Editing Epona (section)

==In Britain==
The probable date of c. 1380–550 BC ascribed to the [[Uffington White Horse|giant chalk horse]] carved into the hillside turf at [[Uffington, Oxfordshire|Uffington]], in southern England, may be too early to be directly associated with Epona and may not actually represent a horse at all. The [[West Country]] traditional [[hobby horse|hobby-horse]] riders parading on [[May Day]] at [[Padstow]], Cornwall and [[Minehead]], Somerset, which survived to the mid-20th century, despite [[Morris dance]]s having been forgotten, was thought by folklorists through the 20th Century to have deep roots in the veneration of Epona, as may the British aversion to eating horsemeat.<ref>Theo Brown, "Tertullian and Horse-Cults in Britain" ''Folklore'' '''61'''.1 (March 1950, pp. 31–34) p. 33.</ref> At Padstow, at the end of the festivities, the hobby-horse was formerly ritually submerged in the sea.<ref>Herbert Kille, "West Country hobby-horses and cognate customs" ''Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society'' '''77''' (1931) [https://sanhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/14-H-W-Kille.pdf]</ref> However, there is no firm evidence of the festival before the 18th century.

A provincial, small (7.5&nbsp;cm high) Roman bronze of a seated Epona, flanked by an "extremely small" mare and stallion, was found in England.<ref>Wiltshire is the presumed source of the find, and was added to the provenance "''trouvée en Angleterre''", after the piece had been described in the sale catalogue of the Ferencz Pulszky collection, Paris, 1868. It is conserved in the [[British Museum]], and is described as "provincial, but not barbaric" in Catherine Johns, "A Roman Bronze Statuette of Epona", ''[[British Museum Quarterly|The British Museum Quarterly]]'' '''36'''.1/2 (Autumn 1971:37–41).</ref> Lying on her lap and on the [[patera]] raised in her right hand are disproportionately large ears of grain; ears of grain also protrude from the mouths of the ponies, whose heads are turned toward the goddess. On her left arm she holds a yoke, which curves up above her shoulder, an attribute unique to this bronze statuette.<ref>Identified as a yoke by Catherine Johns 1971; its misidentification as a [[Serpent (mythology)|serpent]] has led to misleading identification of a "[[chthonic]]" Epona.</ref>

In the medieval [[Welsh mythology|Welsh]] collection of stories known as the ''[[Mabinogion]]'', the regal figure of [[Rhiannon]] rides a white horse, whose slow, effortless gait supernaturally outpaces all pursuit. Wrongly accused of killing her offspring, Rhiannon has to play the role of horse for seven years as punishment, offering to carry travellers to the court and telling them her story; she also wears the work-collar of an ass. She and her son, who is fathered by the sea-god (cf Romano-Greek [[Poseidon]], god of horses and the sea), are sometimes described as mare and foal<ref>Ford, Patrick K., ''The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales'', 2008, University of California Press, pp. 12, 26, 36, 75, isbn 9780520253964. See also Sioned Davies (translator), ''The Mabinogion'', Oxford 2007, p. 231.</ref> Ronald Hutton is skeptical of connections claimed between Epona and Rhiannon; the latter is a much later, literary creation, though it also draws on oral traditions now lost.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|title=Pagan Britain|year=2014|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300197716|page=366}}</ref> A south Welsh folk ritual called [[Mari Lwyd]] (Grey Mare) is still undertaken in December, which some folklorists likewise have held up as an apparent survival of the veneration of Epona, but again there is no firm evidence to support the age, origins or purpose of the practice.