Celtic Mythology Archives - TRIDENT MYTH https://tridentmyth.com/category/celtic-mythology/ Gods, Goddess, and Creatures in Mythology Wed, 24 Jan 2024 08:46:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 https://i0.wp.com/tridentmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/a.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Celtic Mythology Archives - TRIDENT MYTH https://tridentmyth.com/category/celtic-mythology/ 32 32 211295167 Arawn: God of Dead People https://tridentmyth.com/arawn-god-of-dead-people/ Wed, 24 Jan 2024 08:25:56 +0000 https://tridentmyth.com/?p=510 Some things about him are the same as Hades, Pluto, and the Christian Satan, but he is also unique. The dead were helped by Arawn to go to Annwn, the old Otherworld, where they can rest in peace. Arawn, a male Celtic god, is thought to have ruled over the Welsh underground. His name may […]

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Some things about him are the same as Hades, Pluto, and the Christian Satan, but he is also unique. The dead were helped by Arawn to go to Annwn, the old Otherworld, where they can rest in peace. Arawn, a male Celtic god, is thought to have ruled over the Welsh underground. His name may have come from the Hebrew name Aaron, which means “High.” He is also related to the Celtic god Ariubianes.

From the beginning, he was king of the magical land of Annwn, which he ruled with his beautiful queen. But as stories changed over time, he turned into a psychopomp and a bad Lord of the underworld. This change may have been caused by the fact that Christianity became very popular after it took over the Celtic realm. A lot of heathen gods were “demonized” by Christians to make Christianity look better.

Arawn was a skilled hunter, magician, and shape-shifter, even though he looked broken. He could change into any shape he liked. His wife had no idea what was going on, even though he had been pretending to be someone else for a whole year. Arawn was a hunter who often went on daily shooting trips with his dogs. With their red eyes and white ears, these dogs became Arawn’s symbol. As Christianity spread across the British Isles, those dogs started to look more and more like hellhounds. They would look for bad people who were going to “Hell.”

Arawn loves fall because it is the best time to hunt in the Northern Hemisphere. At one point, you could hear the barking of hunting dogs as they went after their owners’ prey. Swans honked as they moved to warmer places to get ready for winter. The Celtic year ended on Halloween in October. People have long thought that the night of Halloween is when the dead come back to life to cause trouble. Given that Arawn is linked to the future, this makes sense.

The Otherworld of Wales Annwn was a beautiful place, just like the Otherworlds that people from other countries wrote about. In the next life, everyone will be happy and at peace. But Arawn was the Lord or King, and neither death nor the future were the main ideas. Annwn used to be thought of as a Welsh island. Like in Greek and Roman myths, it might have been a hidden kingdom. The island of Avalon from the Arthurian tale was only a story; this one was real and beautiful. Lord Arawn and his wife, the unknown queen, made a paradise where people could rest and enjoy life. People thought he was a fair and just leader until he made them follow new rules and beliefs.

His queen may or may not have been the only family member Arawn had. We don’t know anything about them. Along with him, she ruled in silence. The story says that she really loved him, even though her king was being mean to her. Arawn shows up for the first time in the first story in this book. The story is about Arawn and how he could change how he looked. A man named Pwyll was hunting one day. The king of Dyfed was looking for a stag with his hunting dogs.

Before the Hunter could get to the stag, strange hunting dogs with white ears and red eyes attacked it and tore it apart. At that very moment, Pwyll was shocked when a mysterious rider showed up and said his name was Arawn. He lied to Pwyll and said he had come to Annwn to steal the king’s stag. Pwyll would have to pay for his dishonesty. Even though Pwyll was scared, Arawn’s words made him feel better. The Pwyll was asked to switch bodies with him for a year as a way to make things right. As a reaction, Pwyll agreed to fight Hafgan, who was his sworn enemy. Hafgan, another one of Annwn’s kings, fought Arawn’s attempts to remove him from power for a long time.

