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Rigani
Brythonic Goddess, Rigani: Queen Goddess
Rigani is a Gaulish Goddess known from a single inscription found at Lezoux, France and she also seems to have been the tutelary goddess of he Régennes region. Like Rosmerta, whith whose name she is invoked, Rigani might have been a healer goddess. |
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Gaul: Queen Goddess
Rigani is known from a single pottery instcription, in Gaulish, found at Lezoux, Puy-de-Dôme, France (EC XV 1, 1978, 151-6) which reads: e(...) ieuri rigani rosmertiac (I dedicate [this] to the queen and to Rosmertia), which assumes, as is likely, that the terminal 'c' of the inscription is actually an 'e'. It should be noted that the radical form rigan- finds itelf in the toponymy of the region of the Yonne known as Régennes (which in the thirteenth century was known as Riganam.
The name Rigani is derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic root: *rīganī- (queen) and the deicitic particle -i-, yielding a meaning of 'Queen Goddess'. It should also be noted that the invocation of Rigani with Rosmerta is also interesting in terms of the Malton invocaton of Rigæ as Rosmerta is predominantly known as Celtic 'Mercury's' consort. Do we have here an example of Rosmerta's queen to Mercury's king? It is certainly tempting to speculate that this might be the case. It is likely, however, that, like Rosmerta, Rigani may have been a healer deity associated with water.
If you would like to try the foods of the time of the ancient Celts, then why not have a look at the ancient recipes section of this site. For the foods of the time when some of these tales were written down, take a look at the Medieval recipes section of the site and, in particular, the recipes from The Forme of Cury.
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