1.
Arawn Death-Lord
–
The Chronicles of Prydain is a pentalogy of childrens high fantasy Bildungsroman novels by Lloyd Alexander. Henry Holt published one annually from 1964 to 1968, the second earned a 1966 Newbery Honor, the five novels follow the protagonist Taran from youth to maturity, most overtly in the fourth book, Taran Wanderer. Taran has the title Assistant Pig-Keeper at Caer Dallben but initially dreams of being a grand hero. His most important companions in adventure are Princess Eilonwy, a girl his age, Fflewddur Fflam, a bard and minor king, Gurgi, a wild man-beast, and Doli. Thematically the novels draw upon Welsh mythology, particularly the Mabinogion, appropriately, the authors note also reveals the geography is ultimately derived from Wales, though Alexander notes that Prydain is separate from Wales both in physical geography and history. Always interested in mythology, Alexander received army combat intelligence training in Wales during World War II and that exposed him to its castles, scenery, and language, which became part of the raw material for the Prydain books. Originally he planned to one or two – three at the very most. At one point he planned a trilogy with titles The Battle of the Trees, The Lion with the Steady Hand, and Little Gwion. In Welsh mythology the former features the sons of Don led by Gwydion against the forces of Arawn, later, a four-volume series would conclude with The High King. The editor felt that something was missing between third and fourth volumes, so Taran Wanderer was written one month after The Castle of Llyr was published, making it a five-volume series. The stories that are now collected in The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain actually were published in three different volumes, two books and one short story collection. Most of these act as backstories which fill in gaps for minor characters, prydains geography, culture, and names are based on ancient Wales, especially the tales of the Mabinogion. Prydain is a magical land engaged in a series of battles with its neighbor, Annuvin and it is the setting for four of the five books in the series. Once ruled over by the evil Queen Achren, Prydain was liberated by the Sons of Don, the High King rules over all the land, seconded by his war leader, with many subject kings ruling the various territories of Prydain, called cantrevs. Only the Free Commots, a land of craftsmen who answer only to the High King, are outside any subject kings jurisdiction, underneath and within Prydain is the kingdom of the Fair Folk, a diminutive supernatural race that mostly keeps to its own affairs. The Fair Folk have no love for the Death-Lord Arawn, however, in addition to the races of men and Fair Folk, Prydain is home to the Sons of Don and their descendants. Other varieties of such as the undead Cauldron-Born, the monstrous birdlike Gwythaints. Having garnered a Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor, Prydain is widely recognized as a contribution to childrens literature
2.
Welsh mythology
–
Welsh mythology consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. Like most predominately oral societies found in the prehistoric Britain, Welsh mythology and this oral record has been lost or altered as result of outside contact and invasion over the years. The only character to appear in every branch is Pryderi fab Pwyll, the king of Dyfed, who is born in the first Branch, is killed in the fourth, and is probably a reflex of the Celtic god Maponos. The only other recurring characters are Pryderis mother Rhiannon, associated with the peaceful British prince Manawydan and he manages to win her hand at the expense of Gwawl, to whom she is betrothed, and she bears him a son, but the child disappears soon after his birth. Rhiannon is accused of killing him and forced to carry guests on her back as punishment. The child has been taken by a monster, and is rescued by Teyrnon and his wife and they return him to his real parents, Rhiannon is released from her punishment, and the boy is renamed Pryderi. In the second branch, Branwen, sister of Brân the Blessed, king of Britain, is given in marriage to Matholwch, Matholwch and Branwen have a son, Gwern, but Matholwch proceeds to mistreat Branwen, beating her and making her a drudge. Branwen trains a starling to take a message to Bran, who goes to war against Matholwch and his army crosses the Irish Sea in ships, but Brân is so huge he wades across. The Irish offer to make peace, and build a big enough to entertain Bran, but inside they hang a hundred bags, telling Efnysien they contain flour. Efnysien kills the warriors by squeezing the bags, later, at the feast, Efnysien throws Gwern on the fire and fighting breaks out. Seeing that the Irish are using the cauldron to revive their dead, Efnysien hides among the corpses and destroys the cauldron, only seven men, all Britons, survive the battle, including Pryderi, Manawyddan and Bran, who is mortally wounded by a poisoned spear. Brân asks his companions to cut off his head and take it back to Britain, Branwen dies of grief on returning home. Five pregnant women survive to repopulate Ireland, Pryderi and Manawydan return to Dyfed, where Pryderi marries Cigfa and Manawydan marries Rhiannon. However, a mist descends on the land, leaving it empty, eventually they return to Dyfed and become hunters again. While hunting, a white boar leads them to a mysterious castle, Pryderi, against Manawydans advice, goes inside, but does not return. Rhiannon goes to investigate and finds him clinging to a bowl, the same fate befalls her, and the castle disappears. Manawydan and Cigfa return to England as shoemakers, but once again the locals drive them out and they sow three fields of wheat, but the first field is destroyed before it can be harvested. The next night the field is destroyed
3.
