Cantabrian mythology
Encyclopedia
It seems that the native Cantabrian mythology connected, from the beginning and with the passing of the years, with Celtic
and Roman mythology
becoming partly related with legend
s and tradition
s from the rest of the Cantabrian Mountains
. In most cases its deeper meaning, passed from parents to children through oral tradition
, has been diluted, either because this meaning has been lost or because the classic writers didn't gather all the popular wealth and mentality of the time, paying attention only to cult
s and divinities
that were similar to theirs. On the other hand, the Romanization and later incursion of Christianism
transformed the sense and representation of these pagan
rites, reaching in many cases religious syncretism
.
Even so, Cantabria
n people still conserve more apologue
s and legends with a great ritual
or behavioral component than significant tale
s.
, as is evident in Cantabrian Steles, and in relation to the cult of the fire. Also, the Cantabrians worshiped a supreme divinity-father which in Roman time was associated with Jupiter
and the cult to the Sun, and later with the Christian God
.
Combined with the marked warlike disposition of the Cantabrians, appears a god
of war
, subsequently identified as the Roman Mars
, to whom they offered sacrifice
s of male goat
s, horse
s, or large numbers of prison
ers, as Strabo
, Horace
and Silius Italicus
point out. These hecatomb
s were accompanied by the drinking of the still warm blood of the horses, as Horace mentions in regard to the concanos, and it will be, then, a true communion.
For the ancient Cantabrians these practices had a mystic origin thanks to the belief that these animals were sacred. Some link this ritual very closely with the variant of the Celtic solar god Mars and that these animals they represented his reincarnation
.
The Human sacrifice
s among the northern peoples are also mentioned by Saint Martin of Braga
and they will have the same value of redemption and prediction that for the rest of the Celts of Gaul
, where they were very frequent. Then Strabo will tell that those who examined the prisoners' viscus
, covering them with thin tunic
s, cut the right hand and consecrated it to the gods. The way to predict the future depended on the fall of the victim.
Together with this war deity, appear the germinator mother-goddesses related to the Moon
, remaining almost until the present time, when they have a clear influence in rural environments, evident in the phases of sowing
and gathering of the crop
s.
In the same way, the cult to a god of the sea
was assimilated in Roman times through Neptune
(a statuette of this deity, but with features of the original Cantabrian divinity, was found in Castro Urdiales
).
The ancient Cantabrians believed in the immortality
of the spirit
. Thus they demonstrated in their funeral rites where cremation
predominated, with the exception of those who died in combat, who had to rest in the battlefield until vulture
s opened their entrails to take their soul to Heaven
and reunite in glory with their ancestors. This practice is testified in the engravings of the Cantabrian stele of Zurita
.
Sacrifice played a major role in the complex Cantabrian society in both its aspects: as a means to fulfill the divine will as well as the prevalence of abnegation to collectivity against the individual. Then, in a warring society, as the Cantabrian, immolation
was not considered as primitive or barbarian but the strong determination required from the person to commit sacrifice gave it a great importance. That was the case of the devotio
, a singular and extreme sacrifice practices by the Cantabrians in which the warring communities joined their destiny to that of their leader.
At the same time, a terrenal mythology of adoration to Gaia
, the Mother Earth, exists through the divinization of animals, trees, mountains and waters like elementary spirits. Beliefs, on the other hand, common to all the people who received celtic influences.
Places like Pico Dobra, in the valley of Besaya, have given evidence of their sacred condition since pre-Roman times through the altar
dedicated to the Cantabrian God Erudinus, dated on the year 399, which demonstrates that these rites extended beyond the instauration of Christianity in the Roman Empire
as official religion
. In the same way toponyms like Peña Sagra ("Sacred Mount"), Peña Santa ("Saint Mount"), Mozagro (Montem sacrum = Sacred Mount) or Montehano (montem fanum = Mount of the Sanctuary) indicate that they have been considered sacred places from the most remote antiquity.
Also divinized were the rivers and water bodies. At the Mount Cildá appeared an area dedicated to the mother goddess Mater Deva, known though the Celtic world and personified in the Deva river. At Otañes it was found a patera
dedicated to the nymph
of a fountain with medicinal properties. Pliny the Elder
mentions the existence in Cantabria of one of the intermittent fountains -the Fuentes Tamáricas- adored by the Cantabrians and that had a prophetic value and that corresponded to the current Velilla del Río Carrión
. Suetonius
, in a story about the life of Galba
, points out as a symbol
of good divination
having found, during his stay at Cantabria, 12 axe
s in a lake. There were, without any doubt ex-voto
s left there following their tradition (which is also found in other European peoples), which suggests a cult to the lakes. The offerings to the waters of stips, or bronze coins of low value, as well as other pieces of higher value, as denari
, aurei
and solidi
, its manifested in the presence of some of those pieces at La Hermida, Peña Cutral, Alceda and at the Híjar
river.
