posted
Hey, as you asked, here is a very common definition of korrigans that I found.
"In Breton folklore, a Korrigan is a female fairy or dwarf-like spirit. Korr means dwarf and ig is a diminutive and the suffix an is an hypocoristic.
Korrigans have beautiful hair and red flashing eyes. They are sometimes described as important princesses or druidesses who were opposed to Christianity when the Apostles came to convert Brittany. They hate priests, churches, and especially the Virgin Mary. They can predict the future, change shape, and move at lightning speed. Like sirens and mermaids, they sing and comb their long hair, and they haunt fountains and wells. They have the power of making men fall in love with them, but they then kill the ones who do. In many popular tales, they are eager to deceive the imprudent mortals who see them dancing or looking after a treasure, and fond of stealing human children, substituting them with changelings. On the night of 31st October (All Souls' Night), they are said to be lurking near dolmens, waiting for victims."
OK, it is popular legend so you 'll find many interpretations. I learnt about them as neither women or men, little people that you can see when it is very dark outside, storms or when there is the full moon. You cannot and mustn't trust them, because they are just looking for any gain.. That 's what grannies told their children. Brittany is celtic French region, so it is full of legends as you may know!!
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posted
Thanks lonienne! That was from Wikipedia, wasn't it? If not, the Wikipedia entry uses the same text in describing them. Most of the sites I found that talked about them at any length weren't in English, not surprisingly. There also wasn't an entry for them in my encyclopedia of faeries, to my surprise (it's a surprisingly good reference work).
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posted
This is what's written in my Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith.
quote:The Korrigans and female Lamignak are the special guardians of springs and fountains. They make their homes in underground caverns but spend most of their waking hours next to their springs. In the case of the Korrigans, these springs and fountains are usually found near dolmens and standing stones. The elves rarely awaken before sundown.
The French Fountain Women are at their most beautiful at night, when the moonlight transforms them into awesome diaphanous figures. It is then that they hold secret rituals which change the springs into healing waters. When the moon is at its fullest, they comb their long hair with golden combs, as slowly and as patiently as the waters fall from tehir fountains. They sing old songs in voices so sweet that the night stops to listen to them. When their hair has been carefully brushed, the Korrigans and Lamignak bathe in the cool water, still singing their songs. It is not particularly dangerous for human women to look on while they are bathing, but it is hazardous for males. The man who catches the Korrigan at her bathing must pay with his body. He is bound to marry her within three days, or die.
It has been said that the Korrigans are the grand-daughters of the nine holy druidesses of ancient Gaul, but it si more likely that both are descendants of the Korred, the Dark Elves who live under Brittany's dolmens. The Korrigan have in time, through their association with water, become more and more ethereal until they can now be rightfully classified as Dusky Elves. They still retain their pagan beliefs to such an extent that the sight of a priest's cassock will send them into a rage and the name of the Virgin Mary is odious to their ears. Every spring, they hold a festival at which they drink the secret of poetry and of earthly wisdom from a crystal goblet. The man audacious enough to interrupt this festival will pay for it with his life.
The Lamignak are less violently anti-Catholic than the Korrigans, but cannot divorce themselves from teh old ways. Although the two species can understand each other perfectly, they cannot be understood by humans. They say exactly the reverse of what we would say. If a Lamignak remarks that it will be a nice day, this means that it will rain or snow. If she prophesies bad weather, it will undoubtedly be the nicest week of the year.
Identification: The Korrigan, as well as the Lamignak, are two feet tall and have well-proportioned bodies. They always dress in flowing white clothes adn their hair is long and blodne. They can both change shapes, appearing as spiders, eels or snakes. At night, the Korrigans display extraordinary beauty and their golden hari shines wit h an inner light. But during the day their hair whitens, their eyes turn red and their skin wrinkles like that of old, old women.
Not all Lamignak are fountain elves. Many, both male and female, life deep in the mountains, in caves, woods and caverns. They have the same relationship to the fountain Lamignak as the Korred to the Korrigans, and are darker in coloring and shorter in stature than the Fountain Women.
Habitat: The Korrigans can be found in Brittany, the Lamignak in the Basque Pyrenees. They live almost exclusively in the vicinity of springs, fountains and water sources. The Korrigans do not usually appear above ground in the daytime, and both they and the Lamignak make their homes in richly decorated subterranean grottoes.
Source: A Field Guide to the Little People, Nancy Arrowsmith with George Moorse. Macmillan London Limited, 1977.
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