Creirwy
Creirwy (Welsh pronunciation: Afagddu and Taliesin.
Interpretation as a goddess
British Druids"—also comparing her mother Ceridwen to Ceres of Roman myth.[2] Mythographer Jacob Bryant theorized that Creirwy and Ceridwen were essentially "the same mystical personage."[2]
Her name possibly means "sacred symbol of the egg" (i.e., "
mundane egg", "adder stone") from the Welsh elements creir "a token, jewel, sacred object, relic, talisman, treasure, richly decorated article, object of admiration or love, darling, safeguard, strength, hand-bell, church-bell"[3] and wy "egg".[4]
For the ancient Druids, the mundane egg allegedly symbolized chaos, the beginning of all things, and upon it oaths were administered.
Saint Creirwy
This was also the name of a 6th-century Breton saint from Wales, daughter of Saint
Latin: Creirvia; Breton: Klervi) as a young girl had one or both eyes gouged out by a wild goose, but Winwaloe retrieved the eyeball(s) from the gander's belly and returned it/them to his little sister's orbit(s), and Creirwy's eyesight was miraculously restored.[5] Thus, she is allegedly a patron saint of the blind. The story is memorialized in a 16th-century statue in Keravézan, Saint-Frégant; known as la fontaine de Saint Guénolé, it depicts Winwaloe (Guénolé) holding the goose and the eyeball, with little Creirwy at his feet.[6][7]
However, the legend is dismissed by Baring-Gould and Fisher, who say it originated with an expression that "Creirwe" used; supposedly she would often say she "owed her eye to Winwaloe", but in reference to a much more ordinary childhood event, in which her brother stepped in and protected her when a wild goose flew at Creirwy and almost pecked out her eye.[8]
References
- ^ Triads of Britain
- ^ a b The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, page 205
- ^ Hunt, August. "Creirwy, the Lake Monster of Bala Lake/Llyn Tegid?" Archived 2012-07-19 at archive.today Dark Avalon Books. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
- ^ Wiktionary: "ŵy"
- ^ "Sainte Chreirbia" (in French)
- ^ "Fontaine de Saint-Guénolé (in French)". Archived from the original on 2021-12-28. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
- ^ A photo of the statue of Winwaloe and Creirwy on Breton Wikipedia
- ^ Anna of the blog Early Western Saints. "St Winwaloe". Retrieved 1 June 2012.
