Monaghan Patricia. The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore

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Rhiannon Welsh goddess or heroine. It is

probable that, like other major characters in the

compilation of Welsh myths called the MABINO-

GION, the magical horsewoman Rhiannon was

originally divine. Her name has been connected

with a presumed ancient goddess named riga-

tona, “great queen.” We find among the conti-

nental Celts (and, to some extent, in Britain as

well) a

HORSE goddess named EPONA, who may

be a figure parallel to Rhiannon, since Rhiannon

throughout her legend is associated with

HORSES. The connection of Rhiannon to

horses has led some scholars to link her with

the SUN, often depicted by the ancient Celts in

equine form.

As she appeared in the Welsh myth, Rhiannon

was an OTHERWORLD woman who rode her

speedy white horse around an enchanted spot.

The king of the region of Dyfed, PWYLL,

encountered her there and gave chase, but his

mortal horse was no match for hers. Three times

they raced, and finally he called out for her to

stop, whereupon she did, admitting she had

heard of his prowess and had come to seek him.

Rhiannon soon became Pwyll’s wife and queen—

though not until he defeated another contender

for her hand, GWAWL.

Life was not long happy for the pair, however,

because after Rhiannon gave birth to their son

PRYDERI, she was found one BELTANE morning

with blood on her face and the child mysteriously

gone. Everyone jumped to the conclusion that

Rhiannon had gone mad and killed her child, but

the blood was actually DOG’s blood, for finding

the boy missing, the nursemaids had killed a

puppy and smeared its blood on Rhiannon’s face

while she slept.

The nursemaids did not confess their secret,

and so Rhiannon was punished. She was given a

curiously light sentence: to serve as a mount for

all visitors to the castle, bringing them from the

gate on her back. She was ultimately released

from bondage by the appearance of her son

Pryderi, who had been stolen by a spectral figure

but later saved and reared by a distant nobleman,

TEYRNON Twf Liant.

Rhiannon was widowed later in life, but soon

remarried. The problems that plagued her first

marriage came back to haunt the kingdom,

which abruptly and mysteriously turned barren

when her son Pryderi assumed the throne.

Rhiannon and her new husband, MANAWYDAN,

joined Pryderi and his wife CIGFA in scraping a

living from the increasingly empty land. Finally

they gave up and found residence in a city far to

the east (perhaps London), where they eked out

a living as artisans, an occupation at which they

were quite talented. In fact, they incurred the

wrath of the less-talented local craftsmen, who

rose up to drive them away.

Fearing for their safety, the family group

returned to the wilderness of Dyfed, but

Rhiannon and her son immediately became

enchanted and disappeared. Unwilling to aban-

don his wife even though he had no idea where

she was, Manawydan searched for clues until he

discovered that the family of Gwawl, the former

suitor humiliated when Pwyll won Rhiannon,

had come to punish them. After a suitable accord

was reached, Rhiannon and Pryderi were freed

from enchantment and returned to this world.

Several scholars have connected Rhiannon

with the goddess of the land’s

SOVEREIGNTY, for

her presence in Dyfed made the land abundant,

while her absence made it barren. She has also

been connected with the goddess of war whose

name resembles hers (MÓRRÍGAN has some of the

same linguistic roots), especially because, like

Mórrígan, Rhiannon is associated with BIRDS—

in her case, THREE magical birds who fly always

around her shoulders, singing so sweetly that the

dead awaken and the living fall into a trance.

Sources: Dexter, Miriam Robbins. Whence the

Goddesses: A Sourcebook. New York: Pergamon

Press, 1990, pp. 93–94; Gantz, Jeffrey, trans.

The Mabinogion. New Y

ork: Barnes & Noble

Books, 1976; MacCulloch, J. A. The Religion of

the Ancient Celts. London: Constable, 1911, pp.

98 ff, 110 ff; Ross, Anne. Pagan Celtic Britain:

Studies in Iconography and T

radition. London:

Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967, p. 225;

394 Rhiannon

Straffon, Cheryl. The Earth Goddess: Celtic and

Pagan Legacy of the Landscape. London:

Blandford, 1997, pp. 38–39.

Rhonabwy Welsh hero. This minor hero is

most notable for being skillful at DIVINATION; he

dreamed of the great king ARTHUR before he

came to power.

