Annwn or Annwfn (Middle Welsh Annwvn, sometimes inaccurately written Annwyn, Annwyfn or Annwfyn) was the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn, or much later by Gwyn ap Nudd, it was essentially a world of delights and eternal youth where disease is absent and food is ever-abundant. It later became Christianised and identified with the land of souls that had departed this world.
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Middle Welsh sources suggest that the term was recognised as meaning "very deep" in medieval times (Sims-Williams 1990). The appearance of a form antumnos on an ancient Gaulish curse tablet, however, suggests that the original term may have been *ande-dubnos (*andubnos in British), a common Gallo-Brittonic word that literally meant "underworld" (Lambert 2003). The pronunciation of Modern Welsh Annwn is [ˈanːʊn].
Many suggest also that the name is formed from 'an-' (Welsh negative prefix) + dwfn (from Irish 'domhan' meaning 'earth').
In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, entitled Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, the eponymous prince offends Arawn, ruler of Annwn, by baiting his hunting hounds on a stag that Arawn's dogs had brought down. In recompense he exchanges places with Arawn for a year and defeats Arawn's enemy Hafgan. Meanwhile, Arawn rules Dyfed. During this year, Pwyll does not sleep with Arawn's wife, earning himself gratitude from Arawn. On his return, Pwyll becomes known by the title Penn Annwn, "Head (or Ruler) of Annwn."
In Culhwch and Olwen, an early Welsh Arthurian tale, it is said God gave Gwyn ap Nudd control over the demons lest "this world be destroyed." He led the Wild Hunt. A Christian story tells of the Welsh Saint Collen entering Gwyn's palace to banish him with holy water.
The early medieval Welsh poem Preiddeu Annwfn (“The Spoils of Annwn”), found in the Book of Taliesin, describes how King Arthur leads an expedition to Annwn to seek a cauldron. According to the poem: “ Three shiploads we went; save seven none returned.”
Some people have claimed that the door to Annwn was at the mouth of the Severn near Lundy Island or on Glastonbury Tor[citation needed]. Glastonbury has been interpreted by some as a sacred "Isle of the Dead", and is also revered as a place where saints and kings are buried. Supposedly, on a certain day of the year, this door would open, and the inhabitants would welcome humans in for feasting and celebration, upon the condition that they took nothing back with them to the human realm. This went on until one reveller kept a flower in his pocket. From that day on, the door has remained closed.
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