were unknown (the Otherworld was also known as the “Land of Youth” or the “Land of the Living”).  [wiki]

The Holy Grail – Cauldron of Sovereignty

The Holy Grail is a dish, plate, stone, or cup that is part of an important theme of Arthurian literature. A grail, wondrous but not explicitly “holy,” first appears in Perceval le Gallois, an unfinished romance by Chrétien de Troyes: it is a processional salver used to serve at a feast. Chretien’s story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who makes the grail a great precious stone that fell from the sky. The Grail legend became interwoven with legends of the Holy Chalice. The connection with Joseph of Arimathea and with vessels associated with the Last Supper and crucifixion of Jesus, dates from Robert de Boron’s Joseph d’Arimathie (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great Britain. Building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ’s blood while interring him and how he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe in Britain. The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers.

Sangreal (Arthur Rackham) Pic: Wiki

The Holy Grail in the Mabinogion

The Welsh romance Peredur, generally included in the Mabinogion, likely at least indirectly founded on Chrétien’s poem but including very striking differences from it, preserving as it does elements of pre-Christian traditions such as the Celtic cult of the head. Peredur son of Efrawg is one of the three Welsh Romances associated with the Mabinogion. It tells a story roughly analogous to Chrétien de Troyes’ unfinished romance Perceval, the Story of the Grail, but it contains many striking differences from that work, most notably the absence of the French poem’s central object, the grail. The central character of the tale is Peredur, son of Efrawg. As in Percival, the hero’s father dies when he is young, and his mother takes him into the woods and raises him in isolation. Eventually he meets a group of knights and determines to become like them, so he travels to King Arthur’s court. There he is ridiculed by Cei and sets out on further adventures, promising to avenge Cei’s insults to himself and those who defended him. While travelling he meets two of his uncles, the first plays the role of Percival’s Gornemant and educates him in arms and warns him not to ask the significance of what he sees. The second replaces Chrétien’s Fisher King, but instead of showing Peredur a ‘grail’, he reveals a salver containing a man’s severed head. The young knight does not ask about this and proceeds to further adventure, including a stay with the Nine Witches of Gloucester (Caer Loyw) and the encounter with the woman who was to be his true love, Angharad Golden-Hand. Peredur returns to Arthur’s court, but soon embarks on another series of adventures that do not correspond to material in Percival (Gawain’s exploits take up this section of the French work.) Eventually the hero learns the severed head at his uncle’s court belonged to his cousin, who had been killed by the Nine Witches of Gloucester. Peredur avenges his family, and is celebrated as a hero. [wiki]

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Arthurian Arms Pic: Explore Parliament

This is the 24th and final part in our series of animated/audio stories of King Arthur based on artwork found around the Houses of Parliament, courtesy of a wonderful Virtual Tour found at explore-parliament.net. We highly recommend you go to the Explore Parliament site to watch/hear the presentation about this artwork.

The shields which run in a frieze around the Queen’s Robing Room purport to be those of Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. Shields, each bearing unique arms, originally served the purpose of identifying, during the confusion of battle, the various knights who were concealed under the all-enveloping armour. These eventually became hereditary; and this kind of armorial tradition does not appear much before the 12th century.

Arthurian Arms Pic: Explore Parliament

Arthurian Arms Pic: Explore Parliament

However, as early as the sixteenth century it was felt that Arthur’s knights ought to be supplied with coats of arms just like their knightly equivalents of the day, and with the most scrupulous care arms were originated by the College of Arms for the knights of the Round Table. It is these which form the decorative frieze around the Queen’s Robing Room.

See the animated story at explore-parliament.net.

[Source]

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

National Welsh Festival 2013 Pic: A Raven Above

A Raven Above Press Presents! Grand Concert for the 2013 Los Angeles St. David’s Day Festival – National Day of Wales (Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant, Los Angeles – Diwrnod Cenedlaethol Cymru) March 3, 2013 at 1:30pm At the Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90027

The St. David’s Day Festival – National Day of Wales replants its daffodil roots at the Barnsdall Art Park on March 3, 2013!

Inside the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre there will be a special ticketed St. David’s Day Grand Concert beginning at 1:30pm with a Druid blessing, followed by a screening of the rare 1962 short film ‘Dylan Thomas’ starring Richard Burton. After this the Welsh Choir of Southern California (Côr Cymraeg De Califfornia) will take the stage, and then a special performance by Paul Child, and in her debut North American appearance – Welsh soprano and harpist Siobhan Owen!

Paul Child and Siobhan Owen

We are all excited by the return of Paul Child to Hollywood. Among his many achievements, Child is Wales biggest independent selling artist, the ‘Official Voice of Welsh Rugby’, and recently sang at the half time show of the final match of the Wales Rugby Grand Slam. Interesting to note, each time he’s sung before a match, Wales has registered a victory.