Rhun Welsh hero. This human hero figures

in a curious story of faithfulness and betrayal.

ELPHIN, the bumbling, boisterous king, bragged

that his wife was more faithful than Rhun’s. To

disprove this slight upon his wife, Rhun traveled

to Elphin’s court and attempted to seduce the

queen. When she refused his advances, Rhun

drugged her and chopped off her ring finger. He

brought this arrogantly to Elphin, not realizing

that the queen and her handmaiden had swapped

identities; the bread dough under the fingernail,

something a queen would never endure, told the

story. Rhun continued in his competition with

Elphin, next wagering with him as to whose

HORSES were faster. Through a trick engineered

by the canny BARD, TALIESIN, Elphin won the

race and sent Rhun home.

Rhydderch Hael (Rhydderch Largus, Rhyd-

derch the Generous) Arthurian hero. Owner of

a CAULDRON of abundance, Rhydderch is an oth-

erwise obscure figure in Arthurian legend.

rí (ri) See KINGSHIP.

Riada Irish hero. The son of a king of MUN-

STER Riada escaped a famine by taking his peo-

ple on a long trek to happier climes. He first set-

tled in Co. Antrim, in ULSTER, then boated

across the Irish Sea to Scotland; both kingdoms

were called Dál Riada after him.

Richis (Riches) Irish heroine. This satirist

challenged the great hero CÚCHULAINN after he

had killed her foster son, CRIMTHANN NIA NÁIR.

Despite her bravery, she lost her life as

Crimthann had done.

Rifath Scot Irish hero. According to the

mythological history, the BOOK OF INVASIONS, this

ancestor of the Irish race was one of the workers

on the biblical Tower of Babel. When, to punish

human arrogance, God cursed all the workers by

causing them to speak in different languages,

Rifath Scot began speaking Scots Gaelic. One of

this descendants,

GOIDEL, created the final ver-

sion of the language.

Rigani Continental Celtic goddess. This

name has been interpreted to mean “great

queen.” It may be a title of ROSMERTA rather

than indicating a separate goddess.

Rigatona (Rigantona) See RHIANNON.

Rigisamus (Rigonemetis) British and conti-

nental Celtic god. His name meant “most

kingly” or “most regal,” and dedications to this

otherwise obscure god have been found both in

Britain and France. The Romans equated him to

their warrior god MARS, as they did a similarly

named divinity called Rigonemetis, “king of the

sacred grove.”

Rigru Roisclethan (Rígru Rosclethan) Irish

heroine. This woman of the OTHERWORLD

appeared to the king at TARA once, wailing hor-

ribly and leading a mooing cow. She warned

king CONN of the Hundred Battles, who had

attempted to kill her son, and told him that the

land would suffer so long as the lustful queen BÉ

CHUMA remained in power.

Ríonach (Riona) Irish heroine. The mother

of the Christian St. Colman was a member of

an important family in the province of CON-

NACHT. When Ríonach was seen to be pregnant,

Ríonach 395

ambitious would-be kings realized that her her-

itage would elevate her child to royal status (see

MATRILINY) and thus prevent them from gaining

the throne. These rivals hunted down the preg-

nant woman who, in despair, jumped into the

Kiltartan River near Gort, Co. Galway, intent

upon death.

She did not, drown however, but floated

downriver. She landed near Corker, dragged

herself from the water, and gave birth beneath a

magical

ASH tree. Two monks—one blind, one

lame—found her there with her infant son.

Ríonach begged them to baptize the baby, but

there was no water within reach. One monk

grabbed some wet RUSHES, whereupon a holy

WELL burst forth at that spot. The blind monk

washed his eyes, restoring his sight; the lame

monk bathed his leg, restoring his ability to

walk. Colman grew up to become the patron

SAINT of the region. Although a Christian tale,

this story has many Celtic motifs.

