Grail is still a Christian icon, whether it is a bloodline or a cup. According to other beliefs, however, the Holy Grail is connected to old Welsh and Pagan traditions. In one of the Pagan Traditions of the Holy Grail, the Grail actually is said to evolve from the legend of the Goddess Cerridwyn. Cerridwyn was blessed with a beautiful daughter and an ugly son. According to legend, because of this, she decided to make a potion that would make her son wise. The caldron the potion was made in became known as Cerridwyn’s Caldron, which stood for renewal, rebirth, transformation, and the gift of plenty (Mabinogion).
All of these concepts are also attributes of the Grail seen in Arthurian legend, which leads some people to believe that Cerridwyn’s Caldron is the original Grail. In other words, the Grail evolved from the earlier Welsh legend to form the Chalice we see in the later Arthurian legends. This legend, in particular, first appears in the Mabinogion, a book of Welsh legends known to be older than the Arthurian legends (Mitchell). Since the story of Cerridwyn is not historical but fictional, it cannot be said to pertain to the actuality of there being a real Grail. However, it does suggest that if there was not an actual Grail but instead a well evolved legend, then the legend would not come from the Christian tradition but instead from the earlier Welsh/Pagan tradition.
The same principle is seen in the Arthurian legends in the Mabinogion with the Legend of Peredur, the Son of Evarwc. The Tale of Peredur is said to be the first tale of the Grail Knight Perceval who, under that name, was written about by Chrestien de Troyes, in his book, Perceval le Galois (Cline). The two stories, although one is a French Romance and the other is a