effulgentpoet: Endless List of Favorites → myth figures: Tommyknockers The Knocker, Knacker, Bw
effulgentpoet:Endless List of Favorites→ myth figures: TommyknockersThe Knocker, Knacker, Bwca, Bucca or Tommyknocker is a mythical creature in Welsh, Cornish and Devon folklore. They wear tiny versions of standard miner’s garb and commit random mischief, such as stealing miners’ unattended tools and food. Their name comes from the knocking on the mine walls that happens just before cave-ins - actually the creaking of earth and timbers before giving way. According to some Cornish folklore, the Knockers were the helpful spirits of people who had died in previous accidents in the many mines in the county, warning the miners of impending danger. To give thanks for the warnings, and to avoid future peril, the miners cast the last bite of their tasty pasties into the mines for the Knockers. In the 1820s, immigrant Welsh miners brought tales of the knockers and their theft of unwatched items and warning knocks to western Pennsylvania, when they gravitated there to work in the mines. Cornish miners, much sought after in the years following the gold and silver rushes, brought them to California and Nevada. Belief in the knockers in America remained well into the 20th century. When one large mine closed in 1956 and the owners sealed the entrance, miners circulated a petition calling on the mineowners to set the knockers free so that they could move on to other mines. The owners complied. X -- source link
#mythology#welsh mythology#queuel beans