The anjana (jana is the name used to refer to sorceresses in the Middle Ages) is a mythological character from northern Spain, especially Cantabria and Asturias. Anjanas can be good, bad and naughty.

The good anjanas appear surrounded by a glow or a halo that does not allow them to be seen well. However, most of the testimonies speak of small and beautiful women, with fine, pale skin, loose hair and long, wide, light-colored tunics. They wore silver shoes, barefoot or with albarcas, often wore crowns of flowers (natural and silver) and a hazel stick in the hand that could be illuminated at the end. Not rarely do they wear a star on their forehead to increase their splendor. They are usually associated with wooded and watery places. Typical of farming societies, they leave their shelter in May, when the cattle go up to the mountains, and return to San Miguel, at the end of September. At that time when they return to their refuge, they leave some of the silver flowers of their crown among the bushes, to bring happiness and fortune to those who find them. They also leave their shelter on important dates, such as Christmas, Easter, or when someone with a good heart needed their help. But the favorite time for the Anjanas to come out in the morning of San Juan, when the Devil Horses return to their shelter.

The help of the Anajanas was requested especially when it was necessary to find something or someone who was believed to be lost. This kind of Anajanas, always kind and compassionate, love to dance in groups in the moonlight, just like the Celtic elves. They used to dance in groups, and when they finished they would create beautiful paths of flowers. It is also said that they gave off a scent of aromatic plants and had a soft and sweet voice that could spread their joy or sadness. Their songs could brighten the day or darken it, and so people often asked them to change the type of song, depending on whether rain or sunshine was needed.

The anjana is formed by the union of several mythological characters: the golden hair, like those of Diana, her music like that of the Muses, her dances like those of the Nymphs? But this character could not last in time without a Christianization, which would allow its survival and which would free it from the attacks directed against the so-called “superstitions” by the Christian church. For example, on Good Friday, it is said that all the anjanas wore black cloaks and hid their hair under ash-colored scarves in honor of the death of Jesus.

There were also mischievous anjanas. Sometimes they drank the milk of the cattle, other times they bothered and disturbed the animals, stole the honey from the beehives or the eggs from the henhouses. The best known is the injana of the Aras valley.

There was a group of evil anjanas, which time has erased from memory. They had a discolored or yellow face, with green eyes and only one long, sharp tooth. They wore wide black cloaks, adorned with bat wings, an animal that along with crows was their usual companion. They did not speak but mooed. To them, we owe the existence of the nettles in the mountains. Their appearance predicted tears and sadness, as well as long winters.

 

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