QUESTIONS? CALL: + 34 650 713 759

Pyrenean Experience

  • HOME
  • GEORGINA HOWARD
    • Georgina Howard, Writer and Founder
    • Blog
    • Photos & TV Documentaries
    • Responsible Travel Pledge
  • HOLIDAY TYPES
    • Self-Guided/Guided Walking Weeks in the Basque Pyrenees
    • Group Guided Walking Weeks in the Basque Pyrenees
    • Spanish Language Immersion Weeks
    • Creative Writing Retreats in the Pyrenees
    • Walking the World War II COMET Line
    • The Total Basque Mountain Experience (One Day Tour)
    • Inmersion Total en Ingles en Los Pirineos
  • ACCOMMODATION
    • B & B and Holiday Home near Baztan Valley
    • The Farmhouse
    • How to get there
    • The Baztan Valley
      • Ituren
      • Basque Valleys of the Pyrenees
      • Baztan Valley Walks and Traditions
  • DATES & PRICES 2023
  • PRESS & REVIEWS
  • CONTACT
Georgina Howard
Thursday, 27 January 2011 / Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Mythology

Mermaids with Dangerous Combs! Lamiak con Peines Peligrosos

The lamia on a coat of arms on a house in Oriegi

The Lamiak, easily compared to Greco-Roman nymphs, are creatures of Basque mythology who figure greatly in local toponyms, and are often found represented in the coats of arms of the large farmhouses of the area.

lamia shield Oriegi - Mermaids with Dangerous Combs! Lamiak con Peines Peligrosos

The lamia on a coat of arms on a house in Oriegi

According to legend, the Lamia is a mermaid-like creature with either bird-like feet or a fish’s tail who dwells in mountain springs and streams. Here, in the notoriously misty forest glens of the Basque Country, she can be found combing her long blond hair with a golden comb. Whether it is the golden comb or her golden tresses, I am not sure, but she is often attributed with the disappearance of some lonely shepherd of unmeasured ambition who wanders off into the forest in her pursuit and is consequently never seen again.

However, the Lamia often brought good luck to the local peasants and if a farmer left the Lamiak a present, he could awake in the morning to find his fields ploughed or his wood cut. These woodland spirits were often thanked for their help in the building of bridges, but, if a stone of a bridge was suddenly found missing, then this was a sign of bad luck and that the Lamia had left the river. This was often the case when men started to build small churches in the forest. Male Lamiak are also said to have helped by night in the building of ancient burial mounds such as dolmens and stone circles – many examples of which are found on the hill tops and mountain passes of this area.

P.S. Those of you who already know this area please note that the low-lying area of the Baztan river which runs from the ‘agote’ hamlet of Bozate in the Baztan Valley towards the bridge on the northern flank of Arizkun is called Lamiarreta (lit. the place of the Lamiak). Also, as you head south into the Pyrenees from the French/Spanish border along the Bidasoa river valley, you will find that the area after the first tunnel is called Lamiarri (the area of the Lamiak). I am not sure if there is a bridge here …. it will be interesting to check it out.

Anyway, I will end on a personal anecdote from a guided tour I gave of the houses and history of Zubieta when my Spanish wasn’t quite up to scratch. A group of pensioners from Pamplona will not forget the terrible faux pas I made in Spanish when attempting to describe a Lamia in a coat of arms on a house in Zubieta. The mirror in the left hand was O.K (espejo), it was the comb (peine) in the right hand that gave me problems! (just take away the ‘i’ and you have the name of a part of male anatomy). Anyway, given the belief that lonely shepherds would run away to join these beautiful blond sirens of the woods, perhaps my faux pas was not so inaccurate after all!

  • Tweet
Tagged under: Basque Country, Basque Culture, Basque language, basque traditions

What you can read next

Olentzero on Christmas Eve in Ituren
Basque Christmas Traditions: Olentzero
Cottage in the Pyrenees, Navarre, Iaulin Borda,
Beautiful Basque Country Farmhouse B & B – with a tortoise on the tap
The Pyrenees with Michael Portillo
The Pyrenees with Michael Portillo

5 Comments to “ Mermaids with Dangerous Combs! Lamiak con Peines Peligrosos”

  1. Guedes says :Reply
    22 February 2020 at 3:42 pm

    This story is from a distinct place but is mermaid related:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097218/Reason-Zimbabwe-reservoir-delays–mermaids-hounding-workers-away.html (the other version is that local workers did not want to go on due to mermaids. Then white workers where hired because the minister thought the locals where just lazy, but the same happened again.