Annwn
–
Annwn, Annwfn, or Annwfyn was the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn, it was essentially a world of delights and eternal youth where disease was absent and it became identified with the Christian afterlife in paradise. Middle Welsh sources suggest that the term was recognised as meaning very deep in medieval times, the pronunciation of Modern Welsh Annwn is. In both Welsh and Irish mythologies, the Otherworld was believed to be located either on an island or underneath the earth. In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, it is implied that Annwn is a land within Dyfed, two other otherworldly feasts that occur in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi are located in Harlech in northwest Wales and on the island of Grassholm in southwest Pembrokeshire. Annwn plays a prominent role in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi. In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, entitled Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, in recompense he exchanges places with Arawn for a year and defeats Arawns enemy Hafgan, while Arawn rules in his stead in Dyfed. During this year, Pwyll abstains from sleeping with Arawns wife, earning himself gratitude, on his return, Pwyll becomes known by the title Penn Annwn, Head of Annwn. The similarly mythological epic poem Cad Goddeu describes a battle between Gwynedd and the forces of Annwn, led again by Arawn. It is revealed that Amaethon, nephew to Math, king of Gwynedd, stole a bitch, a lapwing, the narrator of the poem is possibly intended to be Taliesin himself. The speaker relates how he journeyed with Arthur and three boatloads of men into Annwfn, but only seven returned. Annwfn is apparently referred to by names, including Mound Fortress, Four-Peaked Fortress. Within the Mound Forts walls Gweir, one of the Three Exalted Prisoners of Britain known from the Welsh Triads, is imprisoned in chains, the narrator then describes the cauldron of the Chief of Annwn, it is finished with pearl and will not boil a cowards food. Whatever tragedy ultimately killed all but seven of them is not clearly explained, the poem continues with an excoriation of little men and monks, who lack various forms of knowledge possessed by the poet. Over time, the role of king of Annwn was transferred to Gwyn ap Nudd, a hunter and psychopomp, the Christian Vita Collen tells of Saint Collen vanquishing Gwyn and his otherworldly court from Glastonbury Tor with the use of holy water. In Culhwch and Olwen, an early Welsh Arthurian tale, it is said that God gave Gwyn ap Nudd control over the demons lest this world be destroyed, tradition revolves around Gwyn leading his spectral hunts, the Cŵn Annwn, on his hunt for mortal souls. The Dark, a 2005 film directed by John Fawcett and based on the novel Sheep by Simon Maginn, involves the legend, Annwn is the name of a German medieval and pagan folk duo from North Rhine-Westphalia. The name was previously used by an unrelated Celtic Rock trio in Berkeley, California
4.
