Ankou, the death carter with the creaking cart
By Ralf Ittermann · last reviewed on
Ankou is a spirit of Breton tradition.
The last person to die in the year becomes his successor for a year.
Ankou is the servant of death in Brittany: a gaunt man or a skeleton with a scythe who drives through the parishes on a creaking death cart, collecting the souls of the deceased. He does not kill arbitrarily but takes those whose time has come; the creak of his cart is regarded as a sure sign of death.
According to Breton belief, the person who is last to die in a parish during a given year themselves becomes the Ankou of that parish for the following year, so that every community has its own death guide. Unlike death messengers who can be outwitted, he can neither be halted nor persuaded to make concessions.
Type: Servant of death and guide of souls
Origin: Central figure of Breton folk tradition
Texts: classically collected by Anatole Le Braz, together with Breton sacred art
Period: documented at the end of the 19th century, still alive today
Appearance: gaunt man or skeleton with a black cloak and broad-brimmed hat, carrying a scythe and death cart
Source context
Period of the Texts
A central, continuously living figure of Breton tradition, classically collected by Anatole Le Braz at the end of the 19th century.
Area of Diffusion
Brittany as the core region, with related notions also in Cornwall and Wales.
Sources
Very good: attested doubly, through Anatole Le Braz and also through Breton sacred art.
Name and variants
Language: Ankou is Breton for death or the servant of death; in Cornish the figure is called an Ankow, in Welsh yr Angau. More precisely, he is called oberour ar maro, worker of death: not death itself, but its servant.
Form and effect
Appearance
Iconographically, Ankou appears as a Celtic grim reaper: gaunt or as a skeleton, with a black cloak and broad-brimmed hat concealing the face, along with a scythe. He drives a creaking death cart or a black carriage drawn by four black horses, accompanied by two walking ghosts. In Breton sacred art he is depicted, among other places, in Ploumilliau, La Roche-Maurice and La Martyre.
Effect
He does not kill arbitrarily but gathers those whose time has come. Hearing his creaking cart in front of the house is regarded as an omen that the listener or a member of the household will soon die; the creaking and the call of the owl, the bird of death, are his acoustic omens.
Profile: Ankou
The key aspects of the death carter at a glance.
Central figure of Breton death tradition, classically collected by Anatole Le Braz.
The recently deceased of a parish, whose souls he collects on his cart.
Gaunt man or skeleton with a black cloak, broad-brimmed hat and scythe, on a creaking death cart.
Both a guide of souls and a death omen at once: the creak of his cart announces the next death in the parish.
Prayer, watchfulness and preparation for death, for Ankou himself cannot be warded off or outwitted.
The Bean Nighe can be outwitted and made to grant wishes, the Welsh Cŵn Annwn hunts as a pack; Ankou, by contrast, executes his task inescapably.
Servant of Death: Names and Origin Legends of the Ankou
Ankou is Breton for death or the servant of death; in Cornish the figure is called an Ankow, in Welsh yr Angau. More precisely he is called oberour ar maro, worker or servant of death: not death itself, then, but its servant.
According to the core Breton belief, the person who dies last in a parish during a given year becomes the Ankou of that parish for the following year; each parish thus has its own Ankou. Further legends call him the first child of Adam and Eve, or a cruel prince who challenged death and was cursed for it. Anatole Le Braz collected the tradition in La Légende de la Mort chez les Bretons Armoricains, whose first edition appeared in 1893 under the title La Légende de la mort en Basse-Bretagne.
Breton special form of the Grim Reaper
Ankou is a Breton special form of the pan-European Grim Reaper iconography, which goes back to the late medieval Dances of Death. In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, the figure of Death is a humorous variation on these European depictions. Ankou appears regularly in modern fantasy, horror and Celtic-inspired fiction and remains a fixed part of Breton regional culture with its ossuaries.
From a religious-studies perspective, Ankou is at once a servant of death, a psychopomp and a death omen. He embodies Celtic-Breton beliefs about the dead through a rotating office, in which the most recently deceased becomes the new Ankou, and a structure tied to individual parishes. He combines Christian ossuary piety with older Otherworld concepts.
Reading warning signs instead of warding off the Ankou
Ankou cannot be outwitted or forced to grant wishes like the Bean Nighe; he is an inescapable executor. What survives are mainly practices of interpretation and preparation in response to death signs: the creaking of the cart and the owl’s cry, taken as warnings, were answered with prayer, vigil and preparation for death, not with a warding off of the Ankou himself. Against the misfortune that his appearance foretold, popular belief generally turned to holy water, burning protective candles and the sound of consecrated bells.
The Grim Reaper and his Celtic relatives
Ankou is a Breton special form of the pan-European Grim Reaper iconography. Related to him is the Welsh Cŵn Annwn, which hunts through the Otherworld as a guide of souls, along with the Welsh death omens Cyhyraeth and Gwrach y Rhibyn, and the wailing Celtic death messengers Banshee and Caoineag. He differs clearly from the Scottish Bean Nighe, who can be outwitted and forced to grant wishes: Ankou is an inescapable executor. Structurally related, as a guide of souls, is also the Japanese Shinigami.
Frequently asked questions about the Ankou
Is the Ankou death itself?
No. He is the servant of death, oberour ar maro, who gathers the souls of the deceased.
Who becomes the Ankou?
The person who dies last in a parish during a given year becomes the Ankou of that parish for the following year.
How is he recognised?
By the creaking of his cart and the call of the owl, the bird of death; both are regarded as signs of death.
Further links
Further reading:
- Celtic – the Celtic world of gods and spirits of Britain
- Bean Nighe – the Scottish washerwoman at the ford
- Cŵn Annwn – the Welsh death pack of the Otherworld
- Holy water, protective candle, bells – traditional protective means
Literature (selection)
Further standard works in the bibliography.
As servant of death, Ankou remains the leader of Brittany’s dead: not a random spirit, but an office newly conferred each year, whereby the last death of the year makes the deceased the next guardian.
