The Legend Of Pwyll And Rhiannon (part 3)

Rhiannon's father said that Pwyll should listen as no man deserves this treatment. Pwyll asked for Rhiannon's council. Rhiannon said that that she would take Gwawl's pledge that he would never seek revenge for what has happened to him, and she would let him out of the bag. Gwawl said he would pledge this. Pwyll said that this will be done, but that he wanted a covenant to be drawn up. And the covenant was drawn, that Gwawl would be set free, and Pwyll would keep Gwawl's counselors in the Palace, as a surety that no revenge would be taken.

Gwawl was set free, and returned to his own palace to heal from his wounds

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The next day, Rhiannon said to Pwyll, that he should give gifts to all the minstrels and should refuse no one his bounty. So Pwyll called all the court together and said for them to point out what they wanted as a gift. And he gave freely from all that he had.

So Pwyll and Rhiannon were married, and set off for Dyfed, to the palace of Narberth, and Rhiannon gave precious gifts to all of the noble Lords and Ladies of the land.

They ruled the land prosperously for four years.

In the forth year of a son was born to them, and women were brought to watch the child at night. Instead of caring for the baby, the women fell asleep, and when they awoke, the looked in the cradle, and the child was not there.

They became frightened and plotted together to accuse Rhiannon of murdering the child before their own eyes. Rhiannon pleaded with them not to accuse her falsely, and that if they told the truth, she would defend them before the Gods. But they said that they would not, for Pwyll would surely kill them for having slept, and not watching over the baby.

And Pwyll the Prince of Anuvyn, arose and the Nurses told him falsely of what happened. Word got around to all the nobles of the land, and they came and pleaded with Pwyll to execute his wife. But this he would not do.

Rhiannon, in her spirit, could not bring herself to punish the women, so she decided that she would take a penance from Pwyll, and that for Seven years she would sit everyday by the horseblock at the gates of the Palace, and offer anyone who came that she would carry them into the Palace on her back

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And she did this for most of a year. Tiernyon Twryv Vliant was Lord of Gwent Is Coed, and he was the best man in the world. And into his house there belonged a mare, and there was no other horse in the kingdom as beautiful as she.

Every year on Beltane, she foaled and no one ever knew what became of the colt. One night Tiernyon asked his wife, what could be done about the disappearing colts. and his wife couldn't answer.

The next Beltane, Tiernyon hid in the stable and when the mare foaled, he saw a great claw come in the window and grab the colt by it's mane.

Tiernyon drew his sword and cut off the arm by the elbow and heard a great wailing. He rushed off after the creature and followed it, but he remembered that he had left the door open, so he went back and at the door was an infant baby boy, wrapped in the purest silk. So he took the baby to his wife, and as they had no other children, she kept the baby for her own.

They named the baby "Goldenlocks" and he grew more strongly and quickly than any other child.

By the time two years had passed the child was as big as a six year old.

So at a certain age, they gave the colt that had been saved from the beast, to the child, being that the colt was born on the night the child was found.

Rumor came to Tiernyon of the plight of Rhiannon, and he wondered on it. And as the child grew, he noticed a strong likeness between the child and Pwyll Prince of Annuvyn, for Tiernyon had once been in the court of Pwyll.

So Tienyon said to his wife that they should not keep the boy, and send him back to Pwyll and release Rhiannon from her punishment and that Pwyll would reward them greatly for raising the child.

So Tiernyon set off for Dyfed with the child. He met Rhiannon at the gate, and both him and the child refused to be carried in on Rhiannon's back

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They went to Pwyll and presented the child as his long lost son. And Rhiannon asked what name they had given him. Tiernyon said that they called the child Goldenlocks. And Pwyll said that from hence forth the child shall be called Pryderi, which is "end of trouble" for this ends the punishment of Rhiannon.

Pwyll richly rewarded Tiernyon and all his company, and said that the child and he would support them for all of their life. and Tiernyon and his wife became the foster parents of the child, that they would be able to be with him during his life.

And Pryderi, son of Pwyll prince of Dyfed, grew up strong and fair and ruled fairly for many a year .

The Legend Of Pwyll And Rhiannon (part 1)

I love legends and old stories passed down from generation to generation and recently I ran across this story from Celtic lore about Pwyll and Rhiannon. I thought I would share it with you but it is rather long so I'm going to break it up into three parts. And now...the first part....

Pwyll Prince of Dyfed, was Lord of the seven Cantrevs of Dyfed; and once upon a time Pwyll was at Narberth, his chief palace, where a feast had been prepared for him, and with him was great host of men. After the first meal, Pwyll arose to walk, and went to the top of a mound that was above the palace, and was called Gorseth Arberth. There was a legend about this mound, that whoever sat upon it, would not leave without either receiving wounds or else seeing a wonder. Pwyll wasn't worried about the wounds, as he had a great host with him, who were there for the feast, but he really wanted to see wonders, so he went and sat apon the hill.

And when he went and sat there, he saw a Lady, on a pure white horse of large size, wearing a garment of shining gold, coming along the path that led to the mound; The horse was moving at a slow pace and coming toward the mound. Pwyll asked his men if anyone knew who the Lady was, and know one knew, so he sent one of them to meet her. As the man went to meet her, she passed him by and he turned to follow her The faster he pursued her, the farther she was away from him...and he realized that he would never catch up with her. So Pwyll sent him to the palace for his horse. He took the horse, and followed her, but to no avail, the faster he went, the further she was from him. Pwyll felt that there was some kind of illusion or trickery, so they decided to go back to the palace. Next day, they went back to the mound, and saw the same Lady, on the Same horse. Pwyll sent a youth on horse back to pursue her. But to know avail, he couldn't catch up with her.