At the same time, the forest were also divinized, a cult with clear Celtic influences through an arboreal mythology. Some species of trees were specially respected; the yew
and the oak. The former is the most emblematic and symbolic species of Cantabria and it was venerated by Cantabrians in antiquity, being part of some of their rituals. We know by the accounts of Silius
, Florus
, Pliny
and Isidore of Seville
, that Cantabrians committed suicide
with poison
they got from the leaves of this tree, but they preferred death
rather than slavery
. It's usual to find them at the town squares, at cemeteries, churches, chapels, palaces and big houses because of being considered a witness tree, which has allowed them to perpetuate that halo of mystery and sanctity that surrounds everything related with this species.
The oak is the Celtic tree by excellence maybe because it is the most sacred species for the druid
s, from which they recollected the muérdago
. It is a species that carries lots of folkloristic
, symbolic and magic
meanings in Cantabria, it was frequent to use it as "Maypole
", the pole that presides the festivities in some towns, around which the people dance to celebrate the rebirth of the vegetal life. The Oak
symbolized the union between the sky
and the earth
, image that gave them the position as axis of the world. They tend to attract lightning
s, so it played a preponderant role in the ceremonies to attract the rain
and the fire
in all Europe
.
Oaks, beeches
, holly oaks and yews were used as a place of tribal meetings for many generations where religious and secular law
s were taught. Until recent times it was usual to celebrate open meetings under centennial trees (the meetings of Trasmiera
got together at Hoz de Anero, Ribamontán al Monte
, under a great holly oak that still stands).
As in other peoples, in Cantabria there were dates that have been appropriated since antiquity for rituals and legends, days that are charged with dark or ancient meanings. For this reason during the summer solstice
, the "night is magic". Tradition says, in all different variants, that the Caballucos del Diablo (Damselflies
, literally "Devil's little horses") and the witches loose their powers after dusk and the curandero
s gain control over them; plants as the four-leaf clover
, the fruit of the elder berry, the leaves of the willow
, the common jupiter
or the tree heath among others cure and bring happiness if they are collected at dawn. Around Christmas
(winter solstice
) there were ritual ceremonies, remains of ancient cults to the tree
, the fire
and the water
. Around those dates the sources of the rivers and the balconies were dressed with flowers and people danced and jumped over the fire.
Also important were specific moments of the day, mostly the twilight
. Ancient Cantabrians talked about the "Sun of the Dead", referring to the last part of the day when the Sun was still visible and that they believed was sent by the dead. They believed that it marqued the moment in which the dead came back to life
and several author have related it with the solar cult.
There are other fabulous beings that populate the mythological pantheon of Cantabria, as the Ventolín
, the Caballucos del Diablo
, the Nuberu
, the Musgosu, the Culebre, the Ramidreju
, etc. Or beautiful legends such as that of the Sirenuca ("Little Mermaid"), a beautiful but disobedient and spoiled lady with a fancy for climbing the most dangerous cliffs of Castro Urdiales
to sing with the waves and was, therefore, transformed into an ephydriad
. Or that of the Fish-man
, a man from Liérganes
who loved to swim and that got lost at the Miera river, being finally found at the Bay of Cádiz
, transformed into a strange aquatic being.
All these beings and legends prove the mystical mentality of a time, that was required in order to satisfy the Cantabrians needs to express their fears and to be able to enter into the hard and sometimes hostile and dangerous surrounding environment.
Even today there are Cantabrians that worship the Anjanas, not being replaced by saints or virgins, as they still consider that some gifts are granted by these good fairies of the mountains, and even today the Ojáncano is used to scare the children when they are mischievous. But this world of meanings and values has become diluted little by little with the advance of the modernity and time, giving place to new urban legend
s and forgetting the old deities.
It is until now that Cantabrian mythology has attracted the interest of scholars, specially after the publishing of the recompilation made by the writer Manuel Llano Merino (1898–1938) throughout his work, enriched with oral tradition, and several other writers like Adriano García-Lomas.
