Thursday, March 24, 2011

Cymidei Cymeinfoll (pronounced KEEM-ud-day KEEM-een-vol) is the Welsh Goddess of war. Along with her husband, Llasar Llaesgyfnewid, she lived beneath a lake in Ireland, until Matholwch, King of Ireland, tried to kill them. Cymidei and Llasar escaped to Wales, taking with them the Cauldron of Regeneration which they guarded. When a warrior was killed in battle, he was thrown into the cauldron, and would emerge alive but without the ability to speak. They gave the cauldron to Bendigeidfran, King of Wales, also known as Bran.
When Bran’s sister Branwen was to be married to Matholwch, their half-brother Efnisien threw a fit and mutilated several of Mathowch’s horses. In appeasement, Bran gave Matholwch the cauldron as a peace offering to take back to Ireland. Unfortunately, the marriage was not a happy one and Branwen sent word back to Bran that she was being mistreated. He and Efnisien invaded Ireland to get their sister back. The Irish were winning, because the cauldron could keep regenerating their dead warriors. Efnisien leapt into the cauldron and broke it, turning the tide for the Welsh but losing his life in the process.
Cymidei Cymeinfoll’s name means “big belly of battle” in reference to the fact that she could give birth to a fully armed warrior every six weeks.

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