  2. The Baztan Trilogy, Dolores Redondo and the truth about the Baztan. says :Reply
    6 February 2014 at 5:30 pm

    […] However, the location of one mill, Infernuko Errota, (Hell Mill), hidden in an obscure valley to the north of the Baztan, was a ferociously guarded secret and one that Franco’s police never did discover. For years, the children of the Baztan valley trembled as they stumbled over the hills by night on their way to Hell Mill, trailing reluctant donkeys loaded with corn and grain behind them.  It is easy to imagine the fear of these children as they groped their way along the forest paths. According to Basque folklore the forests were haunted by grotesque forest dwellers and spirits such as Basajaun, a huge hairy creature who lived in the woods and protected the flocks of sheep, or the beautiful, golden-haired Lamia, who lived in the rivers and streams, waiting to lure lonely shepherds away to their death. Even today, you can still find the form of a Lamia carved into the coats of arms on the Baztan houses or the name incorporated into local place names near the water’s edge.  (See an article on the Lamia). […]

  3. GG says :Reply
    21 May 2012 at 8:24 pm

    I think this is great stuff but you need to add more

  4. Steve Cracknell says :Reply
    28 January 2011 at 2:01 pm

    But you don’t tell us what word you used wrongly…

    1. Georgina Howard says :Reply
      1 February 2011 at 3:15 pm

      You know full well, Steve, … you are trying to draw me out. It is a little case of a mis-placed – or mis-laid -‘i’ in the Spanish word for comb. Other anecdotes about faux-pas made in Spanish are all welcome.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • Basque Country Walking
  • Basque Culture and Tradition
  • Basque Food
  • Basque Lifestyle
  • Basque music
  • Basque Mythology
  • Baztan Valley
  • Bilingual Families
  • Dolores Redondo
  • Elizondo
  • Exercise and Learning
  • Ituren carnivals
  • Learning Spanish in Spain
  • linguistics and language learning
  • Spanish-English differences
  • Teaching Spanish
  • The Basque Language
  • The Invisible Guardian
  • Uncategorized
  • Visit the Pyrenees
  • Walking in the Pyrenees
  • Wildlife of the Pyrenees
  • World War II Escape Lines
  • Zubieta carnivals

Tags

Basque Country Basque Culture Basque Gastronomy Basque history Basque language basque traditions baztan valley bi-lingualism Carnivals Christmas Traditions Cider comet line Elizondo farming Fiesta Francois Grosjean Gastronomy Georgina Howard Ituren Joaldunak Krashen language learning Lozanov Marion Micheal Portillo Mills Nature Olentzero Onomatopoeias Pyrenees smuggling Spain Spanish conversation Spanish courses Spanish language Spanish school teaching total immersion trees tuition Vygotsky walking wellington world war II Zubieta

Featured Posts

  • Typical farmhouse in Zubieta

    Zubieta in the Basque Pyrenees

    0 comments
  • The Pyrenees with Michael Portillo

    The Pyrenees with Michael Portillo

    0 comments
  • Comet Line children meet in France

    Basque Children of the Resistance

    0 comments
  • pyrenean experience sunset over the valley on our guided walking holidays in the Pyrenees

    Comet Line Crossing of the Pyrenees

    0 comments
  • Map of the French and Spanish Pyrenees

    Secrets of the Pyrenees

    0 comments

Location

Mapoflocation 350x262 - Mermaids with Dangerous Combs! Lamiak con Peines Peligrosos

Contact

Phone UK: +44 (0)121 711 3428

Phone Spain: +34 650 713759

Email: info@pyreneanexperience.com

Info

  • Privacy Policy
  • Responsible Travel Pledge
Responsible Travel
  • TripAdvisor
  • GET SOCIAL

© 2021 GEORGINA HOWARD All rights reserved

TOP