Ankoù, although clearly a Grim Reaper type, is not quite Death personified, they are “Death’s worker”. It is up to Ankoù to collect the souls of the dead, when time comes, and lead them to the land of the dead. It is also up to Ankoù to herd the errant souls of the dead back to their graves, if they start to become unruly.

Ankoù is not so much a person in Breton folklore as it is a role. According to some folklore, each parish has its own Ankoù and it is the last person to die in the preceding year who takes the role of Ankoù for the year. Other folklore indicates that it is more a singular persona, who lives in the Monts d’Arrée, where his retinue of ghosts, resembling a wild hunt, haunt the landscape.

This image of Ankoù was inspired by French religious fliers from the 19th century. They are surrounded by forget-me-nots, because the word Ankoù sounds a lot like the Breton word for “forgetting”. There are also chrysanthemums, because that is a popular flower to put on graves on All Saint’s Day. The white lilies represent mourning and is a popular flower for funerals. Lastly, there are yew branches, because Breton graveyards often have a yew tree and Bretons kept the early Christian tradition of burying the dead with a yew branch until the 20th century.