Korrigan
The Korrigans are fairies or dwarfish ghost figures from the Celtic mythology of Brittany .
mythology
Korrigans are described as very beautiful and with wonderful hair, but they are only so beautiful at night and lose their magic during the day. It is said that they were powerful princesses or druid priestesses who opposed the Christianization of Brittany and withdrew to special places in nature. They prefer mossy springs.
Similar to sirens , they comb their hair and beguile careless men with their singing. They steal children and replace them with changeling .
Furthermore, they are said to have magical abilities: they should be able to look into the future, cure incurable diseases, appear at any time in any place and even assume any shape.
They are rarely seen, mostly only at night, where they give illusions to unwary hikers. They turn simple things like stones or trees into castles or other things. As soon as the day breaks again, the illusions evaporate immediately. Just like the illusions, the beauty of the Korrigan also disappears, leaving behind an unsightly, old being with red eyes.
Origins
In Breton , korr means "dwarfs", ig is a diminutive (belittling) and the suffix an indicates a pet form . That malicious spooky beings are referred to with a nickname is a contradiction that occurs more frequently in mythology. One thinks of the Eumenids , the goddesses of revenge in the Greek saga, whose name literally means "well-meaning".
The description of the Korrigans is similar to that of the Banshees , whereby the Banshee, in contrast to the Korrigan, is understood as a guardian spirit. Other beings from the Celtic region show clear similarities, for example the Tylwyth Teg , Cailleach , Gwrach or Black Annis . This allows conclusions about common roots of these beings. It is believed that Ceridwen , a Celtic goddess, was dysphemized . As queen, she would have always surrounded herself with nine maids. Therefore the number of Korrigans is often numbered nine.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alice Kane, Sean Kane: The dreamer awakes . Broadview Press, 1995
- ↑ a b c New Catholic world, Volume 11, 1870 (on Google books )
- ^ Archibald Maclaren: The fairy family: a series of ballads & metrical tales illustrating the fairy mythology of Europe. 1857