Feast of Gwynn ap Nudd

Leading a pack of phantom hunters in chase after a sacred white stag is Gwynn ap Nudd, the Welsh Celtic god of the underworld and the faerie kingdom, ruler of Annwn, a place of departed souls. Today is the feast day of the god, who dwells on Glastonbury Tor, the sacred mountain also known as the resting place of King Arthur. He is like the British legendary character, Herne the Hunter.

Gwynn ap Nudd’s name means 'white'. He is the son of Nudd, chief of the Welsh Children of Don. Gwynn is famed as a hunter – like Odin/Woden, the leader of the Wild Hunt, or Wild Horde – accompanied by his Faery Host and his Cŵn Annwn, white, red-eared ghostly hounds of Annwn. In the Wild Hunt, the quarry is not terrestrial, but the souls of the living. Gwynn's presence is required wherever battles are fought and warriors slain. Gwynn ap Nudd conducts the slain to the land of the dead, where he is their lord.

After Christianity came to Britain, Gwynn came to be regarded as the King of the Tylwyth Teg, the fairy folk of Wales. By the time the stories of King Arthur appear in the Mabinogion, Gwynn is a subject of Arthur, but well respected; indeed, Arthur on more than one occasion turned to the son of Nudd for advice. In the hunt of the boar Twrch Trwyth, Gwynn’s involvement was required for its success.

In the early Arthurian story, Culhwch and Olwen, Gwynn ap Nudd abducted a maiden called Creiddylad after she eloped with Gwythr ap Greidawl, Gwyn's long-time rival. Gwyn and Gwythr's fight, which began on May Day, represented the contest between Summer and Winter. Gwynn also did spiritual battle with St Collen.

Gwynn ap Nudd is one of the three great astronomers of the Island of Britain, who by their knowledge of the heavens, could predict whatever was wished to be known to the end of the world. On November 8, he opens the door of the Underworld ...

Categories: celtic, wales, deities, folklore, mythology