Ritona Continental Celtic goddess. This

obscure divinity was known in Gaul as a goddess

of fords; she may have been, like many other

Celtic goddesses, connected with RIVERS as well.

river Cosmological concept. Rivers, sacred to

the Celts, were almost invariably described as

goddesses. Many rivers in Celtic lands still bear

the ancient names of the goddesses who were

believed to live within them or whose deaths

caused the release of their waters. Typically the

river goddess was pictured as a maternal pres-

ence who provided food to those along her

banks; among the continental Celts, the river

was often associated with the group of goddesses

known collectively as DEAE MATRES, “the moth-

ers.” Whether through FISH caught in her

waters, grain watered by them, or meat from

CATTLE who drank along her shores, the river

goddess was the great provider for the Celtic

people. Her waters were sometimes associated,

as a result, with MILK, and the river goddess her-

self with a COW.

The source of a river was especially sacred.

The Celts believed that where WATER first

emerged from the ground, to swell into a river

by joining with smaller tributaries, great HEAL-

ING power resided. Offerings were often made at

these river sources, suggesting that rituals were

performed there to promote recovery from ill-

ness or injury.

Similarly,

SPRINGS were considered sacred,

especially hot springs that became healing

shrines. There is in fact significant therapeutic

benefit to be gained from bathing in hot springs,

which can relieve the pains of chronic ailments

like arthritis. Several important Celtic sites, like

Bath in England, show evidence of having been

used in pre-Celtic times; in many cases, the

invading Romans continued to employ the

springs for their own medicinal purposes.

Some scholars argue that folk beliefs in

hauntings or FAIRY activity around holy wells and

rivers is a vestige of ancient Celtic religion. The

legends of many FAIRY QUEENS connect them to

water. This interpretation, although common, is

somewhat controversial.

Among the Celtic river divinities (together

with the rivers they ruled) are the goddesses

ABNOBA (Danube, Avon), ALAUNA (Alaunus,

Alun), BELISAMA (Ribble), BERBA (Barrow),

BÓAND (Boyne), BRIGANTIA (Braint, Brent), Cluta

(Clyde), COVENTINA (Carrawburgh), DANU

(Danube), DEE/Deva/Divona (Dee, Dive), ERNE

(Erne), FIAL (Feale), GARRAVOGUE (Garravogue),

ICAUNA (Yonne), MATRONA (Marne, Madder,

Moder, Maronne, Maronna), NATOSUELTA

(Trent), SABRINA (Severn), SEQUANA (Seine),

SÍNANN (Shannon), and the folkloric figures PEG

O’NELL (Ribble) and PEG POWLER (Tees).

Although rivers were typically seen by the

Celts as feminine forces, there are occasional

breaks in the pattern. Occasionally a god appears

as consort of a river goddess. Even less frequently,

river gods alone are found; whether the feminine

consort has been lost is not known. Gods of rivers

(and the rivers to which they were connected)

include Danuvius (Danube), NODENS (Severn),

and the folkloric figures TAVY and DAVY JONES

396 Ritona

(Tavy). More typically, gods ruled healing springs

(see BORVO, APOLLO Grannos, LUXOVIUS).

River sources, which are often similar to

springs, frequently had a male spirit resident

within them. Commonly he took the form of a

fish, like the SALMON of WISDOM (sometimes

named FINTAN) who lived in the spring at the

source of the Boyne or the Shannon in Ireland,

gorging on nuts from magical

HAZEL trees and

growing wise. On the Continent, especially in

Brittany, there are legends of EELS and trout who

live in sacred springs. Seeing such a being, either

leaping from the water or swimming beneath its

surface, was extremely lucky.

Sources: MacCulloch, J. A. The Religion of the

Ancient Celts. London: Constable, 1911, pp. 42,

46, 180 ff; O’Rahilly, Thomas. Early Irish

History and Mythology. Dublin: The Dublin

Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946, p. 3; Ross,

Anne. Folklor

e of the Scottish Highlands. London:

B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1976, p. 78.

Roan (roane) See SILKIE.

Robin Goodfellow British folkloric figure.

In his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream,

Shakespeare conflated the figure of the mischie-

vous FAIRY named PUCK with Robin Goodfellow,

son of a fairy king (sometimes, OBERON) and a

human mother. According to British folktales,

Robin Goodfellow got into such trouble as a

child that his mother threatened to whip him,

prompting him to run away and become a tai-

lor’s apprentice. He continued to make mischief

until threatened again, whereupon he ran away

once more, this time looking for his father. The

reunion was a pleasant one, for Robin’s father

taught him the art of SHAPE-SHIFTING, after

which he settled down and became a hard work-

ing, helpful BROWNIE.

