Les Lavandières, or the Midnight Washerwomen, are three old laundresses in Celtic mythology. Names in various Celtic languages include the kannerezed noz in Brittany and the Bean nighe in Scottish. They can also be found in the Celtic folklore of Iberia as Las Lavanderas in Cantabria, As lavandeiras in Galicia or Les Llavanderes in Asturias, and in Portugal are known as Bruxas lavadeiras . The three old women go to the water's edge at midnight to wash shrouds for those about to die, according to the myth and folklore of Brittany; or to wash the bloodstained clothing of those who are about to die, according to Celtic mythology. The Midnight Washerwomen may be related to the old Celtic tradition of the triple goddess of death and slaughter. The washerwomen are small, dressed in green and have webbed feet. Their webbed feet may be the reason they are also sometimes called the cannard noz (meaning "night ducks") in Breton folklore. France In the nineteenth century, the belief in night washerwomen was very present in Brittany and Normandy, but it is also attested in many other regions of France: Berry, Pyrenees, Alps, Alsace, Morvan, Creuse, Burgundy and Ariège. An important number of Romantic French authors and poets wrote about the lavandières, from Guy de Maupassant and Victor Hugo to Georges Sand. Brittany In Brittany, legends of the lavandière de la nuit were attested by Jacques Cambry as early as the 18th century. In Brittany, they can be an ominous portent, foretelling death, either one's own or a death in the family, though it is rare, just like they are not always represented as old women, though they always have very pale skin, being creatures of the night, and are often dressed in white or in traditional clothing. They are very agile and strong physically, even when they do not look so. The Breton washerwomen wash graveclothes, usually at night, under the moonlight, and are notable for their intense dislike of being disturbed, cursing those who dare to do so. They are known to ask passers-by for help in wringing clothes, breaking the arms of those who do so reluctantly and drowning those who refuse. More rarely, they can also give charity. According to the Breton legends, the washerwomen can either be ghosts whose name is known to all or else they are anonymous supernatural beings who appear in a human form. It