Fairies
Fairies
I am an open-minded person. I can accept a lot of strange things, because it is, in reality, a strange world. Years ago I read of an incident that is credited to C.S.Lewis. He claimed that he saw a Hobbit-like creature in his garden. He thought himself crazy, but he knows what he saw. Because of my respect and admiration for C. S. Lewis, I believe him. He saw something. Who knows?
But Fairies?
No, not fairies. I just can't believe in fairies. It is like believing in the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause. It is something believed as a child, but now I am an adult, I have, hopefully, put away childish things.
However, many people have not. One of my dear friends has been dreaming about fairies of late, and fairies are popping up in the oddest places in his life. (Not actually popping up for real, just the subject of fairies. I haven't lost my mind, yet.) So I thought I would do some research and write about Fairies. It can't hurt.
I, once, and for a very short time, joined a Fairy Investigation Group. I belonged to a group and within that group, this group was started. I was so curious. I thought that if they are finding evidence then I would be the first one to get on board and believe in fairies.
Well....We never quite got our wings. We had three meetings, but we never scheduled an actual investigation. Instead, there were many stories shared that ranged from the slightly believable to the completely absurd.
Dolls talked, trolls invaded a bedroom and animated puppets, people fed their fairies milk and cookies under the tree in their back yard. (this reminded me so much of leaving milk and cookies for Santa as a child that it made me smile.) There was passionate debate about what to feed a fairy, what was healthy for them, what might hurt them. There were books shared. Many books have been written about fairies over time. I had no idea this was so.
After three meetings, no investigations had been planned for the near future, and, with discussions that began to border on the mildly crazy, I decided to drop out. The group never got off the ground.
Here is some history on the Fairy Folk.
It is difficult to define the word fairy, because there are so many different things said about them. Let's begin by saying that fairies fall under the catagory of magical creatures.
Much of what we know about fairies comes from folklore and different folk traditions. The first thing I learned, which surprised me, is that most fairies are thought to be malicious, nasty creatures out to be mischievous.
Fairies of the modern day are depicted in images from movies and books as human-like beings, sometimes with wings, and usually very small. However, originally, they were depicted quite differently, as tall, angelic beings, or as short troll-like, gnome-like creatures. Celtic folk-lore describes a race of small creatures who had been driven into hiding by humans. Typically, fairies were known for their mischief and malice.
English folktales describe fairies as a sort of combination of elves and humans, only very small. The idea of fairies originated with the word meaning "enchanted", and eventually came to mean enchanted creatures. Fairies are seen as a race of beings in hiding. They are rarely seen, and want it kept that way.
Fairies have often been subjects or characters in children's books or European literature. In old Celtic fairy lore the fairy folk are immortals living in the ancient barrows and cairns.
Another theory is that the fairies were originally worshiped as minor goddesses, such as nymphs, but with the coming of Christianity, they lived on, in a dwindled state of power, in folk belief.
A third theory states that fairies are spirits of the dead, or belong in the dead realm, living underground. The Irish banshee means "woman of the fairy mound." Fairies are described as a kind of ghost.
Christian belief held that fairies were a sort of demoted or fallen angel. Fairies were believed to be somehow caught between Heaven and Hell, a sort of Purgatory for angels. Fairies were believed to have to pay a tithe to hell.
Another belief is that fairies are Elementals, or spirits of the air.
Some of the mischief ascribed to fairies are things such as the tangling of the hair of a sleeping person, stealing small objects, leading travelers astray. Any form of sudden and unexplainable death or disappearance might be blamed on fairies. Diseases such as tuberculosis were blamed on fairies forcing people to dance to exhaustion.
Some objects felt to protect people from fairy mischief were cold iron, running water, wearing clothing inside out, St. John's Wort and four-leaf clovers. Bread, from stale to fresh baked, was believed to protect. In much Celtic folklore, bread is also used as a traditional offering to fairies, as are cream and butter.
There are fairies in Shakespeare's a Midsummer's Night Dream, The Brothers Grimm, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
There have been a lot of paintings of fairies in the past few centuries, and many books published in the past 20 years which depict the artist's vision of fairies. It's a favorite subject of illustrators.
I have been, with my reporter partner who needed to cover the event for a story, to a Fairy Festival, held here in Pennsylvania every Spring. It's deep in the woods, on a farm, and the biggest surprise I had was seeing just how many people come to this event. Many people dress in fairy costume. The Festival offers great music, food, vendors selling all sorts of fairy stuff, from costumes to books, (there is a Fairie Magazine.) and displays of all sorts.
It's a wonderful event, with lots of children wearing wings and lots of people wearing amazingly gorgeous costumes, some in Steam Punk fashion. Old, young, middle aged, all take part in this retreat from the real world into a better time and place, of fantasy and fun. It reminded me of the 60's Hippy festivals, not that I remember such things first hand. Sometimes its muddy, sometimes it rains, sometimes it's hot and humid, and it's always a bit magical.
