Avalon (in Gallic “the apple orchard”) is, in the Légende arthurienne, a mythological island. The Morgane fairy is the queen. Island crowned in the Celtic tradition, the priestesses of Ceridwen elected residence there. One can go there only after having received a form of initiation: it is necessary to know to call the boat which carries out to it, but to also know to go there to foot, through a Labyrinthe marshy. The common run of people can see “the island with the Monks there”, sheltering a monastery and being used as place of retreat, but the deciphering of the Mythe is more complex. “Avalon” represents the last refuge of the Celtic tradition, for this reason the island corresponds more to the Ireland, but also to all finished terrae where the legends are preserved.
According to the mythological and literary tradition, the island is surrounded by fogs and in its center draws up a crowned mount of a stone circle, a Cromlech. It is the place of residence of the Lady of the Lake, Viviane, guardian of the old religion, and Merlin the enchanter…
Disappearance of the island of Avalon
The more the legendary Celtic tradition disappears, plus Avalon moves away from the ground. When Galahad found the Graal, the Christian religion supplanted the Celtic beliefs and the island of Avalon disappeared with the eyes of the world. The Fée Morgane became queen of Avalon and other fantastic creatures such as the elves, the fairies.
Localization of the island of Avalon
It should be noted that in the Celtic thought, an island is not necessarily surrounded by water, it acts in a more general way of a place isolated, or separated from the rest of the world. Nowadays, the localization of the island of Avalon is dubious and multiple, but the tradition locates it at the site of the English city of Glastonbury, in Sommerset, located at the feet of the crowned hill of Tor. It is also in Glastonbury, in the ruins of the abbey, which would be buried the King Arthur and his wife Guenièvre.
Mythological interpretation
If one refers to the Celtic mythological tradition and more largely, Indo-European, the island of Avalon has the appearance of a kind of country of deaths, (Manau in its title entitled " the last combat" , has a person deceased " sings; return on the island of Avalon") or at the very least of another world. The stay of Arthur in its center is indeed not final, the world awaiting the return of the king who must intervene early or late. She thus does not have necessarily a site corresponding to the real-world, although its entry can be located at a known place.
In fact, Arthur is led there on a boat by three sisters, and the reference to apples in the name of Avalon points out its dimension of immortality, which is an eternal life only by defect: the wounds of Arthur are not looked after there. The Greek mythological tradition gives parallel elements with the boat of Charon and the Pommes of gold of the garden of Hespérides, which are also at the end of the world in a garden, i.e. a closed place.
See too
- Avalon is a film of Barry Levinson, left in 1990.
- Avalon is a film of Mamoru Oshii, left in 2001.
- the Fogs Avalon is a telefilm of Uli Edel, left in 2001.
- the Ancestors Avalon is a novel of Marion Zimmer Bradley published in 2004.
- Avalon is a balneal city located at 35 km in North East of the center of Sidney (New South Wales) Australia.
- Avalon is a song of the group of rac Breton metal Bagadou stourm, on Split with DSH
- " Avalon" is also a song of the pop group English " Roxy Music"
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