Rhiannon (aka Epona) Welsh

The Mabinogion

The Mabinogion is a collection of Middle Welsh prose. Compiled from texts found in two late-medieval manuscripts, this collection was initially edited and translated by antiquarians in the early nineteenth century. While the Mabinogion collection itself might thus be regarded as a nineteenth century editorial creation, its constituent texts are authentic medieval productions, deriving from originals composed between the eleventh and the fourteenth centuries. They represent a golden age of narrative prose that flourished in Wales over the course of the central middle ages. This distinctive and evolving literary culture forms the context of the Mabinogion.

Eleven separate tales are normally included within it, and within these, two subgroupings – ‘the Four Branches of the Mabinogi’ and the ‘Three Romances’ – are traditionally recognized.

The Mabinogion texts are concerned with the heroic age or mythological past of the British Isles. They were not original compositions, drawing as they did on pre-existing traditional material, whether from oral or written sources. But these traditions were reworked, often to reflect contemporary concerns. We might read the Mabinogion as both an interpretation of a mythological past and a commentary on the medieval present.

You might be wondering why am I introducing Goddess Rhiannon this way?

Rhiannon

Rhiannon is a protagonist of the Mabinogi, in its First and Third Branches. She has been described by Ronald Hutton as “one of the great female personalities in World literature“, adding that “there is in fact, nobody quite like her in previous human literature.” 

In the Mabinogi, Rhiannon is a strong-minded ruler, a lady of the courts, and a devoted mother. She is intelligent, politically strategic, famed for her sophisticated conversation and striking looks, as well as her wealth and the generosity of her gifts, especially to minstrels.

In the First Branch Rhiannon chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfed (south-west Wales,) as her consort, breaking her contract with Gwawl, another prince. Her fateful choice employs two hudiau (enchantments:) an uncatchable horse, and an almost unfillable bag. Rhiannon has a son, Pryderi, with Pwyll. The newborn child is abducted, but she is accused of infanticide. Fortunately Pryderi is restored to her, clearing her name.

In the Third Branch Rhiannon as a widow marries Manawydan, the usurped heir of the British royal family. She has further trials and adventures with him, her son and his wife, involving various enchantments: chiefly the Desolation of all Dyfed, seven years of vengeance by Gwawl’s magician friend, Llwyd.

Evidence of Rhiannon as Goddess

Rhiannon may have originally derived from both Mother and Horse Goddesses. There may be an inheritance in the traditions of the Mari Llwyd whose wassailing customs centre a horse skull, and match Rhiannon’s geographic distribution in Wales. The Adar Rhiannon (Birds of Rhiannon) also express her paradoxical enchantment power: far yet near, living and dead.

Rhiannon seems to inherit the traditions of an earlier Celtic deity, the Gaulish horse goddess, Epona. Rhiannon is strongly associated with horses, and so is her son Pryderi. She and her son are often depicted as mare and foal. Like Epona, she sometimes sits on her horse in a calm, stoic way. This connection with Epona is generally accepted among scholars of the Mabinogi and Celtic studies.

Her name has been linked to a linguistic reconstruction Brittonic form *Rīgantonā, derived from *rīgan- “queen” (cf. Welsh rhiain ‘maiden’, Old Irish rígain ‘queen’.)

When Rhiannon first appears she is a mysterious figure arriving as part of the Otherworld tradition of Gorsedd Arberth. Her paradoxical style of riding slowly, yet unreachably, is strange and magical, though the paradox also occurs in medieval love poetry as an erotic metaphor. Rhiannon produces her “small bag” which is also a magical paradox for it cannot be filled by any ordinary means. When undergoing her penance (for being thought to have killed her newborn son,) Rhiannon demonstrates the powers of a giantess, or the strength of a horse, by carrying travelers on her back.

Rhiannon is connected to three mystical birds. The Birds of Rhiannon (Adar Rhiannon) appear in the Second Branch, in the Triads of Britain, and in Culhwch ac Olwen. In the latter, the giant Ysbaddaden demands them as part of the bride price of his daughter. They are described as “they that wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.” This possibly suggests Rhiannon is based on an earlier goddess of Celtic polytheism.

One scholar’s position is that, [Rhiannon] “reincarnates the goddess of sovereignty who, in taking to her a spouse, thereby ordained him legitimate king of the territory which she personified.” Another scholar draws in the international folklore motif of the calumniated wife, saying, “Rhiannon conforms to two archetypes of myth … a gracious, bountiful queen-goddess; and … the ‘wronged wife’, falsely accused of killing her son.”

In Modern Times

Neo-pagan traditions — Rhiannon is included in the traditions since the 1970s, with varying degrees of accuracy in respect to the original literary sources.

Retellings of the Mabinogi (Mabinogion) – she appears in many of them

Fantasy Novel Appearances
Not For All The Gold In Ireland (1968) by John James
The Song of Rhiannon (1972) by Evangeline Walton
“Sion ap Siencyn” (1921) by Kenneth Morris features the magical songbirds of Rhiannon
The Sword of Rhiannon (1949) by Leigh Brackett
“The King’s Fool” (1984) Robin of Sherwood story

Fantasy Worlds
Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson
The Secret World Chronicle by Mercedes Lackey and Others

Music
Rhiannon (1975) by Fleetwood Mac; Stevie Nicks wrote it after reading the novel, _Triad: A Novel of the Supernatural_, by Mary Bartlet Leader. There is mention of the Welsh legend in it, but the Rhiannon in the novel bears little resemblance to her original Welsh namesake. Nevertheless, despite having little accurate knowledge of the original Rhiannon, Nicks’ song does not conflict with the canon, and quickly became a musical legend.

Visual arts
In artworks, Rhiannon has inspired some entrancing images. A notable example is Alan Lee 1987, and 2001, who illustrated two major translations of the Mabinogi, and his pictures have attracted their own following.

Question: If you were a goddess,
what song would you choose
to have honor you?

 

Sources:
wikipedia
mabinogion info