Ragallach (Raghallach)
Irish hero. This obscure figure was said to have been king of connacht, the western province of Ireland, in the seventh century c.e. There is some historical evidence of his life, although the elaborate tales told about him are partially legend.
Because of his greed for power, Ragallach arranged to have his only possible rival for the throne killed—his nephew, who came to him with guards but was shamed into leaving them behind, permitting the king to kill him with ease. Because of this heinous act, the druids prophesied that Ragallach would be killed by his own children. To avert this fate, Ragallach announced that all his children should be killed.
His queen, Murieann, hid their daughter (who is never named in the legends) in the woods, where she was found and reared by a poor woman. The daughter grew into a splendid beauty whose reputation reached the king; in keeping with his greedy temperament and not knowing her identity, he demanded that the girl be brought to him. Murieann was so insulted by the king’s obvious infatuation that she fled from the court.
Several saintly men fasted in protest against the king’s behavior, with the result that he was magically ensnared on the next beltane night, the feast of summer’s beginning. A magnificent stag was seen racing through the land.
Ragallach gave pursuit and wounded the animal. The injured stag leapt into a river and swam away, shortly followed by the king, who found the beast’s body at last, being divided among hungry peasants. He claimed the meat, but the men fell upon him and killed him in the dispute. Nothing more is said of the daughter whose beauty caused the king’s downfall, although it is said the queen Murieann died of jealousy. Nor is it explained how the prophecy was fulfilled, unless the starving peasants were the king’s actual or metaphorical children.
Ragnell
Arthurian heroine. After an enchantment had been cast upon her, turning her into a loathy lady or cailleach, Ragnell maintained her sweet good humor and helped gawain, a knight of the round table, learn the answer to the riddle of what women really want. Despite her uncomely appearance, the fine knight fell in love with the wise and kind Ragnell. When they married, she told him that she could be a lovely woman during the day and a hag at night, or the opposite, and asked him which he preferred. When he gave her the power to make the choice herself, she emerged from her enchantment, becoming a beautiful young woman and revealing that women want to make their own decisions. She may be a form of the goddess of sovereignty. Ragnell’s tale became the basis for the medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer’s "Wife of Bath’s Tale" in the Canterbury Tales.
Rainbow
Cosmological symbol. The bright bridge of colors that decks the sky after a rainstorm has drawn many legends to itself in Celtic lands, as in other cultures. In Celtic areas of Germany the rainbow was believed to leave traces of gold wherever it touched the earth; the belief gave rise to the production of a coin with a slightly concave surface called a regenbo-genschusselchen (rainbow-coin), which was thought to have healing powers. In Ireland the leprechaun or fairy shoemaker was similarly said to hide his gold at the end of a rainbow.
Ram-headed snake
Continental Celtic religious symbol. An unnatural combination of mammal and reptile—and, occasionally, of fish as well—can be found in some religious art from Gaul, especially after the Roman occupation. The significance of this being, unique to the Celtic lands, is not known and can only be surmised from the way that Celtic artists showed it with deities and as an ornament on religious artifacts. The ram and ram-headed snake are sometimes shown with cernunnos, the god of wild lands, and thus may have been linked with fertility.
Rat
British folkloric animal. Whether the rat and mouse were originally believed to have magical powers among the Celts is unclear, but some vestige of that belief is found in the British Cotswolds, where they were thought to have prophetic or precognitive powers. When rats or mice suddenly left a house, it was believed to foretell a death the family. In Scotland seeing a rat or mouse in a sieve meant the likely death of someone at sea, as did seeing a rat swimming by when one was in a boat.
Rath
Irish hero. In an Irish tale, a sailor named Rath let himself be serenaded by a mermaid and her friends—who then tore the man to pieces. Mermaids were not believed to be generally murderous beings, but falling asleep to their Otherworldly music was something to avoid, for they were inclined to steal humans away to become their lovers (see fairy kidnapping).
Rath Chinneich
Irish mythological site. The location of the mythological palace of one of the first settlers of Ireland, nemed, Rath Chinneich has never been found, although it is believed to have been in Co. Armagh.
Ratis
Continental Celtic goddess. The name of this obscure Gaulish goddess may be connected with the word for a hillfort or settlement (rath); she was a protector of such fortresses.
Raven
Symbolic animal. The distinction between raven and crow is not always clear to the untrained eye, nor are they clearly distinguished in Celtic myth. The two birds are related members of the genus Corvus, with the raven being considerably larger and typically a more northern bird than the crow. They have common eating habits, devouring carrion rather than, as with birds of prey like the eagle and the hawk, hunting their food live.