The next day, he went to the mound again, and saw the Lady...this time Pwyll took to horseback himself , and he couldn't catch up with her. So he cried out to her to stop and speak with him. As soon as he did this, she stopped, and said he should've called out before. Pwyll asked her what she was doing and where was she going. She said that she had her own errand and that she was glad to see him.

Tomorrow I will post the second installment.

The Goddess Caillech

Caillech is the Scottish, Irish, Welsh Goddess of weather, earth, sky, seasons, moon and sun the Celtic hag-goddess of the land and weather on the British Isles. In Old Irish called "the veiled one" now modern in Gaelic means hag. Also called the "Old Woman of the Spells" She is a winter and storm spirit said to denote the year's weather by her actions on the 1st of February.

If it is a nice day and she comes out into the sun it brings bad luck for the year. In Scotland she is a blue-faced hag of winter, a spirit who holds the beautiful young goddess Bride captive inside of a mountain over the winter. At Bride's release on the 1st of February spring comes. She appears to men as a hideous old woman (winter) seeking love if she gets it she becomes a beautiful young woman (spring).

Celtic myth has her gatekeeper dog named Dormarth "Death's Door". Irish bards who could curse with satire were often called cainte "dog".

The Four Fire Festivals

When speaking about the four seasons, I like to use my pagan view of them because it's my opinion (and only my opinion I remind you) that these were the original versions of spring, summer, fall and winter that we recognize today. What follows is the Celtic view of of these seasons or "fire festivals."

The four fire festivals marked the turning of the seasons. Two of the fire festivals, Samhain and Beltane, were considered to be male, and Imbolc and Lughnasadh were female. Each was celebrated for three days - before, during and after the official day of observance.

~Imbolc, which literally means "in milk", traditionally has marked the lactation period of ewes and cows. Ewes are unable to produce milk until after they bear their young, which occurs at this time. Since milk was very important to the basic survival of the tribes, this was a time of great joy. It meant that the end of a long winter was in sight, and green pastures were only a few months away. It's significance was placed upon the Light of fire and at Imbolc, Brighid was pregnant with the seed of the Sun. She was ripe with the promise of new life, as the seeds of the earth deep within its soil begin to awaken at this time, ripe with the promise of Spring, new life for the planet. Thus Imbolc was a time of awakening, promise and hope for the coming spring.


~Beltane, was a celebration of the return of life and fertility to the world, and was celebrated on or around April 30. It is sometimes referred to as Cetsamhain which means "opposite Samhain." Beltane was the last of the three spring fertility festivals, and the second major Celtic festival. Beltane, and its counterpart Samhain, divide the year into its two primary seasons, Winter and Summer. Beltane joyfully heralded the arrival of Summer in its full glory. It was believed that if you bathed in the dew of Beltane morn, your beauty would flourish throughout the year

~Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, and the decline of Summer into Winter. Traditionally called Lammas from the Saxon word Hlaf-mass, the Feast of Bread, festivities and rituals typically centered around the assurance of a bountiful harvest season and the celebration of the harvest cycle. A bountiful harvest ensured the safe passage of the tribe through the upcoming winter months. The gathering of bilberries was an ancient practice that symbolized the success of the Lughnasadh rituals. If the bilberries were bountiful, it was believed that there would also be a plentiful harvest.

~Our modern celebration of Halloween is a descendant of the ancient Celtic festival called "Samhain" meaning Summer's End. Samhain was the first day of winter, and the end of one pastoral year. It was the time when the night became longer than the day, the last apples were picked, and the year began again with its dark winter half. Also called Samhiunn or Hallowe'en, this festival is sometimes called Trinoux Samonia or "Three Nights of the End of Summer."

Celtic Tree Calendar

Because my roots are Celtic in origin, I thought it would be fun to do some research on the Celtic Tree Calendar, which fascinates me to no end. I've always loved history and it's so cool when learning about the past leads you to realize that the past and present are not so removed from each other. Family's hand down stories and traditions from generation to generation and I just love seeing where a particular belief or custom originates from. I can still remember my grandfather teaching me all about the trees, he was a fire marshal for the local forest service in the town I grew up in and passed his love of nature to me.

The Celtic Tree Calendar calendar has thirteen lunar divisions. Most modern pagans use fixed dates for each month, rather than following the waxing and waning lunar cycle. Otherwise, eventually the calendar would fall out of sync with the Gregorian year that we all use today because some calendar years have 12 full moons and others have 13. The modern tree calendar is based on an idea that each letter in the ancient Celtic alphabet corresponded to a tree. Today marks the end of the tree month Rowan and tomorrow begins Ash.

The tree month of Ash (Feb. 18th -Mar 17) was a sacred chieftain tree and said to "court the flash" as it was prone to lightning strikes. Its wood was thought to be enchanted and was used for Druid wands and spears. Ash people are quick witted, spontaneous and gregarious. They have a lively curiosity and are intelligent, persuasive speakers, enthusiastic, curious and communicative. In Celtic mythology the ash is known as the tree of enchantment and it is said the Welsh magician Gwydion fashioned his wands from ash wood.

The Ogham (oh-wahm) or sacred Druidic alphabet contained hidden secrets for magic and divination and only the initiated could understand these meanings. The ancient Celts had a close bond with trees and we can see in their magical alphabet and in the tree calendar.They had a deep respect for their trees and it is reflected in the old Celtic word for oak (Duir), the word Derwydd or Duirwydd (oak-seer) was probably the origin of the word Druid.