Brân the Blessed

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Brân carries the body of his nephew Gwern: statue near Harlech castle
Brân the Blessed (Welsh: Bendigeidfran or Brân Fendigaidd, literally "Blessed Raven") is a character in Welsh mythology.

Cassell's Encylopedia of queer myth, symbol and spirit says "According to Robert Graves, he may have been worshipped by a homosexual priesthood."[1] However Graves's actual words do not support this claim. Graves mentions some "dog priests" in the eastern Mediterranean who indulged in "sodomitical frenzies" and goes on to say "Evidently Amathaon had seduced some priest of Bran – whether it was a homosexual priesthood I do not pretend to know."[2]

References

  1. "Bran" in Randy P Lunčunas Conner and others, Cassell's Encylopedia of queer myth, symbol and spirit, 1998, ISBN 0-304-70423-7. The article also mentions Graves's "internalised homophobia".
  2. Robert Graves, The White Goddess: A historical grammar of poetical myth, amended and enlarged edition, Faber & Faber, ?1960, page 53.