Spriggans, Knockers, BuccaUpdated: April 15th, 2016
Created: October 2nd, 2008Spriggans
Guardians of the vast treasures that are supposed to be buried under our immense carns and in our cliff castles. No matter if the work be carried on by night or by day, they are sure to punish the rash person who ventures to dig in hopes of securing them. When he has got some way down, he finds himself surrounded by hundreds of ugly beings, in some cases almost as tall as he, who scare the unhappy man until he loses all control over himself, throws down his tools, and rushes off as fast as he can possibly go. The fright often makes him so ill that he has to lie for days in bed. Should he ever summon up courage to return to the spot, he will find the pit refilled, and no traces show that the ground has been disturbed.
The spriggans were the bad. Hordes of them, hissing, spitting and grinning maliciously, protected every cliff top or granite cairn where treasure might be buried, for they were appointed to protect it.In the same way, they haunted the hundreds of ancient burial mounds, as well as the giant pre- historic tombs known as dolmens,which are found in Cornwall, particularly in the far west. Beneath these, it was thought, treasure lay beside the remains of pagan peoples who walked the Cornish moorlands thousands of years ago.
The spriggans were ugly, and much feared, wizened and shrivelled old men with large heads like those of children upon their puny little shoulders. They were able to raise sudden whirlwinds and storms to terrify the lonely traveller. They could summon rain and hail to lay the corn. Worse, they stole children from their cradles. So too, it might be said, did the piskies but whereas the latter chose neglected babes which their parents soon found again, well cared for and cherished, the spriggans selected bonny babes, leaving in their stead their own large-headed, wizened and ugly brats.
Knockers
Elfin creatures that lived in the mines. The miners treated the knockers with respect. they left food out for them. it was believed that anyone who was disrespectful to Knockers would suffer bad luck When a mine closed, the Knockers lived on in the abandoned mine.
Most mysterious of the elfin creatures of Cornwall were the knockers or knackers of the mines. These were, it is said, the spirits of old miners, perhaps those Jewish miners who worked underground in Cornwall a long time past. Those who have seen these sprites are few, but their descriptions of them tally; of ugly ,thin limbed creatures no higher than the smallest human dwarf, with large hooked noses - perhaps indeed they were the ghosts of Jews - slit mouths from ear to ear,and a great liking for making dreadful faces.
They were not above, for instance, crossing their eyes and thumbing their noses when they met you, or bending over to grimace at you between their spindly legs.There were also those who affirmed that the knockers were not the spirits of Jewish miners but of those who had crucified Christ. In support of this theory, they were said to be heard sweetly singing carols in the mines, not from choice but under compulsion, on Christmas Day, Easter Day, All Saint's Day and the Jewish Sabbath. Others believed the knockers were the souls of those whose deeds in this world allowed them entry neither into hell nor heaven - an interesting conjecture considering their living and working in the Cornish mines.
Supposedly, these tiny creatures were once upon a time much larger but were destined to shrink so much in size that each eventually became an ant, or murrian,and finally disappear, a fate in store for them since the birth of Christ. Knockers, of course, were a product of the imagination of a past race of Cornish miners, people of a naturally mystical and superstitious nature, which was enhanced by their working in the darkness of narrow, rock-hewn depths where the only light was shed by glimmering candles. In such eerie surroundings, with the pitchy silence broken only by the dripping of water, the faint tappings of other men working in distant levels elsewhere in the mine, or an occasional clatter of a falling stone, it is perhaps not that the most sceptical of Cornish miners came to believe in these underground spirits. It was well known that the sound of these little men, whose activity with picks and shovels, borers and barrows, was familiar to every underground worker, were full of fun amongst themselves when unobserved, but much soberer in behaviour when spied upon.
Generally speaking, the latter was not wise. Knockers were to be treated with respect, for although of a friendly disposition on the whole, they could be malicious towards any miner who failed, for example, to leave a portion of his underground meal - a piece of pasty, maybe - for one of their number to enjoy. Similarly,they were not to be sworn or shouted at and, indeed, the miner who did so was a fool, for the knockers worked only profitable ground, and would make themselves known only to those whom they favoured. Continuing bad luck might even dog those who were particularly disrespectful.
There were others in Cornwall who connected the name of these "underground piskies" with the "knocking" or "knacking" of a mine, that is, its closing or abandonment. Some popular beliefs had it that the appearance of knockers in a mine presaged its closing or that their arrival was otherwise an ill omen. It is said that in the hundreds of Cornwall's "knackt bals",or abandoned mines, that they live there still, keeping everlasting watch, awaiting the day when they can, as of old, guide miners towards the wealthy lodes which they themselves are aware of
Bucca
A goblin of the wind, once supposed by Cornish people to foretell shipwrecks. It is also a sprite fabled to live in the tin mines.
The bucca is a hobgoblin from the legends of Cornwall. They are commonly thought to live in tin mines.
The bucca are often associated with sailors and stories say they travel on sea breezes.
They are considered useful to sailors as they are known for their ability to foretell shipwrecks, but they need to be "paid" with offerings of part of the fisherman's catch or a few bread crumbs.
The Bucca is a sea spirit found off the coasts of Cornwall. Fishermen felt a need to propitiate it by leaving three fish out on the sands, in order to have a good catch of fish. There are said to be two Buccas, the Bucca-du (Black Bucca) and the Bucca-widn
(White Bucca).
Some think the Bucca was originally a sea deity that degenerated over the years into a fairy spirit.
They are considered useful to sailors as they are known for their ability to foretell shipwrecks, but they need to be "paid" with offerings of part of the fisherman's catch or a few bread crumbs.
Sources:
- W.Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, pp. 164, 175.
- Garvin: faerie Lore and Literature