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 The Isle of Avalon,
the island to which the dying king is borne across the waters,
is a transliteration of Attalon meaning 'apple trees' or
Afalxon meaning 'apples.'
It may well have a connection with apples because of the
similarities of its name to various Celtic words to do with
apples.
The Old Irish word is aball; the Middle
Welsh is
afall; Middle Breton of Brittany
is avallenn, Celtic avallo.
The apple tree was a sacred tree
amongst the ancient British and later also for the English.
Avalon was originally a Celtic paradise, where crops grew
without cultivation.
But it may also be from other
Celtic legends that the name Avalon has its true origin. The
name possibly comes from the god Avalloc or Avallach. He was the
god who ruled the Underworld. In Celtic lore Avalon was an isle
of enchantment, of unseen beauty and of fertility.
Two thousand
years ago, the sea washed right to the foot of
Glastonbury Tor, nearly encircling the cluster of
hills. The sea was gradually succeeded by a vast lake. An old
name for it is Ynys-witrin, or the Island of Glass.
It was
called an island because it would have looked like one to anyone
approaching by sea, Ancient
myth has it that Avalon, where the
sea met the land, was the meeting place of the dead. For the
living, it was a threshold to a doorway that led through into
another realm of existence. The Tor was the home of Gwynn ap
Nudd, the Lord of the Underworld, and a place where the fairy
folk lived.
In
Arthurian legend, Avalon is the
home of Morgan le Fay, who was an ancient British Goddess
or fairy
queen, though in most legends she is simply King Arthur's sister. Her
name has somehow travelled as far as Italy, where she is known
as Fata Morgana, and as Morgain le Fee in France. Fata Morgana
lived beneath the waters of a lake; suggesting some connection
perhaps to the legend of the Lady of the Lake.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, in
his work Merlini Vita, (or Life of Merlin), he
describes Avalon as:
The Island of
Apples, which men call the Fortunate Isle, is so named because
it produces all things of itself. The fields there have no need
of farmers to plough them, and Nature alone provides all
cultivation . . .
When
Joseph of Arimathea landed on the Island
of Avalon, he set foot on
Wearyall Hill, which is
just below
Glastonbury Tor. Exhausted,
he thrust his staff into the ground, and rested. By morning, his
staff had taken root and budded. St Joseph was planting the
Gospel in the soil of England, and the sacred
Glastonbury Thorn grows to this day.
For safe
keeping, Joseph of
Arimathea is said to have buried the
Holy Grail
just below the Tor at the entrance to the
Underworld. Shortly
after he had done this, a spring, now known as the
Chalice Well,
flowed forth and the water that emerged brought eternal youth to
whosoever would drink it.
Avalon was identified with being
near Glastonbury after King Arthur's grave was found in
Glastonbury Abbey in
the reign of Henry II. Perhaps, the dying
King was borne across
the waters of the
Somerset Levels to an ancient island, now the
inspirational Tor. |
