The gate of the year

Statue of the goddess Epona, sitting on her throne, dating to about 200 A.D., and now in the Historical Museum (Bernisches Historisches Museum), Bern, Switzerland.
The Celtic name of Epona, a goddess worshipped in most part of continental Europe, is associated with the common term for “horse” (epos, Latin equus). The iconography shows her often accompanied by this animal. His cult was probably reserved in origin to the warriors and, during the Empire, it diffused also among the Roman soldiers, so much so that Epona was the only Celtic goddess who was introduced in Rome, and to whom was assigned an official festive day, on December 18. Beside the horse, the attributes of the goddess were: the patera (offering plate), the cornucopia, sheaths and ears of grain. These symbols referred to her function as a divinity who promoted fertility of the crops and abundance of the harvests, as well as fecundity in animals, symbolized by the accompanying horses. However, Epona appears sometimes flanked by other animals, like the raven or the dog, or with keys in her hand, which hint to her other function, typical of many fertility deities, that of guardian of the entrance to the world of the dead. The inextricable interlacement between life and death, on the other hand, appears also in the horse symbolism. In the Celtic world, this animal was associated to the sun, regarded as the source of the fertilizing power which allows the growth of life upon the earth, but at the same time it is also the one who every evening went down in the Underworld and undertook a journey across the world of the dead. In this nightly journey, the sun warmed the underground waters, which gushed out on the surface as thermal springs. The goddess Epona manifested her powers also through the hot springs.
Many scholars maintain that the horse should not be interpreted as a theriomorphic aspect of the goddess, but only as a symbolic or accompanying animal. However, Epona’s image calls to mind the Greek Demeter with a horse’s head, worshipped in a cave in Arcadia, and described by Pausanias (VIII, 42, 4). She was also a goddess of the earth, of the crops and of the Underworld. During the Christian period, Tertullian accused the pagans of worshipping divinities under the shape of animals, including among them also Epona: “totos asinos colitis et cum sua Epona, et omnia jumenta et pecora et bestias" [whole donkeys are for you objects of adoration, with your Epona, and all the mares, sheep and other beasts] (Ad Nationes, I, 11).

[Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Epona.jpg]




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Statue of the goddess Epona, sitting on her throne, dating to about 200 A.D., and now in the Historical Museum (Bernisches Historisches Museum), Bern, Switzerland. The Celtic name of Epona, a goddess worshipped in most part of continental Europe, is associated with the common term for “horse” (epos, Latin equus). The iconography shows her often accompanied by this animal. His cult was probably reserved in origin to the warriors and, during the Empire, it diffused also among the Roman soldiers, so much so that Epona was the only Celtic goddess who was introduced in Rome, and to whom was assigned an official festive day, on December 18. Beside the horse, the attributes of the goddess were: the patera (offering plate), the cornucopia, sheaths and ears of grain. These symbols referred to her function as a divinity who promoted fertility of the crops and abundance of the harvests, as well as fecundity in animals, symbolized by the accompanying horses. However, Epona appears sometimes flanked by other animals, like the raven or the dog, or with keys in her hand, which hint to her other function, typical of many fertility deities, that of guardian of the entrance to the world of the dead. The inextricable interlacement between life and death, on the other hand, appears also in the horse symbolism. In the Celtic world, this animal was associated to the sun, regarded as the source of the fertilizing power which allows the growth of life upon the earth, but at the same time it is also the one who every evening went down in the Underworld and undertook a journey across the world of the dead. In this nightly journey, the sun warmed the underground waters, which gushed out on the surface as thermal springs. The goddess Epona manifested her powers also through the hot springs. Many scholars maintain that the horse should not be interpreted as a theriomorphic aspect of the goddess, but only as a symbolic or accompanying animal. However, Epona’s image calls to mind the Greek Demeter with a horse’s head, worshipped in a cave in Arcadia, and described by Pausanias (VIII, 42, 4). She was also a goddess of the earth, of the crops and of the Underworld. During the Christian period, Tertullian accused the pagans of worshipping divinities under the shape of animals, including among them also Epona: “totos asinos colitis et cum sua Epona, et omnia jumenta et pecora et bestias" [whole donkeys are for you objects of adoration, with your Epona, and all the mares, sheep and other beasts] (Ad Nationes, I, 11). [Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Epona.jpg]