Rhiannon (mythology)

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Rhiannon ([ ŗi'annon ] Cymric ) is a deity , possibly a horse goddess in the Celtic mythology of Wales . Their story is told in the first and third branches of the Mabinogion , a Welsh collection of medieval tales. There she appears as a person with extraordinary abilities.

Etymology and Mythology

A connection of the name Rhiannon to the Celtic goddess * Rīgatonā (about "great queen") is assumed. Because of the ending -onos / -onā , which often occurs in god names , it can be assumed that Rīgatonā / Rhiannon was originally a figure from the Celtic myth. According to William John Gruffydd ( Rhiannon , Cardiff 1953), Rhiannon is traced back to the Gallic goddess Epona .

In the first part, "Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed," she marries Pwyll, a mortal prince. From this connection comes Pryderi , who appears in all four stories, but does not play a leading role. In the third part, "Manawydan, son of Llŷr ", she is the wife of the sea god Manawydan (whose connection to the sea, however, is based only on etymological conclusions).

First marriage

Rhiannon and Pwyll

In Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed ("Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed") Rhiannon was promised marriage to an elderly man named Gwawl , but she found him so repulsive that, against the will of her family, she chose the mortal Prince Pwyll as her future husband.

She appeared to him one afternoon near his castle on a hill that was said to be the entrance to the underworld . The prince fell for the beautiful, young goddess who galloped past him on her white horse. Pwyll sent a servant to catch up with her, but the servant returned without having achieved anything, for the distance between Rhiannon and the ever faster rider did not decrease, although Rhiannon rode on equally leisurely.

He got into the open field and spurred the horse. But the more he pushed the horse, the further she moved away from him. It had the same speed as it had at the beginning.

The prince returned to the hill the next day, where the goddess appeared again. This time Pwyll pursued her himself, but he couldn't catch up with her either. He politely asked her (as the whole first branch refers to courtly correct manners) to wait. She stopped and then explained to him that she had come to marry him, but they would have to wait another year. After this explanation, she disappeared.

A year later she reappeared on the hill, where she was received by Pwyll. She led him to her father Hefaidd Hen's palace , where they were married. During the wedding festivities, the man she was promised to got into trouble, but Rhiannon turned him into a badger, which she caught in a sack and tossed into a lake.

The next day Rhiannon returned with Pwyll as his princess to Wales, which blocked her way to the elven kingdom forever. She was welcomed kindly by the people, but after two years had passed without giving birth to an heir to the throne, the question of her origin was raised again.

Pryderi

Pryderi's kidnapping

In the third year of their marriage, however, she gave birth to a healthy son, who mysteriously disappeared shortly after his birth. The servants, who feared being punished for their negligence, butchered a puppy, smeared Rhiannon with his blood, spread his bones around her bed, and then declared that Rhiannon had eaten her own child. Although Rhiannon insisted on her innocence, she was sentenced to sit at the castle gate for the next seven years, telling her story to everyone who passed by and offering to carry him into the castle on her back. She endured the humiliations with dignity and without ever complaining. Respect for Rhiannon began to grow in the passing travelers, and they began to speak reverently about the unjust punishment she accepted so complainantly.

Every now and then someone let herself be carried, and so she spent part of the year.

In the autumn of the fourth year a nobleman, his wife and a boy appeared at the castle gate. Rhiannon greeted her and offered to carry her to the castle, but to her surprise the man put her on his horse and the boy handed her a piece of a baby shawl she had once woven. Four years earlier, during a storm, the nobleman had found an infant in the field that he and his wife raised. When the rumors of Rhiannon's fate reached them, he realized what must have happened and decided to bring the child back to his parents. When Pwyll recognized his son, Rhiannon's honor was restored, and seeing that Pwyll and his people were ashamed, she forgave them. She called the child Pryderi ("Anger, Sorrow ") in memory of her suffering .

Another legend has it that King Teyrnon was watching his stable, where a foal was just being born, when suddenly a strange creature appeared who wanted to steal the foal. The king cut off his arm and shortly afterwards found an infant in front of the stable, which he and his wife adopted. This grew to become an adult within seven years. Only then did the king bring him back to his parents.

Second marriage

Rhiannon and Pryderi at the gold bowl

Rhiannon appears after the death of her mortal husband Pwyll in the third branch of the Mabinogion Manawydan fab Llŷr ("Manawydan, the son of Llŷr"), in which she is married to Manawydan .

Her son Pryderi married Cigfa and after the death of his father became King of Dyfed , where Rhiannon moved with her new companion. One day the kingdom turned into a deserted wasteland, and eventually Rhiannon and her companions were the only residents forced to travel to Britain and look for work. However, their craftsmanship was so great that they attracted the resentment of the local craftsmen and eventually had to return to Wales.

When Manawydan and Pryderi were out hunting there, they chased a white boar who led them to a glass lock with a gold bowl in it. Pryderi touched the bowl, got stuck and Rhiannon, trying to free him, suffered the same fate.

She came in, and as soon as she did, she spotted Pryderi touching the bowl and came to him. "Alas, my lord," said she. "What are you doing here?" And she touched the bowl just like him. And as soon as she touched it, both of her hands were attached to the bowl and both of her feet to the plate, so that she could not utter a word. And afterwards, when it was evening, behold, a din rose over them, and a mist descended, and with that the castle and they with it disappeared.

Manawydan and his daughter-in-law moved back to Britain because they could not survive alone in the barren land. When clashes with the artisans broke out again, they decided to try growing wheat in Wales. However, this was eaten by mice, and it was not until the third night that Manawydan managed to catch a mouse. As it turned out, Llwyd ap Cil Coed , a friend of Gwawl, Rhiannon's disdained fiancé, had enchanted the country and also Pryderi and his mother. Since the captured mouse was his wife, Manawydan was able, with some skill, to get him to lift the curse.

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 714.
  2. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. P. 124, note 20.8.
  3. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 525 f.
  4. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. P. 17.
  5. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. P. 29.
  6. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. P. 63.