This dietary predilection meant that ravens and crows were often seen flying over battlefields, waiting to feast on the slain. It was easy to link the birds to war goddesses like the Irish morrigan and badb, who were said to take the form of the birds when encouraging bloodshed.
At the same time, the birds were seen as oracular, a form of the goddess who washed the clothing or armor of those doomed to die (see washer at the ford) in the next day’s battle. As a symbol of the otherworld, the raven could indicate rebirth as well as death; thus the birds’s meaning is far from simple and can seem self-contradictory.
Ancient tradition was carried through the ages in folklore that claims that ravens are unlucky. If one is seen when ground is being broken for a house or when other new projects are initiated, its appearance foretells a bad end to the project. If they take to hanging around a house, it is considered a sure sign that one of its occupants is near death.
Red
Symbolic color. There were two colors most often associated with fairyland or the otherworld: green and red, with the latter being the more popular color for trooping fairies, while solitary fairies tended to favor green. As a result, the color was considered unlucky, even when on clothing or scarves worn by humans: Women wearing red petticoats were avoided in the west of Ireland until recent times. Even more ominous was red hair or hide, whether on human or animals. Combined with white, red hair was a sure sign of fairy origin. Thus fairy cattle were believed to be white with red ears; a dog or cat born with the same coloring was believed to be of fairy blood or a changeling. Red-haired people were, by the same reasoning, believed to have fairy blood.
There are many superstitions about such red-haired people and animals. It was considered very bad luck to meet a red-haired woman first thing in the morning; a traveler might return home rather than risk continuing a journey that started with such an evil portent. A person dressed in red could prove unlucky if he or she passed in the morning or when one was beginning a project. Red-eared animals were believed to have similar powers to predict (or possibly bring on) difficulties.
Red
Branch Irish warrior group. The warriors of the Red Branch were the protectors of the northern province of ulster, rather as the later heroic band, the fianna, protected the eastern province of leinster. The most famous Red Branch warrior was the peerless cuchu-lainn, who single-handedly fought off the invading army of queen medb of connacht. Some scholars have seen in stories of the Red Branch warriors a foreshadowing of the later round table knights who served king arthur.
Redcap
British folkloric figure. His little hat was red because he washed it regularly in blood from his victims, whom he frightened to death from his haunts in old ruins. His eyes were red, too, perhaps from staring into the darkness, ever on the watch for new prey. Should you encounter, while adventuring around old castles, a wizened old man with wild hair wearing iron boots and carrying a big iron weapon, the only thing to do was to hold up a Bible, which caused Redcap to emit a horrific scream before disappearing. Occasionally this figure appeared as a kind of useful brownie, eager to help around the house, but generally he was a fearsome spirit to be avoided.
Red Etin
British folkloric figure. This British ogre was ugly to look at (having three heads is not typically considered handsome) but not necessarily unfriendly. His interest was cattle: his own, which were large herds of otherworld creatures (often with red ears, a sign of their fairy origin), and others’, which he protected for no fee. He may descend from an Otherworldly guardian figure.
In one tale from Scotland, Red Etin appears as a giant from Ireland to whose home the son of a widow came, thinking to spy on him from a hiding place. Unfortunately, Red Etin detected the presence of human blood. "Be he from Fife," he bellowed, "or be he from Tweed, his heart this night shall kitchen my bread." He was not so cruel as he sounded, for he gave the young man three chances to avoid becoming dinner, and with the help of magical animals, the boy survived.
Reid, Thome
Scottish folkloric figure. This is the name given to a visitor from the other-world who, according to Sir Walter Scott, appeared in 1576 to a Scottish woman named Elizabeth (Bessie) Dunlop of Ayrshire. Bessie was surprised one morning to be greeted by a gray-bearded man dressed all in gray except for a black bonnet (unusual colors for Otherworldly apparitions, who tended rather toward wearing red or green). He spoke to her, offered her riches if she would give up being Christian, and then disappeared when she refused.
Undiscouraged, he came back again and again. Bessie invariably refused his demand, but she learned that the spectral man’s name was Thome Reid and that he had been a soldier killed in battle. Sometimes Thome appeared accompanied by small beings, "good wights," as he called them, who lived with him in fairyland. However persuasive he was, Bessie continued to refuse to join him there, accepting only his advice on how to heal her neighbors. She became a renowned herbalist who wanted only food as her fee. For four years Thome continued to visit Bessie, all the while encouraging her to abandon this world for the Other. Her loyalty to this world and its religion was not rewarded, however, for she was ultimately convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.
