> From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, October 07, 1999 7:44 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Jewish-Celtic Connections?
>
> Oops, you're quite right: the Gwynedd dynasty traced their ancestry to
> Jesus'
> sainted nanna Anna ("et Anna ..... quam dicunt esse consobrina Mariae
> uirginis, matris Domini nostri Iesu Christi").
>
I'm very glad that you pointed out the Welsh/British traditions of
pseudo-history. People tend to focus so much on the Lebor Gaba/la and Cath
Maige Tuired that they tend to overlook the fact that, at least in the forms
that have survived to this day, the Historia Brittonum is the earliest
source for this tradition of blending Biblical and Celtic pseudo-history.
I also find it interesting that the Gwynedd dynasty chose to trace
its dynasty to an ancestor of Jesus --and a female one at that, given that
Irish kin-groups tended to trace to goddess figures (in some cases). The
choice of Anna makes me think of the goddess (or in later folk tradition,
fairy woman) A/ine or Anu from whom several Munster families claim descent
and after whom places like Knockainey were named.
Francine Nicholson
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