Witches of Anaga

What it is

The Witches of Anaga belong to the popular belief of Tenerife, one of Spain's Canary Islands. Women of the island's northeast were said to devote themselves to covens in the Anaga mountains, meeting on the ridge between San Andrés and Taganana. Their gathering place is called El Bailadero, a name taken from the dances the witches were said to perform around a bonfire. Once the rites ended, they were believed to go down to the coast and swim naked. Under the influence of vampire stories from Eastern Europe, the tale later grew a darker side: the witches became witch-vampires, and stories told of them taking the blood of newborns asleep in their cribs.

Where it comes from

The legend is tied to the mountainous Anaga area in the northeast of Tenerife, where the covens were set on the dorsal, the ridge running between San Andrés and Taganana. Two threads of explanation are recorded. One is a theory of origin: that the story grew out of pagan rituals linked to celebrations of rain among the Guanches, which the Catholic Church looked on as acts of witchcraft. The other is a later reshaping: as vampire stories from Eastern Europe travelled, the local witch took on their hunger for blood, and the figure of the witch-vampire entered the tale, preying on newborns in their sleep.

How it is done

As the belief has it, women made their way up into the mountains of Anaga and gathered as a coven at the spot called El Bailadero, on the ridge between San Andrés and Taganana. There they danced around a bonfire, the movement that gave the place its name. When the gathering broke up, the witches were said to come down to the coast and swim naked in the sea. In the later form of the story, the tale turned darker: the witches sought out newborns asleep in their cribs and drank their blood.

Tools and materials

The bonfire stands at the centre of the tale: the witches circle it in dance, and the meeting ground itself, El Bailadero, keeps that dancing in its name. Water marks the other end of the story, since after the rites the women were believed to walk down to the coast and swim naked. In the vampiric strand, the crib of a sleeping newborn becomes the scene of the deed, and blood the object of the visit.

Peoples and places

The story is at home on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands of Spain. Its stage is the Anaga range in the island's northeast, and above all the dorsal, the ridge that runs between San Andrés and Taganana; the gatherings were placed at El Bailadero, in those mountains. The Guanches are the one people named apart from the islanders who held the belief: a theory makes their rain rituals, later judged witchcraft by the Catholic Church, the seed of the legend.

What people believe

The belief pictures the witch as one of a company: women who devoted themselves to covens rather than working alone, meeting in the mountains away from the island's settlements. The bonfire dance gives the gathering its shape, and the name of the place, El Bailadero, is taken to recall it. The legend also carries traces of borrowing: the same women who danced by the fire were later feared for the blood of newborns, once vampire tales had attached themselves to the story. Beneath the tale lies a judgement on older worship, since in one account the Church counted Guanche rain rituals as witchcraft.

How scholars and sceptics see it

The account of these witches is framed as popular belief rather than documented practice. For the blood-drinking element, an origin in fiction is proposed: vampire stories from Eastern Europe are credited with adding that trait, turning the mountain witches into witch-vampires. A separate theory reaches further back, presenting the legend as descended from pagan Guanche rituals celebrating rain, rites that the Catholic Church classed as witchcraft. Both readings treat the legend as something made and remade over time, rather than a record of gatherings in the mountains.

Compare and confuse

The Anaga witches are bound up with the vampire of Eastern Europe, whose stories supplied the blood-drinking that made the local figure a witch-vampire. They also touch the older ritual life of the islands, since one theory links the legend to Guanche rain rites that the Catholic Church counted as witchcraft. The coven, the dance and the bonfire give the tale the shape familiar from witch legends elsewhere.

Questions people ask about Witches of Anaga

Good reading and sources

• Witches of Anaga on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data