Mastodawn

Today's issue of The Gods and Their Croziers concerns Brychan - the first #Welsh saint so far.

Brychan is clearly a sort of "allfather" deity, but that doesn't situate him at the level of Óðinn or An Dagda; instead, he shows every sign of being the Creator-Deity.

Today's issue goes over the evidence for this: that Brychan is father to a medly of god-named "Saints", and one myth in particular that aligns him with Tadhg, grandfather of Fionn.

https://buttondown.com/godsandcroziers/archive/apr-6th-brychan-the-welsh-demiurge/
#Wales #Celtic #Christianity

Apr 6th: Brychan - the Welsh Demiurge

"Saint" Brychan is the Euhemerised Creator Deity of Wales.

The Gods and their Croziers

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Seachaint 1d ago

I had originally considered Brychan a parallel for Irish Breoghan - who Taliesin's Map has previously identified as being cognate with the #Hindu "Absolute" or "Monad": "Brahman".

I provide the reasons why I thought this was the case, but during the drafting I discovered that "Fionn" shaped myth, above, and realised Brychan was not the Absolute, but the "Demiurge", akin to Hindu Prajapati. This places him alongside the saints Cíarán, who I covered previously, and also Bile and Tadhg.

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Seachaint 1d ago

Happily, this identification has also turned up a few other IDs for closely related saints - Saint Cadoc as a Gwyn (~Fionn) type saint, and his father as a parallel for Cumhall or Galamh/Míl.

As to his mother, it's not clear in the Irish case who Muirne corresponds to, of the better-understood gods - so, comparatively, I'm not sure who Gwladys corresponds to in "big picture" goddess sense either.

She's Muirne, or Apollo's mother Leto: a goddess whose role seems fully maternal in nature.

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Seachaint 1d ago

Anyway - this won't be my last issue on a Welsh Saint - I already have every intention of publishing an issue on St.Nectan, and others will probably turn up too. But, I'm less grounded in the Welsh language & culture; I want to be more cautious.

Have I mentioned Brian yet? This issue has a treat, for all the Brians out there. Turns out you might be named after the absolute monad, the thing from which all other things unfold.

But don't let it go to your head. You're not the Messiah.

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