The Unquiet Grave And Bale Time

Raven translates and sings the first three verses of "The Unquiet Grave" but Elfavy, a young Gwydiona woman, asks him to stop. Having read the remainder of the song, I share her dislike of it. She seems not to understand a fantasy in which the dead can speak although, when Raven asks whether the Gwydiona do not have myths, Elfavy expounds:

the dead go into the Night;
the Night becomes and is the Day;
Ragan, caught in the Burning Wheel, rose to heaven and was cast down;
the Mother wept over him;
these are Aspects of God and mean -

- the rainy season when dry earth comes to life;
dreams and waking;
loss, remembrance and recreation;
transformations of physical energy.

Death is not a separation. All is one. Earlier, Elfavy had said that her drowned husband was now of the sea.

Once a year, at Bale time, every Gwydiona goes to their district Holy City where God comes to them and they are God. The Gwydiona language has a universal gender with its own pronoun. Thus, God is not He, She or It, but "Vwi." Not for the first time, a very great deal hangs on what is meant by "God."