The Anathemata
Mabinog’s Liturgy (continued)
Whose grave eyes are said to be influential, sister, at the
Eisteddfa Arbennig1 in the Gwynfa,2 where they do already make ready the chairs for the hidden ones of the Island and prepare the filletsa and chapletsb and stitch on the golden laticlavesc for the tunicas of the whole war-band of Theos Soter,d when they shall have come to the guerdon-grovee and unbuckled their dinted loricas?f
Where they unbind the remedial rods, Marged!3
Indeed, and where they shall bare the just axes, my sweet Mal Fay!
But whose was the fiat six days before the calends of April in the white hendref4 within the green elbow of the hills, at the head of the parched Ystrad5 of the Mercatores in the lower commotg of the cantredh of the mixed gentes in the tetrarchatei of the Lake of Wonders when Cyrenius was Rhaglaw6 of the Three Syrias?
Who rose up and went in haste, mountain-way, through the middle-land, over the marches twice, into Cantref Iuda7 in the ethnarchy of the archeläos,j son of the daughter of Isis queen of cosmocrats,8 atheling to Herod the Temple, Rex
Iudaeorum,
David Jones notes
1 Eisteddfa Arbennig, ei-steth-vah arr-ben-ig, ei as in height, th as in nether; principal seat. Historically this was used of the court of the princes of North Wales at Aberffraw, because, in legal theory, that court was allowed a primacy of honour over the courts of Powys and the South.
2 Gwynfa, gwin-vah, paradise, accent on first syllable.
3 Marged, marr-ged, g hard, Margaret.
4 hendref, hane-drev, permanent homestead.
5 Ystrad, us-trad, plain.
The Plain of Esdraelon was a world-thoroughfare, toward the north-east end of which Nazareth is secluded in a semi-circle of small hills.
6 Rhaglaw, rhymes with vow, it means legate or provincial governor.
7 Cantref Iuda, can-trev you-da. The accepted English form is ‘cantred’.
8 The mother of the ethnarch of Judaea, son and heir to Herod the Great, is here confused with Cleopatra the mother of his half-brother Philip and she is confused with Cleopatra queen of Egypt.
additional notes
Galilee was a region of mixed nationalities (‘gentes’), many of whom might be merchants (‘Mercatores’). ‘Lake of Wonders’ = Sea of Galilee.
St. Luke (1:39) records that after the annunciation, Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth to tell her the news. This would have involved crossing the marches twice, once from Galilee to Samaria and again from Samaria to Judaea, then in the ethnarchate of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great.
see also
semantic structures
glossary
a fillet: hairband.
b chaplet: necklace.
c laticlaves: A badge of two wide purple stripes, worn by senators and certain other high-ranking people in ancient Rome, often attached to the tunica (if worn).
d Theos Soter: Saviour God (Greek).
e guerdon: reward.
f lorica: breastplate.
g commot: an administrative unit, being half a cantred (early Welsh).
h cantred: an administrative unit of (roughly) one hundred houses (early Welsh).
i The Herodian Tetrarchy was formed following the death of Herod the Great in 4 BCE, when his kingdom was divided between his four sons as an inheritance. Each son thus became an ethnarch, a leader over a common ethnic group or homogeneous kingdom. Naturally it didn’t last long in that form.
j Archeläos, a son of Herod the Great and king of Judea, Samaria and Idumea.
comments
There are two witches’ voices here, Marged and Mal Fay.
Marged says Mary has influence in heaven, where they prepare chairs for the dead (the ‘hidden ones’), dress them in ceremonial heavenly clothes and dispense reward (‘guerdon’ and punishment (‘rods’ and ‘axes’). The rhetorical question ‘But whose was the fiat?’ which authorised these things is answered by a reference to the Annunciation, here expressed in a Welsh way of visualising it. This paragraph is a verbal equivalent of DJ’s picture Y Cyfarchiad I Fair (Annunciation in a Welsh Hill setting).