page_title: Groac'h
section_title: Analysis
hierarchical_section_title: Groac'h / Analysis
caption_attribution_description: Беларуская: Баба-Яга
context_page_description: A groac'h is a kind of Breton water-fairy. Seen in various forms, often by night, many are old, similar to ogres and witches, sometimes with walrus teeth. Supposed to live in caverns, under the beach and under the sea, the groac'h has power over the forces of nature and can change its shape. It is mainly known as a malevolent figure, largely because of Émile Souvestre's story La Groac'h de l'île du Lok, in which the fairy seduces men, changes them into fish and serves them as meals to her guests, on one of the Glénan Islands. Other tales present them as old solitary fairies who can overwhelm with gifts the humans who visit them.
  Several place-names of Lower Brittany are connected with the groac'h, especially the names of some megaliths in Côtes-d'Armor, as well as the island of Groix in Morbihan and the lighthouse of La Vieille. The origin of those fairies that belong to the archetype of "the crone" is to be found in the ancient female divinities demonized by Christianity. The influence of Breton writers in the 19th century brought them closer to the classical fairy figure.
context_section_description: According to Marc Gontard, the groac'h demonstrates the demonization of ancient goddesses under the influence of Christianity: it was changed to a witch just as other divinities became lost girls and mermaids.  Its palace under the waves is a typical motif of fairy tales and folk-stories, which is also found in, for example, the texts of the Arthurian legend, Irish folklore and several Hispanic tales.   Pierre Dubois likens the groac'h to many maleficent water-fairies, like Peg Powler, Jenny Greenteeth, the mère Engueule and the green ogresses of Cosges, who drag people underwater to devour them.  Joseph Rio included it in a global evolution of Breton fairies between 1820 and 1850, so that from small, dark-skinned, wrinkled creatures close to the korrigans, in the texts of the scholars of the time they more and more often become pretty women of normal size, probably to compete with the Germanic fairies.
  The groac'h has been likened to the enigmatic and archetypal character of "the Crone", studied by various folklorists. This name, in French la Vieille, is often applied to megaliths.  Edain McCoy equates the groac'h with la Vieille, citing especially the regular translation of the word as "witch".  She adds that several Breton tales present this creature in a negative way, while none draw a flattering portrait.
caption: The groac'h is close to the archetypal character of "the Crone" (here, a representation of Baba Yaga).
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