Closely associated with tin mining in Cornwall are the subterranean ancestral knockers. In west Penwith, the area of late survival of the Cornish language, spriggans are distinguished from pixies by their malevolent nature. Very similar analogues exist in closely related Irish ( Aos Sí), Manx ( Mooinjer veggey) Welsh Tylwyth Teg ('Fair Family'), and Breton ( korrigan) culture, although their common names are unrelated, even within areas of language survival there is a very high degree of local variation of names. The term Pobel Vean ('Little People') is often used to refer to them collectively. Others have disputed this, given there is no plausible case for Nordic dialectal survivals in southwest Britain, claiming instead - in view of the Cornish origin of the piskie - that the term is more probably Celtic in origin, though no clear ancestor of the word is known. Some have speculated that it comes from the Swedish dialectal pyske meaning 'small fairy'. The origin of the word pixie is uncertain. These, however, are Victorian era conventions and not part of the older mythology. Sometimes their eyes are described as being pointed upwards at the outer end. Traditional stories describe them as wearing dirty ragged bundles of rags, which they happily discard for gifts of new clothes. In the modern era, they are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat. In this they are demonstrating parallels with the Cornish plen-an-gwary and Breton Fest Noz (Cornish: troyl) folk celebrations originating in the medieval period. In traditional regional lore, pixies are generally benign, mischievous, short of stature and childlike they are fond of dancing and gather outdoors in huge numbers to dance, or sometimes wrestle, through the night. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.Īkin to the Irish and Scottish Aos Sí (also spelt Aos Sidhe), pixies are believed to inhabit ancient underground ancestor sites such as stone circles, barrows, dolmens, ringforts or menhirs.

A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, piskie and pigsie as it is sometimes known in Cornwall and Devon) is a mythical creature of British folklore.

Mythical creature pixie