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Today, when picturing a faery (or, more commonly, fairy), most people imagine diminutive little creatures with tiny little wings, flitting about from flower to flower. However, accounts of medieval fairies show them to have been neither small nor particularly kindly, while traditional understanding in Ireland before the Middle Ages was that the Faery were mythical characters, often referred to the Tuatha De Danann.
Perhaps the earliest form of faeries can be found loosely in the mythical beings in Greek mythology, such as the nymphs, satyrs and sileni. The nymphs from ancient Greek myths can be considered as fairies and they existed as early as the time of Homer writing the Iliad and the Odyssey. Even the river gods in Greek myths can be classified as fairies. These are spirits or minor deities of nature or of the natural phenomena.
The Norse versions of the fairies are the wide variety of elves and the dÃsir that exist in the Teutonic traditions. The Faery underwent many alterations, from the powerful and respect-inspiring Tuatha De Danann down to the classic Folk Tale Fairy and picturesque Flower Fairy. The Fairy Lineage is an attempt to describe the various realities that have been associated with the word faery.
Between 1840 and 1870, historians have dubbed this period of time the “Golden Age of Fairies.” It is where former leading British Victorian Art Historian, Christopher Wood, begins his reference book with glimpses into what inspired a society to turn to the fantastic both with real-world examples and literary examples such as the societal fascination … Read more
Belief in fairies was still widespread in the early twentieth century, according to the testimony of W. Y. Evans-Wentz in The Fairy Faith in the Celtic Countries (London, 1911). An American-born believer in fairies, Evans-Wentz travelled all the Celtic countries on foot and collected material from all social classes, during which respondents spoke of their … Read more
of the Whereabouts of Gnomes and Elves, Fauns and Faeries, Goblins, Ogres, Trolls and Bogies, Nymphs, Sprites and Dryads, Past and Present BUCK YOUNG aka Mat Jacobsen wrote this article and it was originally published in Fireheart 6. A long, long time ago, the Earth belonged to the creatures of the wood. By creatures of … Read more
Patrick Logan writes of the opinions on fairies in our own century: Whatever took place, or was imagined, round about the year 1790, descriptions of it recorded as far apart as Nithsdale and Caithness are detailed, vivid and surprisingly alike. Invested with a curious atmosphere of mystery and regret, it is known as the Fairies’ … Read more
In the time of the Medieval Fairy, the size and appearance of the fairy became quite variable. They could be tiny and beautiful or huge and monstrous. Most commonly, however, the Medieval Fairy was depicted as a fair-skinned maiden with flowing red hair. Despite their sometime mischievous nature, the Medieval Faeries were enamored with humans, … Read more
The Tuatha De Danann are the first people of Ireland. They were beings close to humanity, but not a part of it, with the ability to change their shape at will. While some of the Tuatha De Danann retreated far from humans to become the Daoine Sidhe, other remain on Earth and become the Fenian … Read more
From the XVIII century onward, the fairies have been said to have departured or to be in decline. People do not see them any more and some argue that the Faeries will eventually disappear as men have stopped believing in them. Other put forward pollution, urbanization, science as the main causes for their disparition. A … Read more
“There’s no question that they existed. We have two fairy houses quite close by and we have records of conversations between fairies and people on the island”. — Sir Iain Noble Legends of dwarves, elves, and other faeries are found worldwide. There are the famed trolls of Scandinavian folklore, the wealthy leprechauns of Irish lore, … Read more