Reincarnation (rebirth)
Cosmological concept. There is some dispute as to whether the Celts believed in reincarnation. The term is often used in describing the east Asian religious and philosophical belief that a human being is born again and again in human form, with the activities of one life affecting those of the next (the Hindu concept of karma). When a soul is believed to occupy various forms, both human and animal, the proper term is not reincarnation but transmigration of souls.
Caesar claimed that the druids believed that, after death, the individual was given a new life, which explained why Celtic warriors were so fearfully brave on the battlefield, since they knew they would find another body when the one they occupied was killed. Caesar was writing about the culture he tried to conquer, so he may not be an entirely credible source. Diodoros of Sicily similarly argued that the Celts believed in reincarnation, but he attempted to show the similarity of the Celtic belief system and that of the Hellenic philosopher Pythagoras, who believed that we would be born again in various forms, not always human. Many Celtic legends describe mythic beings reborn in various forms (see etain, tuan mac cairill, fintan, friuch, taliesin), but whether this was believed to happen to the common individual is not clear.
What the Celts believed about the afterlife is debatable. The fact that gods and goddesses as well as heroines and heroines were occasionally reborn may not mean this was the usual fate of mortal beings, but rather might emphasize their uniquely divine qualities—for Celtic deities were not necessarily immortal. The idea of an Otherworld where the newly dead join the shades of the earlier dead, as well as the magical beings and divinities who lived there, does not necessarily imply reincarnation. Such descriptions of Celtic belief may be influenced by the Christian conception of heaven as a place where the dead enjoy the presence of god forever. The question of Celtic belief in reincarnation is thus still an open one.
Rhiannon
Welsh goddess or heroine. It is probable that, like other major characters in the compilation of Welsh myths called the mabino-gion, the magical horsewoman Rhiannon was originally divine. Her name has been connected with a presumed ancient goddess named riga-tona, "great queen." We find among the continental Celts (and, to some extent, in Britain as well) a horse goddess named epona, who may be a figure parallel to Rhiannon, since Rhiannon throughout her legend is associated with horses. The connection of Rhiannon to horses has led some scholars to link her with the sun, often depicted by the ancient Celts in equine form.
As she appeared in the Welsh myth, Rhiannon was an otherworld woman who rode her speedy white horse around an enchanted spot. The king of the region of Dyfed, pwyll, encountered her there and gave chase, but his mortal horse was no match for hers. Three times they raced, and finally he called out for her to stop, whereupon she did, admitting she had heard of his prowess and had come to seek him. Rhiannon soon became Pwyll’s wife and queen— though not until he defeated another contender for her hand, gwawl.
Life was not long happy for the pair, however, because after Rhiannon gave birth to their son pryderi, she was found one beltane morning with blood on her face and the child mysteriously gone. Everyone jumped to the conclusion that Rhiannon had gone mad and killed her child, but the blood was actually dog’s blood, for finding the boy missing, the nursemaids had killed a puppy and smeared its blood on Rhiannon’s face while she slept.
The nursemaids did not confess their secret, and so Rhiannon was punished. She was given a curiously light sentence: to serve as a mount for all visitors to the castle, bringing them from the gate on her back. She was ultimately released from bondage by the appearance of her son Pryderi, who had been stolen by a spectral figure but later saved and reared by a distant nobleman, teyrnon Twf Liant.
Rhiannon was widowed later in life, but soon remarried. The problems that plagued her first marriage came back to haunt the kingdom, which abruptly and mysteriously turned barren when her son Pryderi assumed the throne. Rhiannon and her new husband, manawydan, joined Pryderi and his wife cigfa in scraping a living from the increasingly empty land. Finally they gave up and found residence in a city far to the east (perhaps London), where they eked out a living as artisans, an occupation at which they were quite talented. In fact, they incurred the wrath of the less-talented local craftsmen, who rose up to drive them away.
Fearing for their safety, the family group returned to the wilderness of Dyfed, but Rhiannon and her son immediately became enchanted and disappeared. Unwilling to abandon his wife even though he had no idea where she was, Manawydan searched for clues until he discovered that the family of Gwawl, the former suitor humiliated when Pwyll won Rhiannon, had come to punish them. After a suitable accord was reached, Rhiannon and Pryderi were freed from enchantment and returned to this world.
Several scholars have connected Rhiannon with the goddess of the land’s sovereignty, for her presence in Dyfed made the land abundant, while her absence made it barren. She has also been connected with the goddess of war whose name resembles hers (morrigan has some of the same linguistic roots), especially because, like Morrigan, Rhiannon is associated with birds— in her case, three magical birds who fly always around her shoulders, singing so sweetly that the dead awaken and the living fall into a trance.
