/ LES LLAVANDERES /

Les Llavanderes (the Washerwomen) are beings from Asturian mythology related to water. They are described as women who live in caves near the river and who wash their clothes on the banks, an activity that gives them their name. According to tradition, they emit unpleasant voices while washing clothes and hit them with their shovels. Superstition ensures that if you are seen by one of them, they will catch you and drown you in the river, because they do not want to be disturbed. However, if there is a fire in a nearby village, they swing their shovels with surprising force so that the river water floods the area and puts out the fire. This beneficial aspect ensures that when a storm threatens, they come to the aid of children and the elderly who have been lost in the forest, and then they disappear in the foam of the whirlpools of water.