Duende, the uninvited master of the house

The Duende is a spirit of Spanish folk tradition.

The poltergeist of the house, who drives the occupants away. The Duende is remembered as an uninvited master of the house, unsettling those who dwell there.

SpiritSpain

Duende

The Duende is the household spirit of the Spanish-speaking world: a being that inhabits a house and claims it for itself. He is mischievous to maliciously tormenting and poltergeist-like; in the worst case he harasses the occupants so persistently that they move out.

He is attested on the Iberian Peninsula, throughout Hispanic America and in Portuguese-speaking regions, and appears in literature from the late Middle Ages and the early modern period onward. Alongside this, the same word today carries a second, dominant meaning: el duende as the mysterious magic of an artist, especially in Flamenco.

At a glance: Duende

Type: Poltergeist-like household spirit, genius loci of the house
Origin: Iberian and Hispanic folklore, from the late Middle Ages
Texts: Fuentelapeña’s El ente dilucidado (1676), Caro Baroja, RAE
Period: Late Middle Ages to the present
Appearance: small old man or child, pointed ears, pointed cap

Origin and sources

Period of the Texts

Iberian and Hispanic folklore, attested in literature from the late Middle Ages and early modern period; the first detailed treatise is Fuentelapeña’s El ente dilucidado of 1676.

Area of Diffusion

The Iberian Peninsula, all of Spanish America and Portugal: the Duende belongs to the shared tradition of the Spanish-speaking world.

Sources

Well documented: the definitions of the Real Academia Española, the folklore studies of Julio Caro Baroja and the early modern treatise of Fuentelapeña.

Name and variants

Spanish: duende. The Real Academia Española derives the name from duen de casa, lord of the house, with the loss of casa; alongside this stand competing proposals. The etymology is thus standard, but not conclusively settled.

Appearance and behaviour

Appearance

According to the RAE, the Duende takes the form of an old man or a child; in folklore he is small, under a metre, often with pointed ears and a pointed cap. The hat colours red and green are more general dwarf iconography than firmly attested for the Iberian Duende.

Effect

The Duende inhabits a house and lays claim to it; the RAE explicitly mentions disorder and noise. He is mischievous to maliciously tormenting and can drive occupants to flee. A related type is the Martinico in a Franciscan habit, who makes noise in food cupboards and is depicted by Goya.

Profile: Duende

The key aspects of the Spanish household spirit at a glance.

Cultural Context

Household spirit of the Spanish-speaking world of the genius loci type, attested in Spain, Spanish America and Portugal.

Relates To

The house and its occupants: the Duende claims the house as his own and makes the people within it feel his claim.

Depiction

Small old man or child, under a metre, often with pointed ears and a pointed cap; the hat colours red and green are more general dwarf iconography.

Sphere of Influence

Disorder and noise in the house, mischievous to malicious torments; in extreme cases the Duende drives the occupants to move out.

Dealing with it

Religious-apotropaic invocation and the principle of not offending the spirit, not doubting him, and not mocking him.

Related beings

The Trasgu in Asturias, the Trasno in Galicia, the Follet in Catalonia and the Iratxo in the Basque Country; in Europe the Kobold, Brownie and Domovoi stand alongside them.

From the duen de casa to the tormenting spirit of the Casa

The Real Academia Española derives the name from duen de casa, lord of the house, with the loss of casa; alongside this stand competing proposals, and the origin is not conclusively settled. The word thus already carries the core idea of the being: the Duende sees himself as the true lord of the house he inhabits.

The Duende is attested on the Iberian Peninsula, throughout Spanish America and in Portuguese, in literature from the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The first detailed treatise is Fuentelapeña’s El ente dilucidado of 1676; in the 20th century Julio Caro Baroja collected and organised the relevant traditions.

Flamenco, Lorca and the second meaning

A second, now dominant meaning is el duende as the mysterious, inexpressible magic of an artist, especially in flamenco. Federico García Lorca canonised the term in 1933 in his lecture Play and Theory of the Duende as a dark, death-close creative power. This flamenco Duende is a metaphorisation of the same word, not the household spirit.

From a religious-studies perspective, the Duende is a household spirit of the genius loci type. Three clarifications are important: the flamenco Duende is not the household spirit, but a figurative meaning. The etymology is RAE standard with side theses, not conclusively settled. And the theory of extinct small-statured peoples as the origin has been scientifically rejected.

Invocation, saying and the last resort

What has been handed down are folkloric motifs rather than a fixed formula. These include the religious-apotropaic invocation, the saying that all Duendes vanished with the bull of the Santa Cruzada, and the principle of not offending the spirit, not doubting him, and not mocking him. If none of this helps, the tradition’s last resort remains: the occupants move out and leave the house to the Duende.

Duendes, Kobolds and their relatives

Within Spain, the Duende corresponds to the Trasgu in Asturias, the Trasno in Galicia, the Follet in Catalonia and the Iratxo in the Basque Country. In Europe, alongside them stand the British Brownie and Hobgoblin, the German Kobold, the Slavic Domovoi, the Scandinavian Nisse and the French Lutin, as well as the Japanese Zashiki-warashi.

Frequently asked questions about the Duende

What is a Duende?

A household spirit of the Spanish world who inhabits and claims a house and can torment its occupants in a poltergeist-like manner. In extreme cases he drives the occupants to move out.

What does the Duende have to do with flamenco?

El duende refers there to the gripping magic of an artist, a figurative meaning of the same word. Lorca canonised the term in 1933; it is not identical with the household spirit.

Where does the name come from?

According to the Real Academia Española, from duen de casa, lord of the house, with the loss of casa. Alongside this stand competing proposals.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

As a Spanish household spirit, the Duende stands between two worlds: he is the tangible kobold of folk tradition, who occupies houses and drives out occupants, and at the same time the word with which flamenco names the magic of art.