Robin Hood British folkloric figure. The fig-

ure known as Robin Hood, who stole from the

rich and gave to the poor, may have some his-

torical basis. Robin allegedly lived in medieval

times in Sherwood Forest with the fair Maid

Marian and his band of merry robbers, including

Little John and Friar Tuck. There were, indeed,

many highwaymen who lived in the English

forests in those days. One of them seems to have

caught the popular fancy, although the Robin

Hood cult has always been more literate than

oral, enjoyed more by the upper than the lower

classes, despite Robin’s supposed personal bias

toward the latter.

The allegedly historical Robin Hood was

born Robin Locksley in Brandfield Parish,

Hallamshire. When he accidentally wounded his

stepfather and feared the violent retribution of

the law, Robin fled to Loxley forest, where he

met a

GIANT hermit named Little John. (A

nearby grave was exhumed in 1784 and a thigh-

bone 30 inches long was discovered, so Little

John, too, may have some basis in fact. Because

bad luck struck the excavator, the bone was

reburied and is now lost.)

There have been a number of controversial

scholarly attempts to find a mythological basis

for the Robin Hood legends. Most propose a

connection between the alleged highwayman

and the GREEN MAN, a spirit of vegetation and

fertility. By this interpretation, Robin Hood was

once Robin of the Wood, also known as JACK-IN-

THE-GREEN, who ruled as king of the May while

Maid Marian was its queen. Such figures were

especially associated with the BELTANE festival

but were also occasionally attached to the MID-

SUMMER festivals of late June. A spot in Loxley

forest called Robin Hood’s Bower was said in

local church records to be a site for Beltane fes-

tivities involving a green-clad man; that custom

still survives at nearby Castleon, while at ABBOTS

BROMLEY men still perform the horn dance

around a cross-dressed Maid Marion.

Some legends support the contention that an

historical highwayman’s deeds became grafted

upon an earlier figure whose mythic duties

included creation of the landscape. One such

tale tells how Robin Hood and Little John

Robin Hood 397

challenged each other to a leaping contest.

Robin said he could jump all the way over

Wormsley Hill, but when he tried he knocked

out part of the hill with his heel, which became

Butthouse Knapp. When Little John jumped, he

too snagged the hill with his heel, with the result

that Pyon Hill was formed. Together these hills

are still called Robin Hood’s Butts. Robin still

protects the region, for folklore says that treas-

ure hunters who attempted to dig there found

their tools disturbed and GORSE growing every

day over what they had dug the day before. Such

mischief is typically the work of FAIRIES, so this

legend connects Robin and Little John to the

OTHERWORLD realm.

Sources: Bord, Janet, and Colin Bord. The Secret

Country: An interpretation of the folklore of ancient

sites in the British Isles. New York: Walker and

Co., 1976, p. 76; Briggs, Katherine M. The

Folklore of the Cotswolds. London: B. T. Batsford,

Ltd., 1974, p. 35; Spence, Lewis. The Minor

Traditions of British Mythology. New Y

ork:

Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1972, p. 106.

Roc Irish hero. Part of the mythic background

for the romantic tale of DIARMAIT and GRÁINNE

regards this man, who had an affair with the god-

dess Duibhne, wife of the gloomy god DONN.

When a child was born of the affair, the outraged

and cuckolded husband Donn crushed its skull.

Roc knew MAGIC and saved his child by turning it

into a great BOAR. If not human, at least the child

was alive; it grew to monstrous size, living on the

great mountain above Sligo called BEN BULBEN.

Duibhne then returned to her husband and had

another child, Diarmait, who later lost his life in

combat with his beastly half brother.

Roisin Dubh (Dark Rosaleen) Irish folkloric

figure. This name is given in AISLING poetry to a

dark-haired maiden who wanders the roadways

alone, hoping to meet a king strong enough to

break her bondage. She is a late form of the

ancient goddess of SOVEREIGNTY.

Rollright Stones British mythic location. This

great STONE CIRCLE at the border of Oxfordshire

and Warwickshire has attracted many legends.

