God of the Week: Rhiannon

God of the Week 04/12/2010: Rhiannon

Stevie Nicks may not have worshiped her, but the ancient Celts did. She was a goddess of horses and had a haunting story of a stolen child.

One day Pwyll sat on a mound which had the property of causing him who was seated on it to receive a blow or see a prodigy. A beautiful woman rode toward him and his men, who pursued, but could not take her. …She was Rhiannon…

The story now tells how Rhiannon, whose child disappeared at birth, was accused of slaying it and was forced to sit at the horse-block of the palace, to tell her story to each new comer, and to offer to carry him inside.
-Mythology of All Races, Vol 3, Celtic and Slavic
Edited by Louis Herber Gray