Psychopomp
–
Psychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to provide safe passage, when seen as birds, they are often seen in huge masses, waiting outside the home of the dying. Classical examples of a psychopomp are the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, the Greek ferryman Charon and deities Hermes and Hecate, the Roman god Mercury, the form of Shiva as Tarakeshwara in Hinduism performs a similar role, although leading the soul to moksha rather than an afterlife. In many beliefs, a spirit being taken to the underworld is violently ripped from its body. In the Persian tradition, Daena, the Zoroastrian Self-guide, appears as a young maiden to those who deserve to cross the Chinvat Bridge or a hideous old hag to those who don’t. In Judaism and Islam, Azrael plays the role of the angel of death who carries the soul up to the heavens, in Jungian psychology, the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious and conscious realms. It is symbolically personified in dreams as a man or woman. In many cultures, the shaman also fulfills the role of the psychopomp and this may include not only accompanying the soul of the dead, but also to help at birth, to introduce the newborn childs soul to the world. This also accounts for the title of midwife to the dying, or End of Life Doula. In Filipino culture, dead relations function as psychopomps, when the dying call out to specific dead persons, the spirits of the latter are supposedly visible to the former. The spirits, who wait at the foot of the deathbed, fetch the soul soon after death. Geoffrey Dennis, Abraham, Elijah, Lailah, Sandalphon, Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, eliade, Mircea, Shamanism,1964, Chapters 6 and 7, Magical Cures, the Shaman as Psychopomp
5.
Gwyn ap Nudd
–
Gwyn ap Nudd is a Welsh mythological figure, the king of the Tylwyth Teg or fair folk and ruler of the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn, and whose name means “white son of Nudd”. Gwyn is the son of Nudd and would thus be grandson to Beli Mawr and nephew of Arianrhod, Llefelys, Penarddun, Afallach, Gofannon, Nynniaw, Peibaw, and Caswallawn. Based on their shared patronymic, his siblings include Edern, a warrior who appears in a number of Arthurian texts, and Owain ap Nudd, who is mentioned briefly in Geraint and Enid. In Culhwch and Olwen, Gwyn is the lover of Creiddylad, the daughter of Lludd, Gwyn plays a prominent role in the early Arthurian tale Culhwch and Olwen in which he abducts his sister Creiddylad from her betrothed, Gwythyr ap Greidawl. In retaliation, Gwythyr raised a great host against Gwyn, leading to a battle between the two. Gwyn was victorious and, following the conflict, captured a number of Gwythyrs noblemen including Nwython, Gwyn would later murder Nwython, and force Cyledr to eat his fathers heart. As a result of his torture at Gwyns hands, Cyledr went mad, after the intervention of Arthur, Gwyn and Gwythr agreed to fight for Creiddylad every May Day until Judgement Day. The warrior who was victorious on this day would at last take the maiden. This fight may be an example of a putative contest between summer and winter as well as a variant of the putative Holly King myth proposed by Robert Graves. According to Culhwch and Olwen, Gwyn was placed over the brood of devils in Annwn, before he can win Olwens hand, Culhwch ap Cilydd must complete a number of seemingly impossible tasks given to him by Olwens father, the giant Ysbaddaden. One of these tasks is to retrieve the comb and scissors from the head of the vicious boar, as it is impossible to hunt the boar without Gwyns aid, he is called upon to join Arthur and his retinue against Twrch Trwyth. During the hunt, he is mounted on Du y Moroedd, both Gwyn and Gwythyr set out with Arthur to retrieve the blood of Orddu, witch of the uplands of hell. Gwyn appears prominently in the medieval poem The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir, in this narrative, Gwyn, returning from battle, chances upon Gwyddno, king of Cantrer Gwaelod, and grants him his protection. His skill in combat is extolled in this poem, he is described as the hope of armies and hero of hosts and, in Welsh folklore, to hear the baying of Gwyns hounds was a portent of imminent death in the family. In The Dialogue, Gwyn is also accompanied by a hound, Gwyn apparently witnessed a conflict before Caer Vandwy, an otherworldy fortress mentioned in Preiddeu Annwfn. Over time, Gwyns role would diminish and, in folklore, he was regarded as the king of the Tylwyth Teg. He appears as a figure in Buchedd Collen, in which he. The celebrated fourteenth-century bard, Dafydd ap Gwilym refers to Gwyn in a number of texts, Gwyn is often associated with the Wild Hunt, in a role akin to Woden or Herne the Hunter
6.