One claims the Rollrights as COUNTLESS STONES

that deflect any attempt to discover their exact

number. A clever baker tried to count the stones

by putting a loaf of bread on each one, intending

to gather the loaves and count them, but he

never seemed to have enough loaves to cover the

stones (or loaves may have disappeared as he

placed them on the rocks). Some scholars

believe these legends arise in an ancient tradition

of offering food to the stones.

A significant legend about the Rollright

Stones concerns an invading king who heard a

prophecy that he would be king of the whole

island if he ever saw the town of Long Compton.

He set off, but some of his own knights opposed

this goal and, when he was camped near the loca-

tion of the Rollright Stones, began to plot against

him. Fearing treachery, the king set off in the

night, but before he could mount the rise from

which he would see Long Compton, he met a

WITCH who turned him into the King Stone—

and his whispering knights into stones as well. If

the spell ever is broken, the king and his army

will conquer England, but for now they remain

petrified, while the witch who holds them lives

on as an ELDER tree in the vicinity. Some claim to

have seen the stones sneak to a stream under

cover of darkness, looking for a drink of water to

quench their thirst. And every midnight, for a

moment, the stones come to life and dance, while

the King Stone drinks his fill. Although the stone

circles themselves are pre-Celtic, there is evi-

dence of a Celtic HILLFORT in the area as well.

Romano-Celtic Archaeological term. This

phrase is used to describe the divinities and reli-

gion of the continental Celts and of Britain, as

depicted in art after the Roman conquest of those

regions. The Celts did not portray their deities in

human form, although there is some early evi-

dence of animal-bodied gods and goddesses; more

typically, abstract symbolism was used, which can

398 Roc

be difficult to interpret. That the Celts did not

suffer from limited artistic skill is clear from the

speed with which they picked up the new mode of

imagery; within decades of Roman occupation,

figurative sculptures in clay and bronze and stone

were found in shrines and temples. These show

divinities in typically Roman garb (although

sometimes with the clearly Celtic TORC or neck-

ring) but with Celtic symbols like the

DOG, the

HAMMER, and the headpiece with ANTLERS.

Sometimes the inscriptions use Roman names;

thus we have many Celtic MERCURY figures

depicting a god who may have ruled commerce.

Sometimes the Roman name was used with a

Celtic one, as with Sulis Minerva, the healing

deity of the hot springs of BATH in England; occa-

sionally only the Celtic name was inscribed on the

deity’s image, as with NEHALEINNIA, an important

goddess of the Netherlands and its sea trade.

In addition to its cultural influence, the

Roman occupation had an economic and social

impact upon the Celtic inhabitants of the

Continent and the island of Britain. By contrast,

the Romans never colonized Ireland; thus there

are no Romano-Celtic artifacts from that land.

Therefore it is not easy to interpret Celtic

archaeological finds from the Roman provinces.

The same is true of literary texts; as the Celts did

not use writing (see OGHAM) to record their his-

tory and religion, relying instead on oral trans-

mission, we have no indigenous material with

which to compare that written by Romans and

other observers.

The cultural scene was further complicated by

the importation of non-Roman religious cults—

like those of the east Asian goddess Cybele and

the Persian god MITHRAS—into Celtic lands by

the Roman legions. The Celts were spiritually

adaptable (see POLYTHEISM) and may have wel-

comed some of the new religious visions and

opportunities. Taken together, these historical

facts mean that the interpretation of Romano-

Celtic material presents special problems for

scholars, and there is much disagreement and

controversy over the meaning of various texts and

artifacts.

Rómit Rígóinmit Irish hero. This obscure

figure plays a minor role in the story of the

INTOXICATION OF THE ULSTERMEN, when he

appears with the rest of king CONCOBAR MAC

NESSA’s men at the fort of queen Cú Roi. He is a

black man with huge, bulging eyes who serves as

Concobar’s fool, entertaining the court with his

jests and antics.

Ronán Irish hero. The Irish myth of Ronán

recalls the more famous Greek story of Phaedra,

who fell in love with her stepson, was rejected by

him, and vengefully accused him of raping her.

Ronán married a much younger woman who fell

in love with her stepson, closer in age to her than

her husband. When the young man refused her

advances, she reported to Ronán that the boy

had raped her—for which Ronán put his son to

death. When the truth was revealed, Ronán died

of grief and his wife committed suicide.

