Bandia an fhlaithis

Is téarma acadúil é Bandia an Fhlaithis, a fheictear de ghnáth i Léann Ceilteach, cé go bhfuil an smaoineamh céanna ann i nósanna eile faoin ainm hieros gamos. Is bandia í, ina samhail den tuath, a bhronnann flaitheas ar rí á phósadh nó as caidreamh collaí a bheith aici leis.
Tagann roinnt scéalta dá leithéid leis an móitíf Loathly Lady (D732 sa Motif-Index le Stith Thompson). Cáintear é áfach as a rá go bhfuil gach bean láidir ina bandia flaithis.
Dar le cuir síos Gréagacha agus Rómhánacha, d'fhéadfadh é gur dhéithe iad mná Ceilteacha stairiúla sábháil is Camma agus Cartimandua. Is léir é fosta go raibh banais idir an rí agus a thiarnas. Sna deasghnátha aitheanta mar feiseanna, bhíodh ann idir gníomhaíocht ghnéasach agus capaill. Is graosta fós, maíonn Giraldus Cambrensis in Topographia Hibernica den bhliain 1188, go mbeirtí rí nua Chineál Chonaill, barróg ghnéasach ar chapall bán, a mharaítí ansin chun anraith a dhéanamh. Nití an rí féin san anraith, agus d'óladh an rí agus a mhuintir ansin é.
Is scéal suntasach ó thaobh an troip seo é Echtra Mac nEchach. Tairgeann bean ghránna uisce dosna mic ar son póige. Is é Niall amháin a phógann le fonn í, agus thairis sin tá gnéas aige leis. Leis sin, iompaíonn an cailleach ina bean álainn, agus aithrisíonn do an rann a leanas:
Is léir gur bréagstair é an scéal chun tacú a thabhairt le ceannaireacht chlann Uí Néill i nÉirinn.
The fairly strong evidence for a tradition of sovereignty goddesses in early Ireland has led to a fashion in Celtic scholarship for interpreting other female characters as euhemerised sovereignty goddesses, or for arguing that the portrayals of women have been influenced by traditions of sovereignty goddesses.
This way of reading medieval Celtic female characters goes back to the 1920s, and is related to the myth and ritual school of scholarship. Mar shampla example, the protagonist of the Welsh Canu Heledd is sometimes read in this way, and figures as diverse as Guenevere; the Cailleach Bhéirre; Medb; Rhiannon; warrior women such as the Morrígan, Macha agus Badb; and the loathly lady of Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale have been viewed in the same light. Britta Irslinger has argued that female characters in early Irish literature whose names relate to ruling or the supernatural, or who have been named after kingdoms, originate as sovereignty goddesses, whereas those whose names relate to drink or some other benefit of the hall were queens.
However, recent scholarship has tended to criticise these assumptions, in both medieval Irish and related material. For example, the portrayals of Gormflaith ingen Donncadha (bás 861), Gormflaith ingen Flann Sinna (c. 870–948), and Gormflaith ingen Murchada (960–1030) have all been read as showing influence from the idea of the sovereignty goddess, but this has been shown to rest on little evidence. Likewise the role of the Empress of Constantinople, who appears in the Middle Welsh Peredur but not in its French source, has been found to be open to other readings. Even where female characters might historically owe something to traditions of sovereignty goddesses, reading them primarily through this lens has been argued to be limiting and reductive.