Bucca (mythological creature)
| Grouping |
Mythological creature Fairy Sprite |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Region | Cornwall |
Bucca is a fairy in Cornish folklore that was believed to be a spirit that inhabited mines and coastal communities as a hobgoblin during storms. The mythogological creature is linked to the Púca from Irish and Welsh folklore. Rev W. S. Lach-Szyrma, one 19th-century writer on Cornish antiquities, suggested the Bucca had originally been an ancient pagan deity of the sea, though his claims are mainly conjecture.
Neopagan groups, principally the Witchcraft coven of Ros An Bucca, have begun to acknowledge the Bucca in their rites.
In the children's book Thomas and the Tinners by Jill Paton Walsh, Buccas have become fairies who work in Cornish tin mines, granting wishes in exchange for food (see knockers).
In 1611, in the Cornish language book the Creation of the World the Bucca is mentioned and some believe that the word is a borrowing into Cornish from Old English 'puca'. A cognate form in Welsh is of similar non-Brythonic Celtic origin, demonstrated in Cornish by the middle 'cc' which does not occur in Brythonic Celtic. According to the Oxford English Dictionary pwca is ultimately of Scandinavian origin.
In 1890, the Cornish folklorist William Bottrell stated that:
In keeping with Bottrell's findings, various folkloric investigations around the same time that Bucca seems to have featured in two forms, Bucca Widn (White Bucca) and Bucca Dhu (Black Bucca). Bucca also seems to associated with the wind, in Penzance it was customary to refer to storms that emanated from a southwesterly direction as "Bucca calling"; sailors and fishermen also believe that Bucca's voice carried on the wind. Bucca was also sometimes described as a tin-mining spirit, which may indicate a wider fertility origin than that of the sea.
Also in the 19th century, there were reports of fishermen venerating Bucca with offerings. These included food offerings, particularly of fish, given to Bucca on beaches. One such beach used for this purpose was the area of Newlyn known formerly as Park an Grouse (in Cornish meaning 'the field of the cross') where a stone cross was allegedly once situated. Similar offerings were recorded on the beaches of Mousehole and Newlyn "Town" (the area now known as Newlyn Cliff).
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