Rhonabwy
Welsh hero. This minor hero is most notable for being skillful at divination; he dreamed of the great king arthur before he came to power.
Rhun
Welsh hero. This human hero figures in a curious story of faithfulness and betrayal. elphin, the bumbling, boisterous king, bragged that his wife was more faithful than Rhun’s. To disprove this slight upon his wife, Rhun traveled to Elphin’s court and attempted to seduce the queen. When she refused his advances, Rhun drugged her and chopped off her ring finger. He brought this arrogantly to Elphin, not realizing that the queen and her handmaiden had swapped identities; the bread dough under the fingernail, something a queen would never endure, told the story. Rhun continued in his competition with Elphin, next wagering with him as to whose horses were faster. Through a trick engineered by the canny bard, taliesin, Elphin won the race and sent Rhun home.
Rhydderch Hael (Rhydderch Largus, Rhyd-derch the Generous)
Arthurian hero. Owner of a cauldron of abundance, Rhydderch is an otherwise obscure figure in Arthurian legend.
Riada
Irish hero. The son of a king of mun-ster Riada escaped a famine by taking his people on a long trek to happier climes. He first settled in Co. Antrim, in ulster, then boated across the Irish Sea to Scotland; both kingdoms were called Dal Riada after him.
Richis (Riches)
Irish heroine. This satirist challenged the great hero cuchulainn after he had killed her foster son, crimthann nia nair. Despite her bravery, she lost her life as Crimthann had done.
Rifath
Scot Irish hero. According to the mythological history, the book of invasions, this ancestor of the Irish race was one of the workers on the biblical Tower of Babel. When, to punish human arrogance, God cursed all the workers by causing them to speak in different languages, Rifath Scot began speaking Scots Gaelic. One of this descendants, goidel, created the final version of the language.
Rigani
Continental Celtic goddess. This name has been interpreted to mean "great queen." It may be a title of rosmerta rather than indicating a separate goddess.
Rigisamus (Rigonemetis)
British and continental Celtic god. His name meant "most kingly" or "most regal," and dedications to this otherwise obscure god have been found both in Britain and France. The Romans equated him to their warrior god mars, as they did a similarly named divinity called Rigonemetis, "king of the sacred grove."
Rigru Roisclethan (Rigru Rosclethan)
Irish heroine. This woman of the otherworld appeared to the king at tara once, wailing horribly and leading a mooing cow. She warned king conn of the Hundred Battles, who had attempted to kill her son, and told him that the land would suffer so long as the lustful queen be chuma remained in power.
Rfonach (Riona)
Irish heroine. The mother of the Christian St. Colman was a member of an important family in the province of con-nacht. When Rionach was seen to be pregnant,ambitious would-be kings realized that her heritage would elevate her child to royal status (see matriliny) and thus prevent them from gaining the throne. These rivals hunted down the pregnant woman who, in despair, jumped into the Kiltartan River near Gort, Co. Galway, intent upon death.
She did not, drown however, but floated downriver. She landed near Corker, dragged herself from the water, and gave birth beneath a magical ash tree. Two monks—one blind, one lame—found her there with her infant son. Rionach begged them to baptize the baby, but there was no water within reach. One monk grabbed some wet rushes, whereupon a holy well burst forth at that spot. The blind monk washed his eyes, restoring his sight; the lame monk bathed his leg, restoring his ability to walk. Colman grew up to become the patron saint of the region. Although a Christian tale, this story has many Celtic motifs.
Ritona
Continental Celtic goddess. This obscure divinity was known in Gaul as a goddess of fords; she may have been, like many other Celtic goddesses, connected with rivers as well.
River
Cosmological concept. Rivers, sacred to the Celts, were almost invariably described as goddesses. Many rivers in Celtic lands still bear the ancient names of the goddesses who were believed to live within them or whose deaths caused the release of their waters. Typically the river goddess was pictured as a maternal presence who provided food to those along her banks; among the continental Celts, the river was often associated with the group of goddesses known collectively as deae matres, "the mothers." Whether through fish caught in her waters, grain watered by them, or meat from cattle who drank along her shores, the river goddess was the great provider for the Celtic people. Her waters were sometimes associated, as a result, with milk, and the river goddess herself with a cow.
The source of a river was especially sacred. The Celts believed that where water first emerged from the ground, to swell into a river by joining with smaller tributaries, great healing power resided. Offerings were often made at these river sources, suggesting that rituals were performed there to promote recovery from illness or injury.
