The Ankou is not a god, but a spirit of the graveyard. Typically associated with the Bretons, I believe him to be much more widespread throughout the Celtic and French world, which I will explain further later. For the moment, let’s look at his attributes.

In “The Legend of Death”, Anatole Le Braz claims that The Ankou was “The Henchman of Death”, and was the last dead of the previous year. Here, Ankou is the protector of the graveyard and the collector of souls. To build on this, his name literally translates as “The Agony”, marking this as one immediately associated with fear and pain, through death. On the topic of the purely scholarly nature of his identity I’ll say little more, except that there are carvings of Ankou throughout Brittany and his presence survives in modern folklore. Hopefully, Le Braz gives an accurate summary of his nature, because we will need it in mind as we explore the presence of The Ankou elsewhere.

THE OTHER ANKOU

Ankou-like creatures are found throughout the Celtic world. As these aren’t my area of expertise nor interest, I’ll give a simple rundown of a few.

Among the Manx, there is the Keimagh, a spirit that watches over cemeteries. He is not well attested, the only reference to him I know of being a short insert in an old dictionary of Manx folklore.

In Scottish folklore, we have the concept of “The Grave Watch”. This is the duty of the most recently deceased person to watch over the boneyard and protect the bodies therein.

While I am hesitant to associate The Dullahan with The Ankou, there are those who do so. If this interests you, please read up on Dullahan lore, since I find the evidence to be flimsy enough to deserve little more than a passing mention.

I think it is quite clear that Ankou-like creatures are a hallmark of Celtic myth and originated either in Gaul before being imported to the British Isles, or in the British Isles before being imported to Francia.

THE COMING TO FRANCIA

Would the Franks have been aware of the Ankou? I would argue yes, undeniably. While he did not pick up popularity among what we commonly think of as “Franks”, the simple fact of the matter is that Ankou legends primarily existed in an area of Frankish presence, and must have arrived from the British Isles during the 4th century, when the Bretons immigrated to modern France. If we mark the 6th century, when Clovis converted to Catholicism, to mark the end point of Frankish Paganism, this gives us two centuries for the myths to diffuse. Not only this, but Frankish soldiers would be exposed when they traveled abroad at the behest of Rome, further increasing their contact with The Ankou. It was not that the Franks did not know of Ankou, it was that the Franks did not speak of The Ankou, whether it be from disbelief, disinterest, or some other reason. Certainly, the Normans, who eventually, through assimilation and intermarriage, became indistinguishable from the Franks (although it would be more accurate to think about that the other way around, or rather to think of this issue in simplicity rather than complexity, before the ethnic jumble that was Francia dissolves our weak, mortal minds), knew of him.

THE RELEVANCE TO MODERN PRACTICE

The Ankou is not a god, but a spirit. He is not to be worshipped, but perhaps regarded, respected, feared. Ankou stains our mind in the way as superstition does, becoming a habit, a story, something we may not fully believe, but acknowledge nonetheless.

And not all Frankish Heathens will even acknowledge The Ankou. The Franks were a big boiling pot in which a bit of everything was dumped, and not in equal proportions; go to one city, and they will believe a different thing than the next city, or the same city 50 years before, go to one family and they will disagree with every other. This was not a homogenous lot, and the Ankou was a narrower belief than many.

For most people, there will be no need for the Ankou to be relevant. He was confined to a small geographic region on the continent; he is most strongly associated with a different ethnic group. For others, the allure of the skeletal gate keeper of the cemetery will be too much, and they will find themselves announcing themselves when they go to leave their offerings at the graves, perhaps leaving some closer to the gates.

Take him or leave him, The Ankou was in Francia. Whether we bring him overseas and across time is a question that has yet to be answered.