Another Ronán (also called Rodán and

Ruadán) was the cause of the desolation of the

great central hill of TARA, once the most impor-

tant political and spiritual capital of the land.

When Tara’s king, DIARMAIT, condemned him

for hiding a relative accused of murder, Ronán

cursed the king and Tara itself. From that time

forward, Tara was never again as powerful as it

had been in Celtic times.

Source: Cross, Tom Peete, and Clark Harris

Slover, eds. Ancient Irish Tales. New York:

Henry Holt and Co., 1936, p. 538.

Rosault Irish legendary monster. This vast

being lived in the sea but somehow came ashore

in Co. Mayo, where it began vomiting. With

each regurgitation, more beings were killed:

plants, sea creatures, even humans, until the

monster itself expired.

rose Symbolic plant. The fragrant flower of

midsummer, the rose was used in DIVINATION

and MAGIC. Just as it represents romance today,

rose 399

in Celtic lands it was connected with love and

loyalty. In the British Cotswolds the rose was

used in making magical spells to attract love or

to capture the wandering interest of a lover.

Rosmerta Continental Celtic goddess. Her

name, interpreted to mean “The Great

Provider,” suggests that she was a goddess of

abundance to her people in northeastern Gaul.

The fact that she was sometimes depicted hold-

ing a

CORNUCOPIA or horn of plenty supports this

theory, as does her association with the god

whom the Romans called MERCURY after their

divinity of commerce. Rosmerta was often shown

without a consort, however, or accompanying an

image of the emperor; from this scholars have

argued that she was an important goddess whose

prestige may have even outweighed that of

Mercury, said by the Romans to be the chief god

of the Celts.

Occasionally Rosmerta was described as a

goddess of a SPRING, which to Celtic people may

have represented HEALING. This association

might also expand upon her meaning as a force

of abundance, for springs at the sources of rivers

were connected with the symbolism of the fertile

RIVER goddess. Rosmerta’s name has been asso-

ciated with a Celtic word for protection and FER-

TILITY, and she is sometimes depicted holding

the CAULDRON of rebirth. Rosmerta’s myth is

unknown, as are the specifics of her ritual.

Rothniam See FISHER KING.

Roth Ramach Irish mythological object. This

powerful vehicle, called a “flying wheel,” was a

means of transport for the WITCH or goddess

TLACHTGA and her father, the magician MOG

RUITH. On the Roth Ramach, they flew easily

through the air, even as far away as Italy. The

ruins of the magical machine are said to be visi-

ble in a stone near Dromline in Co. Tipperary.

Round Table Arthurian legendary object. The

great table around which the knights of king

ARTHUR at CAMELOT gathered was originally built

for Arthur’s father, UTHER PENDRAGON, perhaps

in the OTHERWORLD. During Arthur’s reign, the

table symbolized equality between king and

knights as well as among the heroic knights them-

selves, who formed a spiritual brotherhood.

When MORDRED, Arthur’s illegitimate son by his

half sister MORGAUSE, took Camelot from his

father, he struck the center of the Round Table

and destroyed it—and with it, the hope for har-

mony and peace that Camelot promised.

rowan (mountain ash, wild-ash, quickbean,

quicken tree) Symbolic plant. Not really an ASH

tree at all, the delicate-leafed rowan (genus

Sorbus) was associated with FAIRIES, WITCHES, and

the OTHERWORLD across the Celtic lands. Rowan

is often found near STONE CIRCLES and other

ancient monuments, as well as in graveyards,

which may have given rise to the mystical con-

nections of the tree. It was said to offer a fool-

proof way of detecting witches; the unripe

berries, before they turned RED, could be waved

over a suspected witch, who would instantly con-

fess. “Rowan, amber, and red thread puts witches

to their speed,” says a Scottish rhyming proverb.

Pounded and strained, the berry juice was a

prophylactic against bewitchment; it is unclear

whether the juice was swallowed, used to mark

the skin, or simply carried on the threatened per-

son. Crosses made of rowan wood were thought

to avert the evil EYE; sticks of rowan wood were

useful for driving CATTLE to pasture, because

they did double duty in keeping away potentially

thieving spirits. Planting rowans around a house

or at the property line was held to be good magic

against the envy of witches; occasionally the ash

was substituted. Rods made of rowan wood were

used in casting SPELLS. Like other FAIRY TREES,

rowans tended to be long-lived in areas where

people believed in fairies, because terrible luck

was said to follow cutting one down.