Siobhan Owen was born in North Wales to a Welsh father and Irish mother, and moved to Australia when she was 2 years old. A classically trained singer from the age of 9, Siobhan also turns her haunting soprano voice and gentle harp playing to a repertoire of traditional Celtic songs. She has received prestigious awards for both her classical and Celtic singing and is a popular performer at festivals, concerts, recitals etc around Australia. Siobhan is presently working on her fourth studio album which promises to be “A reflective, sublimely beautiful musical journey”.

Siobhan Owen Pic: A Raven Above

Outside the concert beginning at 10am visitors will be delighted in a free Celtic Marketplace, Welsh language classes by Jason Shepherd of the Learn Welsh Podcast, Celtic workshops, Welsh Corgi demonstrations, Kids Crafts at the Ogden Nash Children’s Area, and the LA Eisteddfod featuring poetry, storytelling, readings and performance at the Harold Lloyd Outdoor Stage, Welsh food, and much more.

Welsh Nursery Rhymes by our very own Peter Freeman

The Children’s Voice Pic: Lorin’s Blog

We will be promoting artists from both Wales and the US in a special book release party on Welsh Nursery Rhymes written by Peter Anthony Freeman (Llanelli, UK) and published by A Raven Above Press. International artists include Nathan Wyburn (Abergavenny, UK), Anthony Richards (Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, UK), Siobhan Owen (originally from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio, UK now residing in Adelaide, South Australia), Michele Witchipoo (New York City, NY), Kimberly Wlassak (Los Angeles, CA), Rochelle Shelly Rosenkild (Riverside, CA), Brian Kenny (Middletown, NY), Nichola Hope (Barry, UK) Sarah Hope (Barry, UK) Rhys Jones (Swansea, UK), Kerry Evans (Swansea, UK), Jo Mazelis (Swansea, UK), Judy Adamson (Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, UK), Spine Stealer (Los Angeles, CA), Karen Richards (Cleveland, OH), Laurent Castiau (Belgium), Gaabriel Becket (Portland, OR), Xavier Lopez Jr. (Seattle, WA), Jason Shepherd (Swansea, UK), Adrien Burke (Los Angeles, CA), Danny Walden (Bell Gardens, CA), Robert Karr (Westminster, CA), John Charles (Los Angeles, CA), Grasiela Rodriguez (Pomona, CA), Casey Ruic (Cleveland, OH), Daniele Serra (Cagliari, Italy), and Lorin Morgan-Richards (Los Angeles, CA).

We will be promoting artists from both Wales and the US in a special book release party on Welsh Nursery Rhymes written by Peter Anthony Freeman (Llanelli, UK) and published by A Raven Above Press. International artists include Nathan Wyburn (Abergavenny, UK), Anthony Richards (Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, UK), Siobhan Owen (originally from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio, UK now residing in Adelaide, South Australia), Michele Witchipoo (New York City, NY), Kimberly Wlassak (Los Angeles, CA), Rochelle Shelly Rosenkild (Riverside, CA), Brian Kenny (Middletown, NY), Nichola Hope (Barry, UK) Sarah Hope (Barry, UK) Rhys Jones (Swansea, UK), Kerry Evans (Swansea, UK), Jo Mazelis (Swansea, UK), Judy Adamson (Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, UK), Spine Stealer (Los Angeles, CA), Karen Richards (Cleveland, OH), Laurent Castiau (Belgium), Gaabriel Becket (Portland, OR), Xavier Lopez Jr. (Seattle, WA), Jason Shepherd (Swansea, UK), Adrien Burke (Los Angeles, CA), Danny Walden (Bell Gardens, CA), Robert Karr (Westminster, CA), John Charles (Los Angeles, CA), Grasiela Rodriguez (Pomona, CA), Casey Ruic (Cleveland, OH), Daniele Serra (Cagliari, Italy), and Lorin Morgan-Richards (Los Angeles, CA).

Also, Sarah Hope from Barry, UK (now in Cardiff) will be in attendance exhibiting a collection of ceramic wall mounted pieces and dinnerware that are decorated with themes from welsh nursery rhymes and stories. The pieces are a collaboration between artists Sarah Hope and Nichola Hope and sculpture Kevin Caufield. A perfect tie in to the Welsh Nursery Rhyme Book by Peter Anthony Freeman that is also due to launch at the festival!

The last Welsh festival in LA brought over 2,000 attendees with famous celebrities including Frank Lloyd Wright’s grandson and Henry Thomas (star of Legends of the Fall and ET). There is really no better place to celebrate the history and accomplishments of Welsh-Americans then at Barnsdall Art Park. Designed by Welsh-American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, its nestled atop a shaded hill and away from the city bustle, the park has a clear view of the Hollywood sign in Griffith Park (named for Welsh philanthropist Griffith J. Griffith) and near the infamous Gower Street to the west (known for the golden age of cinema and Welsh-American stars like Glenn Ford and Myrna Loy).

