Xana

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.