Les Lavandières
ghostly washerwomen from Basque and Celtic mythology
Les Lavandières, or the Midnight Washerwomen, are three old washerwomen in Celtic mythology. Names in various Celtic languages include the kannerezed noz in Brittany and the Bean nighe in Gaelic. They can also be found in the Celtic folklore of Iberia as Las Lavanderas in Cantabria, As lavandeiras in Galicia or Les Llavanderes in Asturias, and in Portugal are known as Bruxas lavadeiras [1]. The three old women go to the water's edge at midnight to wash shrouds for those about to die, according to the myth and folklore of Brittany; or to wash the bloodstained clothing of those who are about to die, according to Celtic mythology. The Midnight Washerwomen may be related to the old Celtic tradition of the triple goddess of death and slaughter.
The washerwomen are small, dressed in green and have webbed feet. Their webbed feet may be the reason they are also sometimes called the cannard noz (meaning "night ducks") in Breton folklore.
France
In the nineteenth century, the belief in night washerwomen was very present in Brittany and Normandy, but it is also attested in many other regions of France: Berry, Pyrenees, Alps, Alsace, Morvan, Creuse, Burgundy and Ariège.
An important number of Romantic French authors and poets wrote about the lavandières, from Guy de Maupassant and Victor Hugo to George Sand.
Brittany
In Brittany, legends of the lavandière de la nuit were attested by Jacques Cambry as early as the 18th century.
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