For more information goto: http://www.aravenabovepress.com
or contact Lorin Morgan-Richards (Festival Executive Director) at 323-384-2429

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

The Birth of Arthur Pic: Explore Parliament

Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur, loved Igraine, wife of the Duke of Cornwall. Through the magic of Merlin he visited her in the likeness of her husband who she did not know was dead. She then married Uther, and the child she bore was Arthur.

This is the 23rd part in our series of animated/audio stories of King Arthur based on artwork found around the Houses of Parliament, courtesy of a wonderful Virtual Tour found at explore-parliament.net. We highly recommend you go to the Explore Parliament site to watch/hear the presentation about this artwork.

‘Sir,’ said she, ‘the same night my lord was dead, there came into my castle of Tintagel a man like my lord in speech and countenance; and thus, as I shall answer unto God, this child was begotten’.
‘That is the truth’, said the king, ‘for it was I myself, and I am father to the child’.
- Malory

See the animated story at explore-parliament.net.

[Source]

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Pic: Celtic Myth Podshow

Welcome in the Springtime with us in this unique Holiday Special dedicated to Brighid. We dedicate this show to the Goddess and Saint Bridget with 8 fantastic pieces of music, along with a wonderful Prayer to Brighid from our resident bard, Chris Joliffe. We’ve got a fantastic piece about Oimelc (Imbolg) by Ellen Evert Hopman from her book, Scottish Herbs and Fairy Lore along with some superb information about Bridget’s Cloak by John Willmott of Celtic Ways. We top all of these wonderful goodies off with a great Competition to win a fabulous Celtic Twist CD.

How to Listen

The Episode is available for subscribers on the feed, or you can download it or listen to it from our Episodes page. You can find the Shownotes for this episode in the Shownotes section.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

We hope you enjoy it and wish you many Springtide blessings

Gary & Ruthie x x x

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

St. Brigid by sculptor Annette McCormack Pic: Mario Corrigan

The second month of the year is generally thought of as dark, damp and dreary, its only saving grace being its shortness.  To the pagan Celts, however, the first of February was an occasion of celebration, for on that day was the beginning the feast of Imbolc, the winter half of the year passed its mid-point, and the vital spirit in the earth began its springtime phase of renewal.

Life in those days proceeded to an accompaniment of myth and poetry, dramatizing every stage in the hunter’s and farmer’s year.  At Imbolc fires were lit to honour the rebirth of the goddess, daughter of the earth.  There were torchlight processions to shrines associated with generation, in dells and sheltered hollows and where springs well up from the ground.  Thereafter followed the ceremony of “churching” the mother, and the earth was ritually purified at the festival now called Candlemas, which in the church calendar is on February 2nd.  Its Christian reference is to the purification of Mary after the birth of Jesus.  In ancient Greece it marked the retune from the underworld of Persephone, daughter of Demeter or mother earth.

The north European name for the goddess whose birth or return was celebrated at the start of February was Brigid, alias Brig, Bride, Frigg, Brigantia.  She existed in three aspects, beginning as the spring maiden, becoming the bride and matron in the course of the summer and ending as the old witch of winter.  Healers and craftsmen were under her special care, and she was known by their emblems, the serpent and the fire, which are also symbols of the fertilizing energies in the earth.  In Ireland, were veneration of the goddess is still evident in numerous grottos and rustic shrines dedicated to the Virgin, Brigid represented the native spirit of the country.  She was the Bride to whom the high king of the four quarters of Ireland was married at the time of his coronation.  Her name is commemorated throughout Ireland in Bride, Kilbride, Bridebridge, Brideswell etc., and her legend was assimilated and renewed by the famous Irish nun, St Bridget.

The conversion of the Irish and other Celtic nations from the Druidic to Christian rite seems to have been more in the nature of a reformation than the work of outside missionaries.  Beyond the influence of Rome, the Celtic church adopted many of the shrines, festivals, customs and legends of its pagan predecessors, and accommodated the old gods by renaming them as Christian saints.  It was evidently a peaceful change, for early Celtic church is unique in claiming no martyrs.  With the Christian revelation came a revival of scholarship and mysticism.  The Druid colleges were re founded as Celtic monasteries  and the great sanctuary of the goddess Brigid, at Kildare, became Ireland’s first nunnery under St Bridget.  In it there burnt a perpetual flame, an inheritance from the days of the old goddess, which for about a thousand years up to the Reformation was tended by a succession of nineteen vestal nuns.  Both their number and their function were survivals from pagan times, as was recognised by a 13th century Archbishop of Dublin who succeeded briefly in suppressing the atavistic flame; and the legend of St Bridget is a compilation of miracle tales far older than Christianity.  From Brigid she acquired the attributes of a fire goddess, appearing with a pillar of flame over her head and receiving the name Fiery Dart.  The nuns of her order wore white robes in the style of an earlier priesthood.  From Kildare they spread across Ireland and into Scotland occupying the old goddess shrines and rededicating them to St Bridget, thus identifying her with that misty wraith of folklore, the woman in white, whose haunts are by springs, wells and the crossing of rivers.