Similarly, springs were considered sacred, especially hot springs that became healing shrines. There is in fact significant therapeutic benefit to be gained from bathing in hot springs, which can relieve the pains of chronic ailments like arthritis. Several important Celtic sites, like Bath in England, show evidence of having been used in pre-Celtic times; in many cases, the invading Romans continued to employ the springs for their own medicinal purposes.
Some scholars argue that folk beliefs in hauntings or fairy activity around holy wells and rivers is a vestige of ancient Celtic religion. The legends of many fairy queens connect them to water. This interpretation, although common, is somewhat controversial.
Among the Celtic river divinities (together with the rivers they ruled) are the goddesses abnoba (Danube, Avon), alauna (Alaunus, Alun), belisama (Ribble), berba (Barrow), boand (Boyne), brigantia (Braint, Brent), Cluta (Clyde), coventina (Carrawburgh), danu (Danube), dee/Deva/Divona (Dee, Dive), erne (Erne), fial (Feale), garravogue (Garravogue), icauna (Yonne), matrona (Marne, Madder, Moder, Maronne, Maronna), natosuelta (Trent), sabrina (Severn), sequana (Seine), sinann (Shannon), and the folkloric figures peg o’nell (Ribble) and peg powler (Tees).
Although rivers were typically seen by the Celts as feminine forces, there are occasional breaks in the pattern. Occasionally a god appears as consort of a river goddess. Even less frequently, river gods alone are found; whether the feminine consort has been lost is not known. Gods of rivers (and the rivers to which they were connected) include Danuvius (Danube), nodens (Severn), and the folkloric figures tavy and davy jones (Tavy). More typically, gods ruled healing springs (see borvo, apollo Grannos, luxovius).
River sources, which are often similar to springs, frequently had a male spirit resident within them. Commonly he took the form of a fish, like the salmon of wisdom (sometimes named fintan) who lived in the spring at the source of the Boyne or the Shannon in Ireland, gorging on nuts from magical hazel trees and growing wise. On the Continent, especially in Brittany, there are legends of eels and trout who live in sacred springs. Seeing such a being, either leaping from the water or swimming beneath its surface, was extremely lucky.
Robin Goodfellow
British folkloric figure. In his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare conflated the figure of the mischievous fairy named puck with Robin Goodfellow, son of a fairy king (sometimes, oberon) and a human mother. According to British folktales, Robin Goodfellow got into such trouble as a child that his mother threatened to whip him, prompting him to run away and become a tailor’s apprentice. He continued to make mischief until threatened again, whereupon he ran away once more, this time looking for his father. The reunion was a pleasant one, for Robin’s father taught him the art of shape-shifting, after which he settled down and became a hard working, helpful brownie.
Robin Hood
British folkloric figure. The figure known as Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, may have some historical basis. Robin allegedly lived in medieval times in Sherwood Forest with the fair Maid Marian and his band of merry robbers, including Little John and Friar Tuck. There were, indeed, many highwaymen who lived in the English forests in those days. One of them seems to have caught the popular fancy, although the Robin Hood cult has always been more literate than oral, enjoyed more by the upper than the lower classes, despite Robin’s supposed personal bias toward the latter.
The allegedly historical Robin Hood was born Robin Locksley in Brandfield Parish, Hallamshire. When he accidentally wounded his stepfather and feared the violent retribution of the law, Robin fled to Loxley forest, where he met a giant hermit named Little John. (A nearby grave was exhumed in 1784 and a thighbone 30 inches long was discovered, so Little John, too, may have some basis in fact. Because bad luck struck the excavator, the bone was reburied and is now lost.)
There have been a number of controversial scholarly attempts to find a mythological basis for the Robin Hood legends. Most propose a connection between the alleged highwayman and the green man, a spirit of vegetation and fertility. By this interpretation, Robin Hood was once Robin of the Wood, also known as jack-in-the-green, who ruled as king of the May while Maid Marian was its queen. Such figures were especially associated with the beltane festival but were also occasionally attached to the midsummer festivals of late June. A spot in Loxley forest called Robin Hood’s Bower was said in local church records to be a site for Beltane festivities involving a green-clad man; that custom still survives at nearby Castleon, while at abbots bromley men still perform the horn dance around a cross-dressed Maid Marion.
