Tradition / Region: Portuguese Mythology
Alternate Names: Coralário (plural: Coralários)
Category: Dog, Ghost
The Myth
In Portuguese tradition, the Corrilário is said to be the spirit of a restless dead person, appearing in the form of a dog.
These beings are believed to be the souls of those whose lives ended wrongly or whose fate remained unfinished. Some say they were people who died violently, who left promises unfulfilled, or who failed to complete the rites expected of them in life. Others say that a werewolf who dies before the time appointed for his curse must continue on after death as one of these wandering spirits.
As a Corrilário, the soul does not find rest. Instead it is bound to wander the roads and paths of the world. Unlike werewolves, which are said to follow only straight roads, the Corrilário moves along both straight ways and hidden shortcuts, passing through fields, tracks, and lonely routes where few people walk.
Because they are spirits tied to unfinished fate, they are thought to remain in this form only for as long as they would have lived had death not come early. Until that time has passed, they continue their wandering, like messengers moving between places, never settling.
Thus the Corrilário was remembered as a ghostly dog of the roads — not a beast of malice, but the shape taken by the unquiet dead, walking the paths of the living until their destined time was finally spent.
Gallery
Sources
The Narrator. (2020). Corrilários. In portuguesecreaturesandlegendsgalore.wordpress.com, from https://portuguesecreaturesandlegendsgalore.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/corrilarios/
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