The appearances of the Grail: traditions and popular culture
- Jo
- Apr 10, 2022
- 3 min read
The grail is usually referred to as a cup. But what is it really? What is it supposed to look like and what is it supposed to represent?
Paul-Georges Sansonetti, a specialist in literature compared to mythology, cinema and graphic arts, gives us his view on the matter.
Origin of the grail: etymology and literature
The word "grail" (which we have already talked about in a previous article) has entered the common language, losing, along with its capital letter, its sacred character, but retaining its mythical and quasi-inaccessible side (grail of journalists, grail of science, etc.)
But what is the origin of this term?
Paul-Georges Sansonetti reminds us that, etymologically speaking, "grail" derives from the Provençal language and designates a large hollow dish in which food was put. But, around 1189-1190 (period of construction of the first gothic cathedrals) a poet and writer named Chrétien de Troyes wrote "Perceval ou le conte du Graal": and this was the starting point of a new usage, the everyday object becoming unique by its new association with light and the supernatural.
Chrétien de Troyes will have continuators (Wolfram von Eschenbach, Robert de Boron, Alain DeLille...) and the literature of the Grail will extend over forty years, from 1189-1190 to 1230 approximately.
The appearances of the Grail
In these texts, it is generally said that the Grail appears to the knights in 5 semblances (a term that comes close to the meaning of appearance but also of apparition, with a supernatural connotation):
In Chrétien de Troyes, the Grail is a large hollow dish, a chalice (church);
In Wolfram von Eschenbach, it is a supernatural stone charged with the power of paradise (Iranian origin of this word which means the ideal/pure land of origins);
In Robert de Boron's work, the Grail is carved from an emerald that fell from Lucifer's diadem.
A contemporary of Chrétien de Troyes, Alain DeLille, makes the link between certain gemstones and certain planets, suggesting that the Universe is a Grail, since it is decorated with several precious stones.
Other traditional views of the Grail
It is interesting to note that American researchers have recently come to similar conclusions by linking the Grail to an ancient alchemical text describing Heaven as a receptacle of energy and comparing it to an inverted cup.
The Grail is therefore also evoked in the alchemical domain, where it is represented by the philosopher's stone. It is then the object of a quest that leads to the realization of several difficult works that are defined by colors (black, white and red) to shape and find the physical and spiritual light, in other words the Golden Age.
But the Grail is not just an object and can be associated with places that change us, that have a link with the spiritual. It is in this sense that, in the world of chivalry, it represents the luminous heart that we all have within us and carries us on a quest that transcends us in order to reach it and make sure that humanity finds its Golden Age (Hyperborea).
Finally, for example, in René Guénon's Primordial Tradition (which we have already discussed), the Grail is the knowledge of the world that we must seek, find and understand through different cycles and in order, once again, to return to the Golden Age for our civilization and for ourselves.
The Grail in popular culture
To finish in a more relaxed way, let us recall that in "Tintin and King Ottokar's Sceptre", it is precisely this sceptre that is the Grail. Hergé being, as we have seen, an initiate, nothing less surprising!
As for its presence in "Star Wars" by George Lucas, it is well on the light side of the Force that we must look for it...
Finally, the Grail being a quest, it is represented as a quest for restitution in the adventures of Frodo, written by J.R.R. Tolkien in his "Lord of the Rings", with the unique ring that is too much in Middle-Earth and that Frodo must destroy.
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