Cardigan, Ceredigion
–
Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Wales. It lies on a reach of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the county of Cardiganshire and is the second largest town in present-day Ceredigion. The settlement at Cardigan was developed around the Norman castle built in the late 11th or early 12th century, the castle was the location of the first National Eisteddfod in 1176, it underwent restoration in 2014. The town became an important port in the 18th century, the population in 2001 was 4,203, reducing slightly to 4,184 at the 2011 Census. Modern Cardigan is a compact and busy town with most facilities for retail, education, health, worship, Cardigan is an anglicisation of the Welsh Ceredigion, the surrounding territory its Norman castle once controlled. Ceredig was supposedly one of the sons of Cunedda Wledig, who Welsh legend records invaded from the north to recover lands in Roman Britain from invading Irishmen in late antiquity. The nearest known Roman forts were at Loventium and Bremia at the mines near Llanio above the River Teifi on the Sarn Helen road. The present town grew up near the forts established to control the access of the Teifi. A castle was built by Roger de Montgomery in 1093 after a Norman army conquered Ceredigion, the town itself held out until 1164. Rhys ap Gruffydd fortified the town and was credited with the establishment of the castle near the bridge over the Teifi, in 1176, he instituted the first eisteddfod. Contestants came from all over the British Isles to compete for chairs in music, lord Rhys grandson Maelgwn razed the castle and sacked the town. In 1199 the town received its first charter and became an important trade centre, in 1227 a weekly market was established which continues to this day. Welsh rule over Cardigan continued, for periods under royal lordship. The town wall was built in the 1240s and the castle was rebuilt, St Marys Church was established as a Benedictine Priory and parish church in mediaeval times and survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The castle ceased being the centre of the county with the Act of Union in 1536. Until the 16th century, Cardigan had been a small, walled town with river traffic. A small Benedictine priory operated until the Reformation and the important abbey of St Dogmaels was also nearby
7.
Continental Celtic
–
Continental Celtic is a geographic, not a linguistic, grouping of the ancient Celtic languages. The Continental Celtic languages were spoken by the known to Roman and Greek writers as Keltoi, Celtae, Galli. These languages were spoken in an arc stretching across from Iberia in the west to the Balkans, even though Breton is spoken in continental Europe, and has been since at least the 6th century AD, it is not considered one of the Continental Celtic languages. It is a Brittonic language closely related to Cornish and Welsh, whilst it has been suggested that there is a Gaulish substratum in the Vannetais dialect the historical and linguistic evidence shows otherwise. It is evidenced in a number of inscriptions as well as place names, Gaulish or Gallic was the main language spoken in greater Gaul. This is often considered to be divided into two dialects, Cisalpine and Transalpine and it is evidenced in a number of inscriptions as well as place names and tribal names in writings of classical authors. It may have been a substratum to Breton, as noted above, classical writers say that the language is similar to that of Gaul. There is also evidence of invasion and settlement of the Ankara area by Celts from Europe, noric, which is the name given sometimes to the Celtic dialects spoken in Central and Eastern Europe. It was spoken in Austria and Slovenia, only two texts are preserved but there are plenty of known personal names and toponyms. Celtiberian or Northeastern Hispano-Celtic is the given to the language in northeast Iberia. It is attested in some 200 inscriptions as well as place names and it is distinct from the Iberian language. Gallaecian also known as Gallaic or Northwestern Hispano-Celtic, attested in a corpus of Latin inscriptions containing isolated words. It was spoken in the north west of the Iberian Peninsula, the modern term Continental Celtic is used in contrast to Insular Celtic. Instead, the group called Continental Celtic is paraphyletic and the term refers simply to non-Insular Celtic languages, since little material has been preserved in any of the Continental Celtic languages, historical linguistic analysis based on the comparative method is difficult to perform. However, other researchers see the Brittonic languages and Gaulish as forming part of a sub-group of the Celtic languages known as P-Celtic, Continental languages are all P-Celtic except for Celtiberian, which is Q-Celtic, and have had a definite influence on all the Romance languages. Italo-Celtic Ball M and Fife J, the origins of the Insular Celtic conjunct and absolute verbal endings. Flexion und Wortbildung, Akten der V. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, the PIE stops and syllabic nasals in Celtic. In R. Beekes, A. Lubotsky, J. Weitenberg, rekonstruktion und relative Chronologie, Akten Der VIII