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
and Roman mythology
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
becoming partly related with legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
s and tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
s from the rest of the Cantabrian Mountains
Cantabrian Mountains
The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain.They extend for more than approximately 180 miles across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the edges of the Galician Massif close to Galicia, along the coast of the...
. In most cases its deeper meaning, passed from parents to children through oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
, has been diluted, either because this meaning has been lost or because the classic writers didn't gather all the popular wealth and mentality of the time, paying attention only to cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
s and divinities
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
that were similar to theirs. On the other hand, the Romanization and later incursion of Christianism
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
transformed the sense and representation of these pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
rites, reaching in many cases religious syncretism
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
.
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
n people still conserve more apologue
Apologue
An apologue or apolog is a brief fable or allegorical story with pointed or exaggerated details, meant to serve as a pleasant vehicle for a moral doctrine or to convey a useful lesson without stating it explicitly. Unlike a fable, the moral is more important than the narrative details...
s and legends with a great ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
or behavioral component than significant tale
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
s.
Divinities
Among the remains of myths that still persist as substrate in the Cantabrian tradition is the cult to great protective divinities, like the adoration to the SunSun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, as is evident in Cantabrian Steles, and in relation to the cult of the fire. Also, the Cantabrians worshiped a supreme divinity-father which in Roman time was associated with Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
and the cult to the Sun, and later with the Christian God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
.
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
of war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, subsequently identified as the Roman Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
, to whom they offered sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
s of male goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s, horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s, or large numbers of prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
ers, as Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
and Silius Italicus
Silius Italicus
Silius Italicus, in full Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus , was a Roman consul, orator, and Latin epic poet of the 1st century CE,...
point out. These hecatomb
Hecatomb
In Ancient Greece, a Hecatomb was a sacrifice to the gods of 100 cattle . Hecatombs were offered to Greek gods Apollo, Athena, and Hera, during special religious ceremonies....
s were accompanied by the drinking of the still warm blood of the horses, as Horace mentions in regard to the concanos, and it will be, then, a true communion.
For the ancient Cantabrians these practices had a mystic origin thanks to the belief that these animals were sacred. Some link this ritual very closely with the variant of the Celtic solar god Mars and that these animals they represented his reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
.
The Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
s among the northern peoples are also mentioned by Saint Martin of Braga
Martin of Braga
Saint Martin of Braga was an archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Hispania , a monastic founder, and an ecclesiastical author...
and they will have the same value of redemption and prediction that for the rest of the Celts of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, where they were very frequent. Then Strabo will tell that those who examined the prisoners' viscus
Viscus
In anatomy, a viscus is an internal organ, and viscera is the plural form. The viscera, when removed from a butchered animal, are known collectively as offal...
, covering them with thin tunic
Tunic
A tunic is any of several types of clothing for the body, of various lengths reaching from the shoulders to somewhere between the hips and the ankles...
s, cut the right hand and consecrated it to the gods. The way to predict the future depended on the fall of the victim.
Together with this war deity, appear the germinator mother-goddesses related to the Moon
Lunar deity
In mythology, a lunar deity is a god or goddess associated with or symbolizing the moon. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related to or an enemy of the solar deity. Even though they may be related, they are distinct from the...
, remaining almost until the present time, when they have a clear influence in rural environments, evident in the phases of sowing
Sowing
Sowing is the process of planting seeds.-Plants which are usually sown:Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sowed, grasses and legumes are seeded, and maize and soybeans are planted...
and gathering of the crop
Crop
Crop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , part of the alimentary tract of some animals* Crop , a modified whip used in horseback riding or disciplining humans...
s.
In the same way, the cult to a god of the sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
was assimilated in Roman times through Neptune
Neptune (mythology)
Neptune was the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology and religion. He is analogous with, but not identical to, the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto, each of them presiding over one of the three realms of the universe,...
(a statuette of this deity, but with features of the original Cantabrian divinity, was found in Castro Urdiales
Castro Urdiales
Castro Urdiales is a seaport of northern Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria, situated on the bay of Biscay.Castro Urdiales is a modern town, although its castle and the Gothic-style parish church of Santa María de la Asunción, date from the Middle Ages. Its chief industries are...
).
The ancient Cantabrians believed in the immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
of the spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
. Thus they demonstrated in their funeral rites where cremation
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
predominated, with the exception of those who died in combat, who had to rest in the battlefield until vulture
Vulture
Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
s opened their entrails to take their soul to Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
and reunite in glory with their ancestors. This practice is testified in the engravings of the Cantabrian stele of Zurita
Zurita
Zurita is an Aragonese surname, and may refer to:* Christian Rodrigo Zurita* Humberto Zurita* Jerónimo Zurita y Castro* Leonardo Valdés Zurita* Manuel Fernando Zurita* Maribel Zurita...
