Epona's younger brothers and sisters sat big-eyed on their sleeping benches, waiting. When the long purple shadows swallowed the lake the women would come for her. To be worthy of her blood she must face it bravely, just as any warrior went to certain death, knowing that life continued beyond. Epona looked into her mother's face and thought of all the questions she wished she could ask, but she said nothing aloud. It was hard to believe there might be an Afterward, when you were going into the unknown to face the spirits. 'Be certain you return that brooch to me afterward,' Rigantona said sharply. Rosy-cheeked Brydda batted at the balls to make them swing, and laughed like a child, but for once her infectious gaiety did not strike an answering note in Epona.Īfter sundown she could no longer wear the short tunic appropriate for children, but she was not yet a woman, so her mother wrapped her in a blanket woven of soft baby-goats' hair and pinned it securely with one of her own bronze brooches.

It was her oil and her ewer.Įpona's masses of tangled, tawny hair were pulled smooth with a bronze comb and plaited into three braids, with a copper ball knotted into the end of each to signify her status as the daughter of Rigantona, the chief's wife. Rigantona watched closely to be certain no drop was wasted. The older women began preparing her for the night's ritual, and she submitted in silence as they bathed her body in three changes of cold water, and oiled her skin with perfumed oil from a silver Hellene ewer. It was important to avoid offending the spirits of the animals and plants that had been sacrificed for her nourishment.Īs the sun moved across the sky the knot in her belly became a stone. She had eaten her meals without tasting them and had licked her fingers afterward as if she had found the food delicious. She had gone through the day as if it were any other day, pretending not to notice the jealous teasing of the other girls and the suddenly speculative glances of the boys. Since sunrise she had carried a knot in her belly, but she refused to give in to it. In the lodge of the lord of the tribe, Toutorix, the Invincible Boar, Epona waited for the representatives of the spirits to come for her.

The Horse Goddess by Morgan Llywelyn