Gwyn ap Nudd is the protective Warrior-Hunter god of the native British tradition. He is celebrated as the 'Winter King' and he is represented in the night sky by the constellation that we now call Orion the Hunter. The bright star Sirius is the shining red nose of Gwyn's hunting dog Dormarth. According to old British (Welsh) writings, Gwyn ap Nudd's home was Glastonbury Tor.
Before the coming of the Saxons in the 7th century, Somerset belonged to the native British (Dark Age) descendants of the Romanised British tribe known to us as the Durotriges - whose ancestors created the so-called 'Glastonbury Lake Villages'. At that time Glastonbury was an island surrounded by marsh and the tidal estuary of the River Brue. The ancient British name for this place was 'Ynys Witrin' which translates as the 'Isle of Glass'. Evidence suggests that Ynys Witrin was a spiritual enclosure, a place between worlds, sacred ground.
At the end of the 7th century, the West Saxon king, Centwine, pushed the last of the Britons to the sea. The British retreated to the mountains west of the river Severn, the Saxons nicknamed them 'Waellas' (meaning 'foreigners') and the country of 'Wales' was created. The Saxons renamed the Isle of Glass, 'Glastonbury' and King Centwine's successor, King Ine, built the first stone church here, around which grew Glastonbury Abbey. The wetland marshes and River Brue were irrigated and the Somerset Levels were created, the sacred 'Isle of Glass' not only suffered having its name changed but it also became no longer an island.
It wasn't just the nature of the land that changed. The old gods and goddesses too were changed by generations of Christianity. Some deities would be erased and forgotten entirely. Some, like the goddess Bride would become Christianised ('St. Brighid') others like the goddess Morrighan would be romanticised into Arthurian legend 'Morgan le Fay' and Gwyn was turned into a whimsical 'King of the Fairies'! - Happily, enough ancient British literature survived in Wales for us to put together an intellectual understanding of the protective hunter god of Ynys Witrin.
Gwyn (whose name means 'White' - 'ap Nudd' just means 'son of Nudd') was just one deity in a whole pantheon of British gods and goddesses known to us as the Children of Don (Don was the great mother goddess of the British pantheon). Gwyn's name extends into the Welsh word 'Gwynfa' which means ‘Paradise’. He was the Winter King and appeared in the night sky with the return of the constellation of Orion in the autumn. He governs the sky at Samhain, the Celtic New Year and his presence was a comfort to the people at Mid Winter when the sun was reborn and the days started to grow in length again. He has an annual battle every Beltaine with the Summer King for the hand of the beautiful spring goddess Creudyladd - sadly Gwyn looses but he always returns in time for the next Celtic New Year.
Glastonbury Tor (Gwyn's abode) is situated upon the 'Michael Line’ that is positioned upon the Beltaine/Samhain alignment - the two times of years so significant to the Winter King. In recent years it has been discovered that upon Mid Winters Day, the sun can be seen to roll up the side of Glastonbury Tor, home of the Winter King! Gwyn is a shining bright otherworldly protective figure; a psycho pomp - a guardian, an 'escort to the grave' - protecting the dead on their way to Gwynfa ('Paradise') - Paradise Lane still runs around the foot of the Glastonbury Tor.
Yuri Leitch
Thanks to Yuri for the illustration. For more of his paintings see his website.
For more info see 'GWYN, Ancient god of Glastonbury' by Yuri Leitch - available at the Glastonbury Pilgrim Reception Centre and in our shop.
