Mythological Creatures and Characters
- Aatxe: or Etsai is a cave-dwelling evil spirit who adopts the form of a young red bull, but being a shapeshifter, sometimes takes the shape of a man.
- Atxular and Mikelatz are said to be sons of Mari, among others.
- Basajaun: the wild man of the woods and his female version: basandere.
- Galtzagorriak are a specific type of iratxoak (imps).
- Gaueko is an evil character of the night.
- Herensuge is the name of a dragon who plays an important role in a few legends.
- Erge is an evil spirit that takes men's lives.
- Ilargi or Ile are the known names of the Moon, also a daughter of Ama Lur.
- Iratxoak: imps.
- Jean de l'Ours, a man born to a woman and a bear
- Jentilak (gentiles): giants, sometimes portrayed throwing rocks at churches. They are believed to be pagan Basques themselves, seen from a partly Christianized viewpoint. A surviving jentil is Olentzero, the Basque equivalent of Santa Claus.
- Lamiak or laminak, a type of nymph with bird-feet that dwelt in rivers and springs.
- Mairuak or Intxisuak are the male equivalent of lamiak in the Pyrenean region, where they are said to have built up the cromlechs.
- Mari is depicted in many different forms: sometimes as various women, as different red animals, as the black he-goat, etc. Her consort Sugaar, however, appears only as a man or a serpent/dragon. Mari is said to be served by the sorginak, semi-mythical creatures impossible to differentiate from actual witches or pagan priestesses. The cadre of witches near Zugarramurdi met at the Akelarre field and were the target of the Spanish Inquisition's largest witch hunt at Logroño. As a result, akelarre in Basque and aquelarre in Spanish are today still the local names of the sabbat.
- Odei is a personification of storm clouds.
- San Martin Txiki, a popular local Christian character, is a trickster.
- Sorginak are both mythological beings that travel with Mari and real witches.
- Tartalo: the Basque version of the Greco-Roman Cyclops.
Read more about this topic: Basque Mythology
Famous quotes containing the words mythological, creatures and/or characters:
“Both magic and religion are based strictly on mythological tradition, and they also both exist in the atmosphere of the miraculous, in a constant revelation of their wonder-working power. They both are surrounded by taboos and observances which mark off their acts from those of the profane world.”
—Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942)
“As I went forth early on a still and frosty morning, the trees looked like airy creatures of darkness caught napping; on this side huddled together, with their gray hairs streaming, in a secluded valley which the sun had not penetrated; on that, hurrying off in Indian file along some watercourse, while the shrubs and grasses, like elves and fairies of the night, sought to hide their diminished heads in the snow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No one of the characters in my novels has originated, so far as I know, in real life. If anything, the contrary was the case: persons playing a part in my life—the first twenty years of it—had about them something semi-fictitious.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)