Also called Addanc, the lake monster.
The tale
The afanc is a monster of Welsh lakes, blamed for causing floods. In one tale it was lured from its lake by a maiden, bound with chains and dragged away by oxen to a lake high on Snowdon. In the romance of Peredur the hero fights an addanc that lives in a cave and kills everyone who enters.
When they are met
- near deep lakes
- in times of flood
Staying on their good side
- respect deep water
- never swim alone in cold mountain lakes
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Treat the afanc as a symbol of flood and wild water to respect, not to call on.
- Learn about the floods of your own area and how to stay safe in them.
What their tales teach
- the tales teach how floods were understood
- respect for water
Symbols
- the lake
- the chains
- the oxen
The famous version where Hu Gadarn's oxen drag out the afanc owes much to the eighteenth-century inventions of Iolo Morganwg.
Sources
- Peredur son of Efrawg
- Rhys, Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx
More Celtic folklore
- The Banshee The keening woman of the fairy mound
- Selkies The seal folk who come ashore
- The Púca The shape-shifter of November
- The Aos Sí The people of the fairy mounds
- The Kelpie The water horse of the lochs
- The Tylwyth Teg The Fair Family of Wales
- Leprechaun The solitary fairy shoemaker
- Clurichaun The fairy of the wine cellar