Knockers

Knockers , also Knacker , Bwca ( Welsh ), Bucca ( Cornish ), Tommyknockers ( USA ), is the name of goblins or mountain spirits in Wales or Cornwall . The name derives from their habit of knocking on the walls of mines . The Púcas , which are very similar to the Knockers in their underground way of life, are also called Bwca or Bucca in Wales and Cornwall .

Legends

The Knockers are the equivalent of the Irish leprechauns and cluricauns, as well as the English or Scottish brownies . The Knockers are up to six feet tall, live underground, and are usually dressed like miners . In the mines they mess around with the miners, steal their tools and food or scare them. Their knocking is interpreted as a hammer blow to cause the tunnels to collapse. The Cornish miners, however, consider Buccas to be good spirits who were once miners themselves, then had an accident and are now warning their successors of the danger. In Cornwall's many tin mines , there were frequent and severe tunnel collapses, so the miners always left a few bites of their meals in the tunnel as thanks for this warning.

When more and more Welsh and Cornish miners, known as Cousin Jacks , began to work in the mines of Pennsylvania in the early 18th century , they brought these legends from the old homeland to the United States. They only wanted to drive into new mines if they were assured that the Buccas were already there. In 1956, miners brought in a petition not to wall up the tunnel entrance to a mine that was to be closed so that the Buccas could wander unhindered into another mine. Finally, the factory management approved the application.

See also

• Celtic mythology
• Puk (legendary figure)
• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures

literature

• Katharine Mary Briggs: An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures . Pantheon Books, New York 1976, ISBN 0-394-73467-X , pp. 254 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 8, 2017]).

Web links

• Mason Coggin, Janice Coggin: Rhymes of the Mines - Life in the Underground 2nd Edition . Cowboy Miner Productions, Phoenix 2006, ISBN 1-931725-23-3 , pp. 132 ff . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 8, 2017]).
• Robert Hunt: Popular Romances of the West of England, Or, The Drolls, Traditions and Superstitions of Old Cornwall . tape 2 . John Camden Hotten, 1865, p. 118 ff . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 8, 2017]).