Re: The Cailleach, Blodeuwedd and Connections
Topaz Owl

Sun May 10 19:48:30 1998
*br*Topaz Owl wrote,*br*: Okay...I am working on this far-fetched idea concerning a *br*: relationship/correlation between the Irish/Scottish *br*: Cailleach and the Welsh Blodeuwedd. *br*:*p*In following my Imbas, these are some correlations that I have come up with...very loose and not totally convincing, but this is all I can find: *p*Blodeuwedd is the wife of Lleu Skillful Hand. The Cailleach Beara is said to have been also named Bui' (yellow) and is said to be the wife of Lugh Lamfada with this name. There is obviously a correlation between Lleu and Lugh that has been remarked upon by better scholars than I, and so it is no stretch of the imagination to find a correlation between their wives as well. *p*The Cailleach Beara also called Duineach ("strong"). The Book of Lecan says she had seven youthful periods, marrying seven husbands and having fifty foster-children who founded many nations, "...so that every husband used to pass from her to death of old age..." *p*Blodeuwedd is the flower maiden, she is the spring and summer of earth, until she is turned into an owl by Gwydion for her treachery (trying to kill Lleu); she then becomes the Queen of the Night, the dark time (winter?), and her name changes to reflect such. (Her story seems to reflect the young king/old king/ Sovereignty cycle we see so much in the tales.) The Cailleach is the Queen of Winter (also the dark time), and yet constantly renewing as the earth does; she goes through a youth to old age to youth cycle, becoming young again through drinking from the Well of Youth...and outlives many husbands. There is that connection with the death of husbands in both stories, though in _Math_ it goes rather awry for Blodeuwedd...or does it? *p*The Cailleach's lament finds her all alone and old in the dark -- and Blodeuwedd is cursed by Gwydion to be alone in the dark as the owl -- and he tells her all other birds will fear and hate her. The Cailleach is also feared. The Cailleach expresses in her poetic lament that she was once a fair young girl, but she is now old and frail and dark and miserable -- like Blodeuwedd was once a fair young girl, flower maiden, now old and alone and dark and miserable as the owl, flower-face. *p*And one name for the Owl in both in Scotland and some Northern areas of Ireland: Cailleach Oi/che (hag of night)...loose connection with Blodeuwedd's owlish qualities? And we know that the owl is associated with the Otherworld and is feared as a harbinger of death from remaining fragments of folklore. And we know from _Culhwch and Olwen_ that the owl is one of the oldest animals, as the Cailleach is obviously one of the oldest goddesses. And though I can find no associations with the owl in any story of the Cailleach, still that name makes me think there is an association that has perhaps been lost to us in any documented form. (And my own Imbas, my own association with the Cailleach, tells me that there is indeed a connection.) *p*Math son of Mathonwy, in the frozen form we have it, is a highly Christianized version of an older tale, and it shows Blodeuwedd, and therefore the Owl as well, in a rather bad light, but -- was the tale originally like this? As a friend once said, it wouldn't be the first time that the feminine mysteries and the darker aspects of goddess were "demonized" by the followers of the new faith... *p*The legend of the Cailleach is obviously much older than the static and only version of the tale of Blodeuwedd. It just makes me wonder what is missing from either legend. *p*That's what I've been mulling over so far. Comments? Additions? Corrections? *p*Topaz
The Cailleach, Blodeuwedd and Connections
Topaz Owl
2
Sun May 10 19:45:17 1998