A promise kept at the appointed placeA green thing carried as a reminderThe first cut of a meal given awayA candle at the turn of the yearCourtesy shown to someone who cannot repay it
Invocation Approach
Tone
Courteous warm unflinching
Address
GawainGwalchmaiSir GawainArthur's Nephew
Relationship
The nephew who takes the blow that was offered to the king
Warning
His one flaw was fear of dying and he wore it for the rest of his life
Resonance
Those who keep appointments the courteous those who have flinched once
Symbols
The green girdleThe axeThe green chapelThe pentangleThe holly bobThe noon sun
Mythology Summary
Gawain is Gwalchmai in Culhwch and Olwen and the Welsh triads, Arthur's nephew and one of the three great warriors of the island. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late fourteenth century, West Midlands) he accepts the beheading challenge, keeps the appointment at the Green Chapel, flinches once, and comes home wearing the green girdle as the badge of his one fault. The French romances give him a strength that rises to noon and falls after it, and a reputation that darkens until he is blamed for the war that kills Arthur; Malory inherits both versions.
Modern Practice
No cult. The practice is the appointment kept: the thing you said you would turn up for, at the place and the hour, when it would be easier to be somewhere else. The girdle is worn afterwards — the failure is not hidden, and it is not the whole of the man either.