Ruad Irish goddess. In place-lore surrounding

the once-magnificent falls (flooded by a hydro-

400 Rosmerta

electric project in the mid-20th century), at

Assaroe, in Co. Sligo this maiden was said to

have given her name to the waterfall (Ess Ruad)

when she died there. ABCÁN, the dwarf poet of

the magical TUATHA DÉ DANANN, took Ruad

from the OTHERWORLD to this world in his

bronze, tin-sailed boat, so that she might seduce

a human lover, AED Srónmár. The sounds of

MERMAIDS singing, or of music pouring from a

FAIRY MOUND, caused Ruad to forget herself and

leap into the white waters of Assaroe, where she

drowned. Assaroe is also said to be named after a

male figure, the Ulster king Áed Ruad, whose

name combines that of the titular goddess and

her human lover.

Source: Gwynn, Edward. The Metrical Dindshenchas.

Royal Irish Academy, Todd Lecture Series.

Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and Co., Ltd.

1906–1924. Reprinted Dublin Institute for

Advanced Studies, School of Celtic Studies,

1991, Part 4, pp. 3–9.

Ruadán (Ruadan) Irish god or hero. In the

BOOK OF INVASIONS, the mythic history of Ireland,

this heroic warrior was described as the son of

the goddess BRIGIT and the half-Fomorian king,

the beautiful but ungenerous BRES mac Elatha.

In the great second battle of MAG TUIRED,

Ruadán was injured fatally after being discov-

ered spying on the enemy; his mother came to

the battlefield and began to cry out in a way that

became the traditional KEENING (from Irish

caoin, “lamenting”) used at Irish funerals.

Ruadh (Rua) Irish hero. One of the figures

in Irish legend who was snared by a FAIRY

LOVER, Ruadh was sailing one day when his

boat was becalmed off the north coast of

Ireland. He set off to swim for help but instead

found himself beneath the waves, where he was

taken up by nine lovely princesses, one of

whom bore him a child. He eventually left the

women, including the mother of his child,

promising to return—then stayed away in

Norway for seven years, never intending to

return. When he did come back, the nine fairy

maidens intercepted his boat, throwing his son

at him so that both died.

Source: Gwynn, Edward. The Metrical Dindshenchas.

Part II. Vol. IX. Royal Irish Academy, Todd

Lecture Series. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, and Co.,

Ltd., 1906–1924, pp. 27–35.

Ruad Rofessa (Ruadh Ró-fhesa) Irish god.

This name, which means “the red one who has

great knowledge,” was given to several Irish

deities, notably the god of fertility, the DAGDA,

although it was also used of the mysterious

OTHERWORLD figure of death, DONN. The leg-

ends about Ruad Rofessa are confused and con-

fusing; it is unclear whether he was originally a

separate ancestral god who became connected

with other divinities, or if the name was merely

an honorific title.

Rucht Irish hero. Little known in Irish myth

under his human name, this man is famous as

FINNBENNACH (“white horn”), the greatest BULL

of the western PROVINCE of CONNACHT. That bull

was originally a swineherd named Rucht, who

argued with another swineherd named FRIUCH.

Their enmity was so deep-seated that, reborn time

after time, they continued to fight: as STAGS, as

RAVENS, and finally as WORMS. Not much damage

can be done by fighting worms, and besides the

two were across the island from each other. They

set in motion the next stage of the battle, for one

worm encouraged the great queen MEDB to marry

AILILL mac Máta, while the other warned DÁIRE to

expect an invasion of Ulster by Medb. Then the

worms were swallowed by COWS that gave birth to

them again as bull-calves.

By the time the bulls had grown up, the stage

was set. Medb, offended that her husband owned

Finnbennach and thus was her social superior,

set off to find a bull of equal value. The only one

was Rucht’s enemy of so many lifetimes, now

reborn as the brown bull DONN CUAILNGE. The

Rucht 401

battle for the bulls is the subject of the greatest

Irish epic, TÁIN BÓ CUAILNGE. When they finally

were brought together, Rucht and his age-old

enemy fell again to fighting. Rucht was killed,

his bull body spread in pieces across the land,

but Friuch did not live long after his victory,

dying of exhaustion and loss of blood upon his

return home.

