The Holy Grail
Depending on the source consulted, the Holy Grail was either the dish that Christ used during the Last Supper or the vessel in which his blood was collected at the Crucifixion. According to one tradition, it was brought to England together with the lance that pierced Christ’s side, and left under the protection of a guardian of the Holy Grail, or Fisher King. The legend tells us that when the father of the Fisher King (the Maimed King) was wounded, the land became barren; yet it could only be healed and prosperity restored if a pure-hearted knight were to find the Grail and ask the right questions. The quest becomes a test of the purity and worth of each of the knights, and it begins when the Grail appears in a vision to Arthur and his knights.
Although this is a Christian legend, its origins go back to Celtic mythology, in which cornucopias and cauldrons (including one with the power to resurrect the dead) are common, as are quests in which the hero must venture into the Otherworld to win a precious prize.
There are therefore several versions of the legend, and all agree that Arthur never undertook such a quest and that only one knight, Sir Galahad, proves himself worthy of finding that precious object.
Graal
This word comes from the Occitan gradal, currently grazal. It appears for the first time at the end of the twelfth century, in the Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes, and is a common noun. In Chrétien’s work it is a vessel; in the works of Chrétien’s continuators, a dish or a cup; in the Cistercian version, a chalice; in that of Wolfram von Eschenbach, a stone; and in the archaic Welsh version, a platter bearing a severed head.
The object was extensively Christianized, but there is no doubt as to its Celtic origin. As archetypes of the same object we can find, both in Ireland and in Wales, cauldrons of resurrection, of abundance and of inspiration, inexhaustible dishes, and springs of health.
Over the centuries, many interpretations have been given to this mysterious object, which is linked to the Gospel of Nicodemus.
The orthodox version makes it the emerald vessel in which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Jesus Christ before he was buried, but marginal Christian currents gave it many other meanings.
From a strictly Celtic perspective, the Graal is a symbol of power and wholeness linked to the ideas of abundance, knowledge and immortality. And the ritual described in connection with the Graal corresponds to ancient royal enthronement ceremonies, probably intended to emphasize the concept of an ideal and universal kingship that embodies on earth the archetype of the divine.
Moreover, one of the forms this word takes in medieval texts is sangreal. The term is significant for its ambiguity. Depending on how the word is segmented, one can read in it both "The Holy Graal", in accordance with the legend of Joseph of Arimathea, and "Royal Blood", indicative of a royal or initiatic lineage.
All the texts relating to the Graal insist on the importance of a predestined lineage for its guardianship, and even of a lineage in the Celtic style, that is to say matrilineal. More than an object, the Graal would be the symbol of the transmission of initiatic secrets from generation to generation.
Sir Perceval, the first hero
In later versions of the Grail legend, it is Sir Galahad who finds the Grail. But the hero who achieves the Grail in the earliest versions is Sir Perceval. Raised by his mother in Wales and sheltered from the world, Perceval is inspired by a group of armed knights, whom he mistakes for angels, to set out in search of his fortune. He arrives at the Grail castle, where he fails to ask the essential questions about the Grail and the lance. He later arrives at the court of King Arthur, and an old woman curses him for his failure, which has made the fields barren. The second time Perceval goes to the Grail castle, he asks the right questions… Who does the Grail serve? and Why does the lance drip blood? In one of the most poetic Grail narratives, the Perlesvaus or High Book of the Grail, Perceval carries the Grail away in a magic boat and reaches the Island of Abundance where he is to reign. Beneath the Island of Abundance lies the Island of Poverty, whose people will be fed by the Grail.