.
Sacrifice played a major role in the complex Cantabrian society in both its aspects: as a means to fulfill the divine will as well as the prevalence of abnegation to collectivity against the individual. Then, in a warring society, as the Cantabrian, immolation
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
was not considered as primitive or barbarian but the strong determination required from the person to commit sacrifice gave it a great importance. That was the case of the devotio
Devotio
In ancient Roman religion, the devotio was an extreme form of votum in which a Roman general vowed to sacrifice his own life in battle along with the enemy to chthonic gods in exchange for a victory. The most extended description of the ritual is given by the Augustan historian Livy, regarding the...
, a singular and extreme sacrifice practices by the Cantabrians in which the warring communities joined their destiny to that of their leader.
Telluric and arboreal mythology
Gaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
, the Mother Earth, exists through the divinization of animals, trees, mountains and waters like elementary spirits. Beliefs, on the other hand, common to all the people who received celtic influences.
Places like Pico Dobra, in the valley of Besaya, have given evidence of their sacred condition since pre-Roman times through the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
dedicated to the Cantabrian God Erudinus, dated on the year 399, which demonstrates that these rites extended beyond the instauration of Christianity in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
as official religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
. In the same way toponyms like Peña Sagra ("Sacred Mount"), Peña Santa ("Saint Mount"), Mozagro (Montem sacrum = Sacred Mount) or Montehano (montem fanum = Mount of the Sanctuary) indicate that they have been considered sacred places from the most remote antiquity.
Also divinized were the rivers and water bodies. At the Mount Cildá appeared an area dedicated to the mother goddess Mater Deva, known though the Celtic world and personified in the Deva river. At Otañes it was found a patera
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
dedicated to the nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
of a fountain with medicinal properties. Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
mentions the existence in Cantabria of one of the intermittent fountains -the Fuentes Tamáricas- adored by the Cantabrians and that had a prophetic value and that corresponded to the current Velilla del Río Carrión
Velilla del Río Carrión
Velilla del Río Carrión is a municipality located in the province of Palencia, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 1,632 inhabitants.-External links:*...
. Suetonius
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....
, in a story about the life of Galba
Galba
Galba , was Roman Emperor for seven months from 68 to 69. Galba was the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and made a bid for the throne during the rebellion of Julius Vindex...
, points out as a symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
of good divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
having found, during his stay at Cantabria, 12 axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
s in a lake. There were, without any doubt ex-voto
Ex-voto
An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or divinity. It is given in fulfillment of a vow or in gratitude or devotion...
s left there following their tradition (which is also found in other European peoples), which suggests a cult to the lakes. The offerings to the waters of stips, or bronze coins of low value, as well as other pieces of higher value, as denari
Denarius
In the Roman currency system, the denarius was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus...
, aurei
Aureus
The aureus was a gold coin of ancient Rome valued at 25 silver denarii. The aureus was regularly issued from the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 4th century, when it was replaced by the solidus...
and solidi
Solidus (coin)
The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.-Roman and Byzantine coinage:...
, its manifested in the presence of some of those pieces at La Hermida, Peña Cutral, Alceda and at the Híjar
Híjar
Híjar is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. , the municipality has a population of 1,900 inhabitants.The town is noted for the well-preserved, 15th century Synagogue, and for the Gothic-Mudejar church of Santa María la Mayor....
river.
Taxus
Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...
and the oak. The former is the most emblematic and symbolic species of Cantabria and it was venerated by Cantabrians in antiquity, being part of some of their rituals. We know by the accounts of Silius
Silius Italicus
Silius Italicus, in full Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus , was a Roman consul, orator, and Latin epic poet of the 1st century CE,...
, Florus
Florus
Florus, Roman historian, lived in the time of Trajan and Hadrian.He compiled, chiefly from Livy, a brief sketch of the history of Rome from the foundation of the city to the closing of the temple of Janus by Augustus . The work, which is called Epitome de T...
, Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
and Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
, that Cantabrians committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
with poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
they got from the leaves of this tree, but they preferred death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
rather than slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. It's usual to find them at the town squares, at cemeteries, churches, chapels, palaces and big houses because of being considered a witness tree, which has allowed them to perpetuate that halo of mystery and sanctity that surrounds everything related with this species.