Some legends support the contention that an historical highwayman’s deeds became grafted upon an earlier figure whose mythic duties included creation of the landscape. One such tale tells how Robin Hood and Little John challenged each other to a leaping contest. Robin said he could jump all the way over Wormsley Hill, but when he tried he knocked out part of the hill with his heel, which became Butthouse Knapp. When Little John jumped, he too snagged the hill with his heel, with the result that Pyon Hill was formed. Together these hills are still called Robin Hood’s Butts. Robin still protects the region, for folklore says that treasure hunters who attempted to dig there found their tools disturbed and gorse growing every day over what they had dug the day before. Such mischief is typically the work of fairies, so this legend connects Robin and Little John to the otherworld realm.
Roc
Irish hero. Part of the mythic background for the romantic tale of diarmait and grainne regards this man, who had an affair with the goddess Duibhne, wife of the gloomy god donn. When a child was born of the affair, the outraged and cuckolded husband Donn crushed its skull. Roc knew magic and saved his child by turning it into a great boar. If not human, at least the child was alive; it grew to monstrous size, living on the great mountain above Sligo called ben bulben. Duibhne then returned to her husband and had another child, Diarmait, who later lost his life in combat with his beastly half brother.
Roisin Dubh (Dark Rosaleen)
Irish folkloric figure. This name is given in aisling poetry to a dark-haired maiden who wanders the roadways alone, hoping to meet a king strong enough to break her bondage. She is a late form of the ancient goddess of sovereignty.
Rollright Stones
British mythic location. This great stone circle at the border of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire has attracted many legends. One claims the Rollrights as countless stones that deflect any attempt to discover their exact number. A clever baker tried to count the stones by putting a loaf of bread on each one, intending to gather the loaves and count them, but he never seemed to have enough loaves to cover the stones (or loaves may have disappeared as he placed them on the rocks). Some scholars believe these legends arise in an ancient tradition of offering food to the stones.
A significant legend about the Rollright Stones concerns an invading king who heard a prophecy that he would be king of the whole island if he ever saw the town of Long Compton. He set off, but some of his own knights opposed this goal and, when he was camped near the location of the Rollright Stones, began to plot against him. Fearing treachery, the king set off in the night, but before he could mount the rise from which he would see Long Compton, he met a witch who turned him into the King Stone— and his whispering knights into stones as well. If the spell ever is broken, the king and his army will conquer England, but for now they remain petrified, while the witch who holds them lives on as an elder tree in the vicinity. Some claim to have seen the stones sneak to a stream under cover of darkness, looking for a drink of water to quench their thirst. And every midnight, for a moment, the stones come to life and dance, while the King Stone drinks his fill. Although the stone circles themselves are pre-Celtic, there is evidence of a Celtic hillfort in the area as well.
Romano-Celtic
Archaeological term. This phrase is used to describe the divinities and religion of the continental Celts and of Britain, as depicted in art after the Roman conquest of those regions. The Celts did not portray their deities in human form, although there is some early evidence of animal-bodied gods and goddesses; more typically, abstract symbolism was used, which can be difficult to interpret. That the Celts did not suffer from limited artistic skill is clear from the speed with which they picked up the new mode of imagery; within decades of Roman occupation, figurative sculptures in clay and bronze and stone were found in shrines and temples. These show divinities in typically Roman garb (although sometimes with the clearly Celtic torc or neck-ring) but with Celtic symbols like the dog, the hammer, and the headpiece with antlers. Sometimes the inscriptions use Roman names; thus we have many Celtic mercury figures depicting a god who may have ruled commerce. Sometimes the Roman name was used with a Celtic one, as with Sulis Minerva, the healing deity of the hot springs of bath in England; occasionally only the Celtic name was inscribed on the deity’s image, as with nehaleinnia, an important goddess of the Netherlands and its sea trade.
In addition to its cultural influence, the Roman occupation had an economic and social impact upon the Celtic inhabitants of the Continent and the island of Britain. By contrast, the Romans never colonized Ireland; thus there are no Romano-Celtic artifacts from that land. Therefore it is not easy to interpret Celtic archaeological finds from the Roman provinces. The same is true of literary texts; as the Celts did not use writing (see ogham) to record their history and religion, relying instead on oral transmission, we have no indigenous material with which to compare that written by Romans and other observers.
The cultural scene was further complicated by the importation of non-Roman religious cults— like those of the east Asian goddess Cybele and the Persian god mithras—into Celtic lands by the Roman legions. The Celts were spiritually adaptable (see polytheism) and may have welcomed some of the new religious visions and opportunities. Taken together, these historical facts mean that the interpretation of Romano-Celtic material presents special problems for scholars, and there is much disagreement and controversy over the meaning of various texts and artifacts.