Rudianus Continental Celtic god. An obscure

god known only from several inscriptions in

France that invoked his aid, he was identified by

the Romans with their warrior god MARS.

Rudiobus Continental Celtic god. An

obscure Gaulish god, Rudiobus is known only

from a single artifact: a HORSE statue, which may

have represented either the god in equine form

or an offering to him. He has been connected

with the Romano-Celtic MARS, who appears

under the name of MULLO, possibly “mule.”

Rudraige (Rory) Irish hero. A relatively

obscure figure in Irish mythology, he was one of

the leaders of the FIR BOLG, a race of invaders—

the third group to arrive in Ireland—who were

put to the sword by the more powerful TUATHA

DÉ DANANN.

rune Non-Celtic alphabet. The word rune is

occasionally mistakenly used for the OGHAM

alphabet; it is more appropriately applied to the

early alphabet of Scandinavia. Occasionally the

word is also applied by folklorists to a rhyming

chant or CHARM.

rushes Symbolic plant. In Scottish fairy lore,

rushes were said to mark FAIRY hiding places.

This is in line with the idea that entries to FAIRY-

LAND were found in places that were neither one

thing nor another; a spot where rushes grew,

being wet but still solid ground, formed such a

liminal place.

Ruturugus Irish hero. One of the sons of the

Irish invader PARTHOLÓN, he was said by Giraldus

Cambrensis to have left his traces on “things still

living,” although whether that means that his

genetic inheritance was still visible or that he was

reincarnated in other forms is unclear.

Ryons (Riance) Arthurian hero. The cloak

of this king of Wales was trimmed, not with fur,

but with the beards of warriors he had killed.

When he demanded king ARTHUR’s beard, the

king of CAMELOT refused and conquered

Ryons’s land instead.

402 Rudianus

Sabraan British goddess. This obscure god-

dess is known from a single Romano-Celtic

TEMPLE built on a site in Gloucestershire that is

believed to have been inhabited from pre-Celtic

times; thus she may have been derived from or

connected to a pre-Celtic goddess of the region.

Sabrina British goddess or folkloric figure. A

goddess of this name is believed to have been

honored as the divinity of the Severn River in

Britain; as many Celtic goddesses were seen as

embodied in a RIVER and its watershed, this

interpretation is supported by evidence from

both insular and continental sources. Like many

goddesses, Sabrina survived not as a divine but

as a folkloric figure, one who appears in the

famous “Masque of Comus” by English poet

John Milton.

Milton based his Masque, a dramatic enter-

tainment, on the legend of Locrine, king of

Loegria (an ancient name for the English

Midlands), who was defeated by an invader

named Humber. Among Locrine’s subjects was a

lovely maiden, Estrildis, to whom the conquer-

ing Humber took a fancy, despite being already

married to the powerful princess Gwendolen of

Cornwall. Rather than choose between his mar-

riage vows and his infatuation, Humber hid

Estrildis in an underground chamber, where she

conceived and bore their child, Sabrina.

When his powerful father-in-law died,

Humber thought himself free of any conse-

quence of his infidelity and brought forth

Estrildis and Sabrina from their dark confine-

ment. Gwendolen, furious at her husband’s

betrayal, marshaled her father’s troops and

marched upon him. When she proved victor, she

demanded that the unfortunate woman and her

child be drowned in the Severn. This late legend

seems to support interpretations of Sabrina as

the resident spirit of the river.

Source: Spence, Lewis. The Minor Traditions of

British Mythology. New York: Benjamin Blom,

Inc., 1972, p. 15.

sacral kingship Cosmological concept. This

term is used by some writers to represent the

idea that KINGSHIP was not only a political role

within Celtic society but a sacred one. Although

there is evidence to support this contention, the

phrase is a controversial one because of its use in

other, non-Celtic, contexts.

Kings were often chosen from families of

royal blood, but at other times a man from a

lesser family might be chosen through DIVINA-

TION by DRUIDS or through feats of arms. Once

elevated through the ritual of INAUGURATION,

the king was expected to follow a series of rules

and to abide by certain taboos (see BUADA and

403