The oak is the Celtic tree by excellence maybe because it is the most sacred species for the druid
Druid
A druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
s, from which they recollected the muérdago
Viscum album
Viscum album is a species of mistletoe, the species originally so-named, and also known as European Mistletoe or Common Mistletoe to distinguish it from other related species...
. It is a species that carries lots of folkloristic
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, symbolic and magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
meanings in Cantabria, it was frequent to use it as "Maypole
Maypole
A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day, or Pentecost although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer...
", the pole that presides the festivities in some towns, around which the people dance to celebrate the rebirth of the vegetal life. The Oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
symbolized the union between the sky
Sky
The sky is the part of the atmosphere or outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons. During daylight, the sky of Earth has the appearance of a pale blue surface because the air scatters the sunlight. The sky is sometimes...
and the earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, image that gave them the position as axis of the world. They tend to attract lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
s, so it played a preponderant role in the ceremonies to attract the rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
and the fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
in all Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Oaks, beeches
European Beech
Fagus sylvatica, the European Beech or Common Beech, is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.-Natural range:...
, holly oaks and yews were used as a place of tribal meetings for many generations where religious and secular law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
s were taught. Until recent times it was usual to celebrate open meetings under centennial trees (the meetings of Trasmiera
Trasmiera
Trasmiera is a historic comarca of Cantabria , located to the east of the Miera River , reaching the western side of the Asón...
got together at Hoz de Anero, Ribamontán al Monte
Ribamontán al Monte
Ribamontán al Monte is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain....
, under a great holly oak that still stands).
Significative dates
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
, the "night is magic". Tradition says, in all different variants, that the Caballucos del Diablo (Damselflies
Damselfly
Damselflies are insects in the order Odonata. Damselflies are similar to dragonflies, but the adults can be distinguished by the fact that the wings of most damselflies are held along, and parallel to, the body when at rest...
, literally "Devil's little horses") and the witches loose their powers after dusk and the curandero
Curandero
A curandero or curandeiro is a traditional folk healer or shaman in Latin America, who is dedicated to curing physical or spiritual illnesses. The role of a curandero or curandera can also incorporate the roles of psychiatrist along with that of doctor and healer. Many curanderos use Catholic...
s gain control over them; plants as the four-leaf clover
Clover
Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the leguminous pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes...
, the fruit of the elder berry, the leaves of the willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, the common jupiter
Juniperus communis
Juniperus communis, the Common Juniper, is a species in the genus Juniperus, in the family Cupressaceae. It has the largest range of any woody plant, throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic south in mountains to around 30°N latitude in North America, Europe and Asia.-...
or the tree heath among others cure and bring happiness if they are collected at dawn. Around Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
(winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
) there were ritual ceremonies, remains of ancient cults to the tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
, the fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
and the water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
. Around those dates the sources of the rivers and the balconies were dressed with flowers and people danced and jumped over the fire.
Also important were specific moments of the day, mostly the twilight
Twilight
Twilight is the time between dawn and sunrise or between sunset and dusk, during which sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere illuminates the lower atmosphere, and the surface of the earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark. The sun itself is not directly visible because it is below...
. Ancient Cantabrians talked about the "Sun of the Dead", referring to the last part of the day when the Sun was still visible and that they believed was sent by the dead. They believed that it marqued the moment in which the dead came back to life
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
and several author have related it with the solar cult.
Mythological creatures
Cantabrian people have not only telluric and natural divinities, but also fabulous beings with different aspects that people feared or adored and have legends and histories on their own. There are many of them in Cantabrian mythology, yet the most important are:- The OjáncanuOjáncanuThe ojáncanu is a cyclops of Cantabrian mythology. This creature embodies evil, cruelty, and brutality. This giant cyclops is the Cantabrian version of the Greek Polyphemus that appears in other Indo-European mythologies.-Description:...
. The sorrow of Cantabria, this creature embodies the evil among the Cantabrians and represents the cruelty and the brutality. This giantGiant (mythology)The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology.In various Indo-European mythologies,...
cyclopsCyclopsA cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...
is the Cantabrian version of the Greek PolyphemusPolyphemusPolyphemus is the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes. His name means "much spoken of" or "famous". Polyphemus plays a pivotal role in Homer's Odyssey.-In Homer's Odyssey:...
that appears in other Indoeuropean mythologies. - The Ojáncana or Juáncana. Wife of the former, is even more ruthless as children are counted among her victims.
