Don
Don
6 min read
Dôn is the mother goddess of Welsh mythology, ancestor of the divine family known as the “Children of Dôn” (Plant Dôn) mentioned in the Mabinogi. The Welsh equivalent of the Irish goddess Danu, she embodies the matriarchal figure of the Celtic deities of Britain, of whom she is the source.
Key Facts
- Dôn is the mother goddess from whom the divine family of the “Children of Dôn” (Plant Dôn) descends in Welsh mythology
- Her children — notably Gwydion, Arianrhod, Gilfaethwy, Amaethon and Gofannon — are central figures in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi
- She is the Welsh equivalent of the Irish goddess Danu, the common root of the Insular Celtic pantheons
- The Mabinogi, the collection that preserves her lineage, was set down in writing between the 11th and 14th centuries (White Book of Rhydderch, Red Book of Hergest)
- In traditional Welsh astronomy, the constellation Cassiopeia is called “Llys Dôn”, the Court of Dôn
Works & Achievements
Dôn is the root stock of the “Children of Dôn,” the divine dynasty of Wales, from whom magicians, gods, and goddesses descend.
Her son Gwydion is the greatest Welsh enchanter, creator of Blodeuwedd, the woman made of flowers.
Her daughter Arianrhod, linked to the moon and the stars, gives her name to the Northern Crown (Caer Arianrhod).
Amaethon, son of Dôn, personifies plowing and the harvest; he ties the goddess to the fertility of the earth.
Gofannon, son of Dôn, is the god of metal and the forge, the Welsh equivalent of the Irish Goibniu.
Dôn is recognized as the Welsh form of Danu, making her the common mother of the Celtic deities of Great Britain.
Her name and those of her children designate several celestial bodies (Cassiopeia, the Northern Crown, the Milky Way), etching the family into the sky.
Anecdotes
Dôn almost never acts in the Mabinogi: she is not a heroine of adventures, but an ancestor. We know her only through her children, called the "Children of Dôn
(Plant Dôn). She is a mother-goddess defined by her descendants
like a root of which we see only the branches.
The ancient Welsh inscribed Dôn's family in the sky. They called the constellation Cassiopeia "Llys Dôn
meaning
the Court of Dôn
the Northern Crown
Caer Arianrhod
(her daughter
s castle)
and the Milky Way
Caer Gwydion
(the castle of her magician son).
Dôn is the Welsh cousin of the Irish goddess Danu
mother of the Tuatha Dé Danann (
the people of the goddess Danu
). The two names probably go back to the same very ancient Celtic root
which can perhaps be found in river names such as the Danube or the Don.
Her son Gwydion is one of the greatest magicians in Welsh mythology: together with his uncle Math, he fashions a woman made entirely of flowers, Blodeuwedd. Dôn's lineage thus forms the true magical and divine dynasty of Wales.
Dôn's brother, the magician-king Math fab Mathonwy, suffered from a strange condition: he could stay alive only if his feet rested in the lap of a young maiden, except in times of war. It is around this wondrous court that Dôn's entire family revolves in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.
Primary Sources
Math son of Mathonwy could not live unless his feet rested in the lap of a maiden, except when the tumult of war prevented him. Gilfaethwy son of Dôn and Gwydion son of Dôn were his nephews, the sons of his sister.
Among those whom Culhwch summons to Arthur's court are Amaethon son of Dôn, Gofannon son of Dôn and Gwydion son of Dôn — proof that the lineage of the Children of Dôn was known throughout the Welsh tradition.
Gilvaethwy son of Dôn, and Gwydion son of Dôn, his nephews, the sons of his sister... — the translation that introduced Dôn and her family to all of learned 19th-century Europe.
Key Places
Kingdom in north-west Wales ruled by Math, brother of Dôn; the heartland of the divine family in the Fourth Branch.
Legendary court of Math fab Mathonwy, located in Gwynedd; the seat of power of the House of Dôn.
“The castle of Arianrhod,” daughter of Dôn; a reef visible off Dinas Dinlle at low tide, associated with the star goddess.
The constellation that Welsh tradition names “the Court of Dôn”: the only celestial “place” to bear her name directly.
“The castle of Gwydion,” son of Dôn: the Welsh name for the Milky Way, extending the divine family across the firmament.