Many of St Bridget’s shrines are at holy wells, where her ethereal figure in the image of the white goddess can be glimpsed or imagined in the twilight.  These places still attract pilgrims.  hundreds of local people attend St Bridget’s well to the west of Mullingar on the last Sunday in August, making a ritual journey through 14 praying stations on their way to the shrine.  In England dedications to St Bridget are rare, and with one exception they are all found in the western part of the country along the border with the Celtic lands.

St Brigid’s Holy Well Pic: Source

The notable exception is the church of St Bride in London’s Fleet Street, where Bridget’s holy well (now blocked up), outside the church to the south east, indicates the prehistoric sanctity of the site.

In the early chronicles of St Bridget’s life there is no mention of her ever leaving Ireland.  Yet near Glastonbury in Somerset an island in the marshes at Beckery is identified as the former site of her chapel and hermitage, and medieval visitors to Glastonbury Abbey were shown her relics.  Other evidence of a separate English St Bridget is in her 19 English churches which, being early dedications, should by customs have been founded personally by their patrons.  Almost a third of these churches are in Cumberland, which in Roman times was part of the British nation of Brigantia, named after its principle goddess.  It may have been Brigantia rather than the Irish Brigid who gave her name to the Cumberland parishes of Kirkbride, Bridekirk and Brigham and left her mark on the sacred history of Glastonbury.

In Wales, where St Bridget is known as St Ffraid, several churches and eight holy wells are dedicated to her.  Far more common are dedications to the Virgin Mary, St David and his mother St Nun, who also gave her name to two holy wells in Cornwall.  One of these performed a rare useful function.  Many ancient wells have retained their reputation as places of healing or vision from times when these were gifts of the earth goddess.  Mostly they are believed to cure certain diseases or parts of the body, but St Nun’s well at Altarnun on Bodmin Moor provided a psychiatric remedy.  Lunatics were brought there to be treated by a method which he Cornish called “bowssening”.  The patient was led to the brink of a pool made by the waters of St Nun’s well.  He was then seized by priestly therapists, hurled into the water, ducked and tossed about until he was half drowned, after which he was laid in the well chapel while sacred chants were sung over him.  If this failed immediately to soothe his mind the process was repeated.

St Nun’s holy wells in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany are natural shrines of the earth goddess and, like those of St Bridget in Ireland, mostly retain the atmosphere of sanctity which has attracted people to them since prehistoric times.  At Altarnun, where St Nun was said to have been born and buried, a community of early Christian nuns reformed her pagan cult and continued the administration of healing waters.  She journeyed to Wales, landing at St Nun’s bay, Pembrokeshire during a raging storm, and took refuge by a well within a stone circle, where fair weather prevailed with blue skies and summer flowers.  There she gave birth to St David, leaving a mark on one of the stones where she pressed down during delivery.  The well, to the south of St David’s cathedral was famous for curing children’s and other complaints, and is now a place of Catholic pilgrimage.

Another Cornish well of St Nun is at Pelynt overlooking the Looe valley.  Those who can find its obscure site are rewarded with a glimpse of fairyland.  The well chamber, built into a bank and lodged within the roots of a tree, is overgrown with ferns and still gives clear, medicinal water.  St Nun’s name is attached to it, but it has been reclaimed by its original owners, the Cornish piskies, who are said to bring good luck to those who respect the places and curses to those who defile it.

As the annual rebirth of Brigid preceded the festival of purifying mother earth, so is the feast of St David on the 1st March followed next day by that of his mother St Nun.  On those dates in early spring the wells of St David and St Nun begin their traditional season of potency.  According to ancient perception, encoded in mythology, the spirit of fertility withdraws at the approach of winter into the metals of the earth, exuding again in spring to stimulate growth and to restore in the waters of the earth their healing and oracular powers.  These powers are most concentrated at certain spots where fresh, cool water wells up from the ground.  In Britain and Ireland there are literally thousands of holy wells, many neglected and with their legends forgotten, but a surprising number of them are still locally cherished and visited for the virtue in  their waters and the peaceful beauty of their settings.  Their characters change with the seasons or, as the ancients saw it, with the stages in the annual life cycle of the goddess.  For those who admire the maidenly aspect of nature, the season of resort to holy wells begins with the snowdrops and the birth of their patron goddess, Brigid.

Source

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.