- The AnjanaAnjana (Cantabrian mythology)The Anjana is one of the best known fairies of Cantabrian mythology. These female fairy creatures foil the cruel and ruthless Ojáncanu and Ojáncana. In most stories, they are the good fairies of Cantabria, generous and protective of all people...
. Is the antithesis of the Ojáncano and the Ojáncana. Good and generous fairyFairyA fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
, she protects honest people, the lovers and those who get lost in the woods or roads. - The Esteru. This is a Christmas character, he is a lumberjack that lives alone in the forest and makes toys to give them away in Christmas throughout Cantabria.
- The goblinGoblinA goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
s. This is a large group of little mythological creatures, most of them mischievous. There are two groups among them, the domestic goblins, those who live in or around houses as TrasguTrasguThe trasgo or trasgu is a mythological creature present in the tradition of several cultures of nowadays northern Spain, specially in Asturian and Cantabrian traditional culture...
and Trastolillo; and the forest goblins, as TrentiTrentiThe Trenti comes from the folklore of Cantabria, Spain. It is an imp-like creature that is annoying but not malicious. It is very difficult to see because it lives deep in the forest and resembles mushrooms, leaves, and moss. Its most distinguishing features are a completely black face with green...
and Tentirujo.
There are other fabulous beings that populate the mythological pantheon of Cantabria, as the Ventolín
Ventolin
Ventolin may refer to:* Salbutamol, bronchodilator medication marketed under the brand name Ventolin amongst others.* "Ventolin" , a song and single by Richard D James/Aphex Twin, named after the medicine...
, the Caballucos del Diablo
Caballucos del Diablo
Caballucos del Diablu is a Cantabrian myth, a legend from the Cantabria region of northern Spain.It originates at the St John's Eve...
, the Nuberu
Nuberu
The Nuberu or Nubeiro is a character of Asturian, Cantabrian or Galician mythology. He is known by the two names respectively depending on the mythology...
, the Musgosu, the Culebre, the Ramidreju
Ramidreju
A ramidreju is a creature from Cantabrian mythology, from Spain, that resembles a weasel. They are born every 100 years from a weasel or a marten. This animal has a very long body, like a snake, and their fur is slightly green-colored. Its eyes are yellow and its nose is like that of a hog, which...
, etc. Or beautiful legends such as that of the Sirenuca ("Little Mermaid"), a beautiful but disobedient and spoiled lady with a fancy for climbing the most dangerous cliffs of Castro Urdiales
Castro Urdiales
Castro Urdiales is a seaport of northern Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria, situated on the bay of Biscay.Castro Urdiales is a modern town, although its castle and the Gothic-style parish church of Santa María de la Asunción, date from the Middle Ages. Its chief industries are...
to sing with the waves and was, therefore, transformed into an ephydriad
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
. Or that of the Fish-man
Fish-man
The fish-man of Liérganes , is a cryptid which belongs to the mythology of Cantabria, located in the north of Spain. The fish-man of Liérganes would be an amphibian human-looking being, that looked a lot like a metamorphosis of a real human being who was lost at sea. His story was examined by the...
, a man from Liérganes
Liérganes
Liérganes is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. According to the 2007 census, the city has a population of 2,391 inhabitants.-Towns:*Bucarrero*Calgar*Casa del Monte*El Condado*La Costera*Extremera*La Herrán...
who loved to swim and that got lost at the Miera river, being finally found at the Bay of Cádiz
Bay of Cádiz
The Bay of Cádiz is a body of water adjacent to the southwestern coast of Spain. It touches the following municipalities in the province of Cádiz: Cádiz, San Fernando, Puerto Real, El Puerto de Santa Maria, and Rota...
, transformed into a strange aquatic being.
Cantabrian mythology nowadays
Even today there are Cantabrians that worship the Anjanas, not being replaced by saints or virgins, as they still consider that some gifts are granted by these good fairies of the mountains, and even today the Ojáncano is used to scare the children when they are mischievous. But this world of meanings and values has become diluted little by little with the advance of the modernity and time, giving place to new urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
s and forgetting the old deities.
It is until now that Cantabrian mythology has attracted the interest of scholars, specially after the publishing of the recompilation made by the writer Manuel Llano Merino (1898–1938) throughout his work, enriched with oral tradition, and several other writers like Adriano García-Lomas.
External links
- Cantabrian Mythology (Spanish)
- Cantabria joven. Mythology and Legends (Spanish)