Romit Rigoinmit
Irish hero. This obscure figure plays a minor role in the story of the intoxication of the ulstermen, when he appears with the rest of king concobar mac nessa’s men at the fort of queen Cu Roi. He is a black man with huge, bulging eyes who serves as Concobar’s fool, entertaining the court with his jests and antics.
Ronan
Irish hero. The Irish myth of Ronan recalls the more famous Greek story of Phaedra, who fell in love with her stepson, was rejected by him, and vengefully accused him of raping her. Ronan married a much younger woman who fell in love with her stepson, closer in age to her than her husband. When the young man refused her advances, she reported to Ronan that the boy had raped her—for which Ronan put his son to death. When the truth was revealed, Ronan died of grief and his wife committed suicide.
Another Ronan (also called Rodan and Ruadan) was the cause of the desolation of the great central hill of tara, once the most important political and spiritual capital of the land. When Tara’s king, diarmait, condemned him for hiding a relative accused of murder, Ronan cursed the king and Tara itself. From that time forward, Tara was never again as powerful as it had been in Celtic times.
Rosault
Irish legendary monster. This vast being lived in the sea but somehow came ashore in Co. Mayo, where it began vomiting. With each regurgitation, more beings were killed: plants, sea creatures, even humans, until the monster itself expired.
Rose
Symbolic plant. The fragrant flower of midsummer, the rose was used in divination and magic. Just as it represents romance today,in Celtic lands it was connected with love and loyalty. In the British Cotswolds the rose was used in making magical spells to attract love or to capture the wandering interest of a lover.
Rosmerta
Continental Celtic goddess. Her name, interpreted to mean "The Great Provider," suggests that she was a goddess of abundance to her people in northeastern Gaul. The fact that she was sometimes depicted holding a cornucopia or horn of plenty supports this theory, as does her association with the god whom the Romans called mercury after their divinity of commerce. Rosmerta was often shown without a consort, however, or accompanying an image of the emperor; from this scholars have argued that she was an important goddess whose prestige may have even outweighed that of Mercury, said by the Romans to be the chief god of the Celts.
Occasionally Rosmerta was described as a goddess of a spring, which to Celtic people may have represented healing. This association might also expand upon her meaning as a force of abundance, for springs at the sources of rivers were connected with the symbolism of the fertile river goddess. Rosmerta’s name has been associated with a Celtic word for protection and fertility, and she is sometimes depicted holding the cauldron of rebirth. Rosmerta’s myth is unknown, as are the specifics of her ritual.
Roth Ramach
Irish mythological object. This powerful vehicle, called a "flying wheel," was a means of transport for the witch or goddess tlachtga and her father, the magician mog ruith. On the Roth Ramach, they flew easily through the air, even as far away as Italy. The ruins of the magical machine are said to be visible in a stone near Dromline in Co. Tipperary.
Round
Table Arthurian legendary object. The great table around which the knights of king arthur at camelot gathered was originally built for Arthur’s father, uther pendragon, perhaps in the otherworld. During Arthur’s reign, the table symbolized equality between king and knights as well as among the heroic knights themselves, who formed a spiritual brotherhood. When mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son by his half sister morgause, took Camelot from his father, he struck the center of the Round Table and destroyed it—and with it, the hope for harmony and peace that Camelot promised.
Rowan (mountain ash, wild-ash, quickbean, quicken tree)
Symbolic plant. Not really an ash tree at all, the delicate-leafed rowan (genus Sorbus) was associated with fairies, witches, and the otherworld across the Celtic lands. Rowan is often found near stone circles and other ancient monuments, as well as in graveyards, which may have given rise to the mystical connections of the tree. It was said to offer a foolproof way of detecting witches; the unripe berries, before they turned red, could be waved over a suspected witch, who would instantly confess. "Rowan, amber, and red thread puts witches to their speed," says a Scottish rhyming proverb.
Pounded and strained, the berry juice was a prophylactic against bewitchment; it is unclear whether the juice was swallowed, used to mark the skin, or simply carried on the threatened person. Crosses made of rowan wood were thought to avert the evil eye; sticks of rowan wood were useful for driving cattle to pasture, because they did double duty in keeping away potentially thieving spirits. Planting rowans around a house or at the property line was held to be good magic against the envy of witches; occasionally the ash was substituted. Rods made of rowan wood were used in casting spells. Like other fairy trees, rowans tended to be long-lived in areas where people believed in fairies, because terrible luck was said to follow cutting one down.
