Avalon
Avalon (in Gallic “the apple orchard”) is, in the Arthurian legend, a mythological island. The fairy Morgane is its queen. A sacred island in Celtic tradition, the priestesses of Ceridwen have taken up residence there. You can only get there after having received a form of initiation:you have to know how to call the boat that leads there, but also know how to get there on foot, through a marshy labyrinth. Ordinary mortals can see “the island of monks” there, housing a monastery and serving as a place of retreat, but deciphering the myth is more complex. "Avalon" represents the last refuge of the Celtic tradition, as such the island corresponds more to Ireland, but also to any finite terrae where legends are preserved.
According to mythological and literary tradition, the island is surrounded by mists and in its center stands a mountain crowned with a stone circle, a cromlech. It is the residence of the Lady of the Lake, Viviane, guardian of the ancient religion, and of Merlin the enchanter...
Disappearance of the Isle of Avalon
The more the legendary Celtic tradition disappears, the more Avalon becomes distant from the land. When Galahad found the Grail, the Christian religion supplanted Celtic beliefs and the island of Avalon disappeared from the eyes of the world. The fairy Morgana became queen of Avalon and other fantastic creatures such as elves, fairies.
Location of Avalon Island
It should be noted that in Celtic thought, an island is not necessarily surrounded by water, it is more generally an isolated place, or separated from the rest of the world. Nowadays, the location of the Isle of Avalon is uncertain and multiple, but tradition places it on the site of the English town of Glastonbury, in Sommerset, located at the foot of the sacred hill of the Tor. It is also at Glastonbury, in the ruins of the abbey, that King Arthur and his wife Guinevere would be buried.
Mythological interpretation
If we refer to the Celtic mythological tradition and more broadly, Indo-European, the island of Avalon appears as a kind of land of the dead, or at the very least of another world. Arthur's stay in it is indeed not definitive, the world awaiting the return of the king who must intervene sooner or later. It therefore does not necessarily have a location corresponding to the real world, although its entrance may be at a known place.
In fact, Arthur is taken there on a boat by three sisters, and the reference to apples in Avalon's name recalls his dimension of immortality, which is eternal life only by default:Arthur's wounds are not don't care. The Greek mythological tradition gives parallel elements with the barque of Charon and the golden apples of the garden of the Hesperides, which are also at the end of the world in a garden, that is to say an enclosed place.