RGVECB Hints for Math ap. Mathonwy

As has been noted or alluded to on one or two previous occasions, Red told the story of Math ap. Mathonwy, again, the other night. Since the White Goddess has directed the Cow Barn, not merely Red and the Crumby Ovate to search out evil, I, Ray, in collaboration with my twin sister Rayetta have something to say about the treatment of Math ap Mathonwy outside the scholarly confines of RGVECB. But first, if you would like to read the text of the story and plenty of re-iterations of the story, just type in Math Son of Mathonwy at Google. There’s lots and lots of lots, maybe a tousand or maybe two tousand of these iterations. It’s a sign of the times, people hungry for some sense of connectivity to nature and myth, look to the old stories, incomprehendingly. Most of the web sites presenting these iterations are in Britain too, so you can feel closer to the source material, as it were. Rayetta and me, though, are going to cut out the bullshit and tell you what the story means.

Math is typical of the dime a dozen sun gods that populate the mythological literature of all times and places. Math is slightly more interesting than some of them though, because he is also an accomplished Druid of the wizard type. He, Math, the son of the Goddess Donn, is set up in the story as the matrilineal king of Gwynneth, that country which is now called something else, but possibly would be indicated as some part of what is now northern Wales. We know that he is a sun god of matrilineal times because he can’t let his feet touch the ground. His feet must always reside in the lap of a virgin, or he must be riding around on a horse. To get from the lap of the virgin to the horse, he must be carried, because he is crippled in the legs and can’t walk so well. This is because in matrilineal times, the king’s only important responsibility was to placate the Goddess so the kingdom would be fruitful. The king didn’t require the use of two good big legs for this, only the little middle leg was important. So prior to his marriage to the local goddess, the king was ritually crippled to keep him from wandering off when she needed him. We also know that the times were matrilineal because of Math’s tolerance for his “sister’s” naughty sons and because Math’s “niece”, Arianrhod, had the power to grant all the boons that were important in those days, and still are, to whit, a name, inherited property and a good marriage.

The actual hero of the story, according to at least one numbskull website we directed your attention to above, is Gwydion, Math’s nephew. Gwydion, in the story, is a rapist, thief and would be regicide who receives only light punishment for his crimes, no doubt, because he is rich and powerful, and this indicates a transition, in those times from matrilineal to patrilineal justice, maybe. Gwydion is also important in the story because he kills Pryderi, a rival sun god with strong affinities for, and political connections to the Goddess. (You may remember in a previous subtopic that this same Gwydion was identified (in a fictionalized account involving a cosmic cow) as the Druid who vanquished Bran to win control of Stonehenge and then could not figure out how Stonehenge worked (see Liturgical Loose Ends - July 5, ‘05). Gwydion then is the euhemistic personification (slightly redundant here) of the liberation of the sun god from matrilineal authority.

Much of “Math ap. Mathonwy” concerns the provisioning by Math and Gwydion of a wife for Arianrhod’s sun god son, Llew Llaw Guffes (LLG). (Note: For some reason the learned in the Welsh language have great trouble settling upon how to translate the names of the various sun god iterations into English. LLG is another example. See also Culhwch, subtopic “Pigs are Interesting”,
9) June 28, '05). Goddess Arianrhod refuses to provide a wife for LLG so Math and Gwydion take it upon themselves to magic up a bride out of flowers. But the bride, Blodeuwedd, naturally, reverts to Goddess type and the rest of the story is the good old classic tale of king sacrifice, very thinly disguised, in matrilinear times.

Sooooooooo, bottom line is, none of the stories in mythology make much literal sense, and the Cymric ones, make no literal sense at all.