Irish texts provide us with three ancient names of Ireland, called after the names of three goddesses; Erin, Fotla and Banba. Erin gave her name to Eriu or Erin, while Fotla and Banba were named in texts as poetic names of Ireland.
The ancient name of Britain was Albion, but Britannia was also used as well. It would be logical to assume that at one time, there were three names for Britain, based on the names of three goddesses.
We lack the text which might reveal this third name, but there are plenty of goddesses to choose from. There are many manuscripts which relate the tale of Lady Albina arriving on these shores, as the leader of 33 sisters. Classical myth also tell of the giant Albion, the son of Poseidon, who fought Hercules in Provence and who was clearly a male version of Lady Albina, so common as a pairing in myth.
Britannia, mentioned in classical sources, is depicted on our coinage as a goddess. Nennius about 800AD and Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1135AD, both tell of Brutus landing on these shores and giving his name to Britain; a myth which suggests both a male and female version of the same name.
The furthest north point in Ireland, on Malin Head, was called Banba's Crown. This is directly comparable with the furthest north point on mainland Britain, next to Dunnet Head, being called Briga Head. Briga appears to be none other than Brigantia who was the goddess of the Brigantes as the largest tribe in Britain, named after the maiden goddess Bride. In Scotland, the crone or Cailleach, ruled the winter, but had to yield to Bride as the spring came in; hence St Brides Day is February Ist, looking forward to the spring. Banba too was a maiden goddess as her name can be taken as young deer.
It is hard to say whether Britannia and Brigantia were intended as the same goddess. However, as Albion was an ancient name of Britain, it is perhaps Lady Albina who equates to Eriu, who is possibly the mother of their respective realms.
That leaves the crone, who in Britain was Ceridwen or the 'Fair Loved One'. In Welsh, cariad still means love, and Ceridwen was sometimes called Cariadwen. In the Tale of Taliesin, Ceridwen is an old witch, who has little Gwion stir her magic cauldron, but three drops spill out onto his finger, and he puts it into his mouth to cool it down, and from then on he can see all things, past, present and future. She is furious that he has taken the essence of the brew intended for her son, shape shifts and pursues him in various guises, until he becomes a grain of corn, which she, as a chicken consumes. She becomes pregnant with him, and giving birth to him he is renamed Taliesin, or radiant brow because his third eye is fully opened.
In some older books, Ceridwen is associated with her pig. This is not actually found in older texts such as medieval Welsh poems, but this concept seems to have derived from some lost tradition. It would be reasonable to assume, that as pigs were underworld offerings at the Eleusis Mysteries in Greece, then their habit of burrowing was associated with the darkness and mortality of the underworld; hence an appropriate symbol for a crone goddess.
Of course, I can only suggest Ceridwen as the counterpart to Irish Fotla, as the third name for Britain, but though it is uncertain, it is a credible proposition.
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