Sorginak

Sorginak (root form: sorgin, absolutive case (singular): sorgina) are the assistants of the goddess Mari in Basque mythology. It is also the Basque name for witches or pagan priestesses (though they could also be male), being difficult to discern between the mythological and real ones.

Sometimes sorginak are confused with lamiak (similar to nymphs). Along with them, and specially with Jentilak, sorginak are said often to have built the local megaliths.

Sorginak, like other European witches, used to participate in the sabbat, called akelarre locally. These mysteries happened on Friday nights, when Mari and Sugaar are said to meet in the locally sacred cave to engender storms.

The etymology of the name is disputed. The common suffix -gin (actor, from egin: to do) is the only agreement.

Sorginak are often said to recite the following spell to travel to and back from the akelarre: Under the clouds and over the brambles, or variants of it. In many legends a failed witch (normally a man) says the spell inverted (Under the brambles and over the clouds) and arrives to the akelarre quite bruised.

Sorginak also chant the following:

We aren't, we are indeed,
Fourteen thousand here we are

Other variants of this song are also known.

Sorginak often are said to transform themselves in animals, most commonly cats. These cats are sometimes said to bother pious women that do not wish to go the akelarre. It has also been recorded that they collected monetary fines from the people that did not wish to go to their ecstatic gatherings or those witches that absented themselves from them.

Inquisitorial documents describe horrific practices of witches, like eating children or poisonings. But popular legends do not speak of these practices, instead mentioning kissing "the devil's arse" or an animal's genitals, occasional poisoning of crops, bothering modest women (in the shape of cats or other animals) and anointing their bodies with some product (possibly based on stramonium or other psychoactive plant) to "fly" to and from the akelarre and perform other supposed feats.

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Wikipedia