Gwrach

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gwrach y Rhibyn [ 'ɡurɑːx ə' hribɨn ] is in the Celtic mythology of Wales a witch as the spirit of death in the form of an ugly old woman. The Gwrach is also associated with the Cyhyraeth [ kəˈhəreθ ], spirits who are said to announce the death of a person with eerie howls. Like the Scottish cailleach and the Irish banshee, Gwrach and Cyhyraeth also complain about the deaths of compatriots abroad.

Cyhyraeth

The Cyhyraeth ( Welsh pronunciation: [kəˈhəreθ], also cyoeraeth or cyheuraeth, probably from the noun: cyhyr "muscle, tendon, flesh" + ending - aeth , meaning "skeleton, a thing of flesh and bones", "spirit", "Death Bearers", "Wreath"), are spirits of Welsh mythology with a disembodied voice that can be heard before a person dies.

Legends connect the Cyhyraeth with the area around the River Tywi in East Dyfed and with Glamorganshire . The sound is described as "painful and uncomfortable", like the groaning and groaning of a terminally ill person. It should be heard three times and should become weaker and quieter each time. It serves as a triple warning before the person dies. Along the coast of Glamorganshire the Cyhyraeth are said to be heard before a ship goes down, accompanied by a gloomy "corpse light".

mythology

A Welsh swear word is: "Y mae mor salw â Gwrach y Rhibyn" ("She is as ugly as Gwrach y Rhibyn"). This ghost figure is said to have harpy features, namely lean, leathery arms with bat wings, tangled hair and long black teeth in a corpse-like face. If someone has to die, she knocks on his window that night and calls out the name, or she accompanies him invisibly and screams at fords or crossroads. Depending on the person, your call sounds like “Fy ngŵr, fy ngŵr!” (“My husband, my husband!”), “Fy ngwraig! Fy ngwraig! ” (“ My wife, my wife! ”) Or “ Fy mhlentyn, fy mhlentyn bach! ” (“ My child, my little child! ”).

Other legends associate Gwrach with a water fairy or with the Welsh goddess Dôn . According to Hanes Taliesin, she is said to be the wife of Morfran , the despised son Ceridwen and Tegid Foels .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru: A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, S. 746th

Web links

  • Host Sikes: British Goblins: Welsh Folklore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions. 2nd edition, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London 1880. [1]
  • Thomas Crofton Croker: Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland: The elves in Ireland. The elves in Scotland. On the nature of the elves. The Mabinogion and fairy legends of Wales. J. Murray, 1828, p. 196. [2]