I think my partner and I will make costumes to wear this Spring and join the fairies. I swear I have seen real fairies at this event, mixed in with the costumed wannabees. They wander, beautiful, silent, laughing, mischievous.
Oh, good grief, I really am going crazy.
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| A portrait of a fairy, by Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1869). | from Free Wikipedia |
But Fairies?
No, not fairies. I just can't believe in fairies. It is like believing in the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause. It is something believed as a child, but now I am an adult, I have, hopefully, put away childish things.
However, many people have not. One of my dear friends has been dreaming about fairies of late, and fairies are popping up in the oddest places in his life. (Not actually popping up for real, just the subject of fairies. I haven't lost my mind, yet.) So I thought I would do some research and write about Fairies. It can't hurt.
I, once, and for a very short time, joined a Fairy Investigation Group. I belonged to a group and within that group, this group was started. I was so curious. I thought that if they are finding evidence then I would be the first one to get on board and believe in fairies.
Well....We never quite got our wings. We had three meetings, but we never scheduled an actual investigation. Instead, there were many stories shared that ranged from the slightly believable to the completely absurd.
Dolls talked, trolls invaded a bedroom and animated puppets, people fed their fairies milk and cookies under the tree in their back yard. (this reminded me so much of leaving milk and cookies for Santa as a child that it made me smile.) There was passionate debate about what to feed a fairy, what was healthy for them, what might hurt them. There were books shared. Many books have been written about fairies over time. I had no idea this was so.
After three meetings, no investigations had been planned for the near future, and, with discussions that began to border on the mildly crazy, I decided to drop out. The group never got off the ground.
Here is some history on the Fairy Folk.
It is difficult to define the word fairy, because there are so many different things said about them. Let's begin by saying that fairies fall under the catagory of magical creatures.
Much of what we know about fairies comes from folklore and different folk traditions. The first thing I learned, which surprised me, is that most fairies are thought to be malicious, nasty creatures out to be mischievous.
Fairies of the modern day are depicted in images from movies and books as human-like beings, sometimes with wings, and usually very small. However, originally, they were depicted quite differently, as tall, angelic beings, or as short troll-like, gnome-like creatures. Celtic folk-lore describes a race of small creatures who had been driven into hiding by humans. Typically, fairies were known for their mischief and malice.
English folktales describe fairies as a sort of combination of elves and humans, only very small. The idea of fairies originated with the word meaning "enchanted", and eventually came to mean enchanted creatures. Fairies are seen as a race of beings in hiding. They are rarely seen, and want it kept that way.
Fairies have often been subjects or characters in children's books or European literature. In old Celtic fairy lore the fairy folk are immortals living in the ancient barrows and cairns.
Another theory is that the fairies were originally worshiped as minor goddesses, such as nymphs, but with the coming of Christianity, they lived on, in a dwindled state of power, in folk belief.
A third theory states that fairies are spirits of the dead, or belong in the dead realm, living underground. The Irish banshee means "woman of the fairy mound." Fairies are described as a kind of ghost.
Christian belief held that fairies were a sort of demoted or fallen angel. Fairies were believed to be somehow caught between Heaven and Hell, a sort of Purgatory for angels. Fairies were believed to have to pay a tithe to hell.
Another belief is that fairies are Elementals, or spirits of the air.
Some of the mischief ascribed to fairies are things such as the tangling of the hair of a sleeping person, stealing small objects, leading travelers astray. Any form of sudden and unexplainable death or disappearance might be blamed on fairies. Diseases such as tuberculosis were blamed on fairies forcing people to dance to exhaustion.
Some objects felt to protect people from fairy mischief were cold iron, running water, wearing clothing inside out, St. John's Wort and four-leaf clovers. Bread, from stale to fresh baked, was believed to protect. In much Celtic folklore, bread is also used as a traditional offering to fairies, as are cream and butter.
There are fairies in Shakespeare's a Midsummer's Night Dream, The Brothers Grimm, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
There have been a lot of paintings of fairies in the past few centuries, and many books published in the past 20 years which depict the artist's vision of fairies. It's a favorite subject of illustrators.
I have been, with my reporter partner who needed to cover the event for a story, to a Fairy Festival, held here in Pennsylvania every Spring. It's deep in the woods, on a farm, and the biggest surprise I had was seeing just how many people come to this event. Many people dress in fairy costume. The Festival offers great music, food, vendors selling all sorts of fairy stuff, from costumes to books, (there is a Fairie Magazine.) and displays of all sorts.
It's a wonderful event, with lots of children wearing wings and lots of people wearing amazingly gorgeous costumes, some in Steam Punk fashion. Old, young, middle aged, all take part in this retreat from the real world into a better time and place, of fantasy and fun. It reminded me of the 60's Hippy festivals, not that I remember such things first hand. Sometimes its muddy, sometimes it rains, sometimes it's hot and humid, and it's always a bit magical.
I think my partner and I will make costumes to wear this Spring and join the fairies. I swear I have seen real fairies at this event, mixed in with the costumed wannabees. They wander, beautiful, silent, laughing, mischievous.
Oh, good grief, I really am going crazy.
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