Legend of la Encantada
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The Spanish legend of la Encantada is a generic name that refers to a set of oral traditions and legends mythological narrated in numerous Spanish localities. Although there are multiple local variants, a series of elements are common: the protagonist (a young woman with long hair), the time (St. John's Eve), the manifestation (combing her hair) and other elements (mirror, wedding, comb—generally gold).
La Encantada is closely related (supposedly) to mythological beings such as the Lamias,[1] Mouras (Galician mythology),[2][3] Mari and Mairu (Basque mythology), the Anjanas (Cantabrian mythology) and the Xanas (Asturian mythology),[4] In fact one and the other, in essence, are different versions of the same narrative but adapted to particular cultural environments.[4] Likewise, its relationship with the mexican figure Xtabay suggests a very ancient and almost universal presence of the myth or a possible transatlantic diffusion, either through the processes of conquest of America, in the reverse process through the importation of legends of the original American peoples, or being a round-trip tradition.