The guys were now in their new bodies after the switch was made. It was a whole year that Pwyll pretended to be Arawn. He went shooting during the day and ate with the queen at night. Besides that, Pwyll wouldn’t sleep with Arawn’s Queen, even though she thought he was her husband. Arawn took over as Lord of Dyfed after Pwyll died, but the two never slept together. It’s still not clear why Arawn thought this was the best way for Pwyll to make up for entering the king’s realm. He chose to take a break from his job as Lord of the Otherworld for some reason and see what life was like as a normal person. There have been stories like this before.

Before the end of the year, they changed back to their old forms when they were together again. Pwyll wrote down everything he did that year. Even though the Queens of the Otherworld tried to seduce him, he defeated Hafgan and kept his promise to stay single. I’m glad to hear that, Arawn. He also said that he had been good in Pwyll’s wife’s bed.

After meeting, the Lord of the Otherworld and Pwyll stayed close friends. We know this to be true because Arawn shows up again in the fourth branch of the Mabinogion. He gave Pryderi, Pwyll’s son, a gift while he was in this area. He made Pryderi promise to look out for the pigs from the Otherworld. He wouldn’t give them up until he got something in return. After a while, though, a con artist named Gwydion fab Don stole them. When he told Pryderi he was an artist, he got him to give him the pigs as payment. After some thought, Pryderi agreed to Gwydion’s offer of a trade in exchange for the pigs. But Gwydion took them without giving anything in return. To get back at Gwydion, Pryderi fired the people who lived in Gwynedd. It’s too bad that Gwydion killed him in that fight.

 

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Dian Cécht: Celtic God of Healing https://tridentmyth.com/dian-cecht-celtic-god-of-healing/ Wed, 24 Jan 2024 08:22:58 +0000 https://tridentmyth.com/?p=512 Based on what little we know about old Irish mythology, we can guess that Dian Cécht, who was the God of Health or God of Power & Health for the Tuatha Dé Danann, an Irish god family, was Dagda’s brother. As the doctor and healer for the Danann tribe, he saved the lives of fighters. […]

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Based on what little we know about old Irish mythology, we can guess that Dian Cécht, who was the God of Health or God of Power & Health for the Tuatha Dé Danann, an Irish god family, was Dagda’s brother. As the doctor and healer for the Danann tribe, he saved the lives of fighters. He is said to have done many miracles, and in the eighth century, people in Ireland still prayed to him to help them. In addition to being able to see into the future, he is also said to have been able to cast many healing spells.

He had three kids from his first marriage: Mitch, Airmed, and Étan. He used to have a son named Cian with Danu, his second wife. Cian married Ethlinn, the daughter of the evil Fomorian King Balor. Cian’s son Lugh was the sun and storm god who saved the Danaans. Lugh’s son Cu Chulainn was a legendary Irish hero.

In the past, three snakes tried to kill all the living things in Ireland, but Dian Cécht stopped them. Because it looked so bad, Dian Cécht voted to kill the baby of Dagda, the mythical father of the gods, and Morgan, his wife. As soon as Dian did this, she found three snakes inside the hearts of each baby. When they grew up, these snakes could kill all Irish people. He set the snakes on fire and dumped the ashes into the river. This made the water boil, killing all the animals that lived in it. The river was finally named River Barrow. It is now Ireland’s second-longest river, after River Shannon. This river is one of “The Three Sisters,” along with the River Suir and the River Nore.

King Nuada of the Danann was no longer fit to lead his people after he lost an arm in the First Battle at Moytura against the Fir Bolg. When the council chose King Bres, the Danann suffered a lot, and many people wanted Nuada to take back power. In the end, Dian was able to replace Nuada’s arm with a metal one, which put the king back on his seat. On the other hand, Dian felt jealous of his son Miach after Miach had Nuada’s original arm physically and magically replaced. Each son was just as good as his dad because he got his skills from him. Dian grew special herbs on the tomb where he buried his son. Because Dian was so angry, she threw the herbs all over the place, which made it harder for Airmed to identify them. To this day, we still don’t know what health benefits they might have.

Dian also had two other children: the poet Étan and Cian, who was born of Danu and married Ethlinn, daughter of Balor of the Fomorians. After the First Battle at Mag Tried against the Fir Bolg, the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians made peace by getting Cian married to Ethlinn. Things went well with the Fomorians at first, but not for long.

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