2. • The xana is a character found in Asturian
mythology. She’s always a female and a
creature of extraordinary beauty believed to
live in fountains, rivers, waterfalls or forested
regions with pure water.
3.
4. • Xanas are usually depicted in one of two ways. In one, they appear
as young, beautifu,l Nordic girls, with long blonde hair. This image is
usually associated with xanas who possess a treasure or those
under a spell. In contrast, in tales in which the xanas steal children
and enter homes to bite or steal people, the xanas are small, thin
and have dark skin.
• The xanas promise treasures. Some xanas may attack people and
steal their food. Although they can be beneficial spirits as well,
offering rewards of gold or silver to those found worthy. Their
hypnotic voices can be heard during spring and summer nights.
Those who have a pure soul and hear the song will be filled with a
sense of peace and love. Those whose souls are not pure will feel
they are being suffocated and may be driven insane.
•
5.
6. • Xanas have children, which are called xaninos, but they cannot take
care of them because they’re not able to breast children (they don’t
produce milk like normal women). Xanas usually take a human baby
from his cradle and put their own fairy child in instead. In order to
unmask the xanín, one must put some pots and egg shells near the
fire, and, if the baby is a xanín he will exclaim, "I was born one
hundred years ago, and since then I have not seen so many egg
shells near the fire!"
• The Xana are known under a variety of other names: Xaira,
Inxangana, Ondina, Encantada, Mora, Mouras, Xacias, etc.. They are
related to the Galician witches and the Lamia of the Spanish
Basque. They are associated with the Roman Diana and the Celtic
Ana, whom they may be descended from.
•