Ruad
Irish goddess. In place-lore surrounding the once-magnificent falls (flooded by a hydro electric project in the mid-20th century), at Assaroe, in Co. Sligo this maiden was said to have given her name to the waterfall (Ess Ruad) when she died there. abcan, the dwarf poet of the magical tuatha de danann, took Ruad from the otherworld to this world in his bronze, tin-sailed boat, so that she might seduce a human lover, aed Sronmar. The sounds of mermaids singing, or of music pouring from a fairy mound, caused Ruad to forget herself and leap into the white waters of Assaroe, where she drowned. Assaroe is also said to be named after a male figure, the Ulster king Aed Ruad, whose name combines that of the titular goddess and her human lover.
Ruadan (Ruadan)
Irish god or hero. In the book of invasions, the mythic history of Ireland, this heroic warrior was described as the son of the goddess brigit and the half-Fomorian king, the beautiful but ungenerous bres mac Elatha. In the great second battle of mag tuired, Ruadan was injured fatally after being discovered spying on the enemy; his mother came to the battlefield and began to cry out in a way that became the traditional keening (from Irish caoin, "lamenting") used at Irish funerals.
Ruadh (Rua)
Irish hero. One of the figures in Irish legend who was snared by a fairy lover, Ruadh was sailing one day when his boat was becalmed off the north coast of Ireland. He set off to swim for help but instead found himself beneath the waves, where he was taken up by nine lovely princesses, one of whom bore him a child. He eventually left the women, including the mother of his child, promising to return—then stayed away in
Norway for seven years, never intending to return. When he did come back, the nine fairy maidens intercepted his boat, throwing his son at him so that both died.
Ruad Rofessa (Ruadh Ro-fhesa)
Irish god. This name, which means "the red one who has great knowledge," was given to several Irish deities, notably the god of fertility, the dagda, although it was also used of the mysterious otherworld figure of death, donn. The legends about Ruad Rofessa are confused and confusing; it is unclear whether he was originally a separate ancestral god who became connected with other divinities, or if the name was merely an honorific title.
Rucht
Irish hero. Little known in Irish myth under his human name, this man is famous as finnbennach ("white horn"), the greatest bull of the western province of connacht. That bull was originally a swineherd named Rucht, who argued with another swineherd named friuch. Their enmity was so deep-seated that, reborn time after time, they continued to fight: as stags, as ravens, and finally as worms. Not much damage can be done by fighting worms, and besides the two were across the island from each other. They set in motion the next stage of the battle, for one worm encouraged the great queen medb to marry ailill mac Mata, while the other warned daire to expect an invasion of Ulster by Medb. Then the worms were swallowed by cows that gave birth to them again as bull-calves.
By the time the bulls had grown up, the stage was set. Medb, offended that her husband owned Finnbennach and thus was her social superior, set off to find a bull of equal value. The only one was Rucht’s enemy of so many lifetimes, now reborn as the brown bull donn cuailnge. The battle for the bulls is the subject of the greatest Irish epic, tain bo cuailnge. When they finally were brought together, Rucht and his age-old enemy fell again to fighting. Rucht was killed, his bull body spread in pieces across the land, but Friuch did not live long after his victory, dying of exhaustion and loss of blood upon his return home.
Rudianus
Continental Celtic god. An obscure god known only from several inscriptions in France that invoked his aid, he was identified by the Romans with their warrior god mars.
Rudiobus
Continental Celtic god. An obscure Gaulish god, Rudiobus is known only from a single artifact: a horse statue, which may have represented either the god in equine form or an offering to him. He has been connected with the Romano-Celtic mars, who appears under the name of mullo, possibly "mule."
Rudraige (Rory)
Irish hero. A relatively obscure figure in Irish mythology, he was one of the leaders of the fir bolg, a race of invaders— the third group to arrive in Ireland—who were put to the sword by the more powerful tuatha de danann.
Rune
Non-Celtic alphabet. The word rune is occasionally mistakenly used for the ogham alphabet; it is more appropriately applied to the early alphabet of Scandinavia. Occasionally the word is also applied by folklorists to a rhyming chant or charm.
Rushes
Symbolic plant. In Scottish fairy lore, rushes were said to mark fairy hiding places. This is in line with the idea that entries to fairyland were found in places that were neither one thing nor another; a spot where rushes grew, being wet but still solid ground, formed such a liminal place.
Ruturugus
Irish hero. One of the sons of the Irish invader partholon, he was said by Giraldus Cambrensis to have left his traces on "things still living," although whether that means that his genetic inheritance was still visible or that he was reincarnated in other forms is unclear.
Ryons (Riance)
Arthurian hero. The cloak of this king of Wales was trimmed, not with fur, but with the beards of warriors he had killed. When he demanded king arthur’s beard, the king of camelot refused and conquered Ryons’s land instead.
