Commonly used in Middle Ages
Indian (India) poetry refers to them as celestial singers
Early civilizations told of spirits resembling Fae
Might be common because so many cultures tell stories
Different cultures, different accounts
Fae stories began when writing began
Ireland rich with Fae lore
Tuatha De Danaan, or "people of the goddess Dana" (Irish)
To the Irish, Fae were Tuatha gods and goddesses (common in Fae mythology)
Local gods and spirits could have shrunken to Fae (over time)
Some cultures believe Fae are souls of dead people
Others believe were angels that were sent from heaven to earth to do no harm if left alone
Believed they were always around and always will be
Often called "the little people" or "the fair folk"
Come in many shapes and sizes
Male and female can be strikingly beautiful
Some good, some bad
Live just beyond detection of mortals
Love to dance at night
Fae rings - usually ring of mushrooms or where the grass greener than surrounding grass
Time in Fae circles and mortal world is different
Two main Fae groups - trooping and solitary
Shy
Generally avoid human contact
If come in contact with mortals, most are friendly
May try to help by doing simple chores, but often end poorly
Easily offended
May make life miserable if insult them
Not good idea to talk badly of them, worse, say you don't believe
Hurt people in many different ways - fogs and storms on unsuspecting travelers, lead weary travelers down wrong paths, pull chairs from under people when sit down, or steal babies and leave deformed challengings (baby Fae) in place
Difficult to spot because of magic
Wear green to blend into woods easily
Rarely can see them
Stone with natural hole can reduce magical cloaking ability, like a magic telescope for finding Fae
Ways to get rid of Fae: crosses, ringing bells, iron horseshoes, picking a four leaf clover (protect from spells)
(German) elves - spirit creature
Can change form
Can disappear in a puff of smoke
Enjoy dancing and singing
Green clothing
Hatmful if offended
Most are happy
Nice
No wings
Pointed ears
Two types - light and dark
Light elves
Bewitchingly beautiful
Can do favors for mortals by doing chores in middle of night
Good and kind
Known to give good luck
Live in Alfheim
Those who help light elves sometimes rewarded with pocketful of gold
Dark elves
Blamed for: Candles mysteriously going out
Cows providing poor milk
Disease in livestock and/or mortals
Gusts of smoke billowing down chimneys again
Making farm animals ill
Sitting on sleeping mortals and giving them alpdrunkens, or nightmares
Farmers often complain dark elves ride horses all night and exhaust them
Live in Svartalfheim
Often use magic for evil
Sinister
Ugly
Ireland
Leprechauns - tiny men who make shoes
Many ways to spell leprechaun - example: luchorpan, or "little body"
Usually described:
Green clothes
Guard hoards of gold
If captor(s) look away, even for second, they laugh and vanish
Jealous
Little old men
Long, gray beards
Long noses
Often heard in woods, doing chores
Pointy hats
Pointy shoes
Reveal location of gold if captured
England and Scotland
Brownies - household spirit
Can undo work and make a mess if criticized
Considered good luck if brownie(s) live in house
Helpful
Mortals, for gratitude, give cream or homemade bread
Perform tedious chores for mortals, like sweeping
Some naked and shaggy, others ragged, brown clothing
Some no nose, others two nostrils on face
South England
Pixies
Expect cream, bread and/or cake
Help with household chores
Like to lead weary travelers down wrong paths 'til exhausted (pixie-led)
Mischievous
Mortal-like communities
Mortals accidentally stumble upon communities
Mortals like to join pixie dances
Mortals may not leave months or years after
Mortals soon loose sense of time
Pointy ears
Prefer to live in flower gardens
Red hair
Similar to brownies
Sometimes live underground
Trooping fae
Turned-up noses
Very small (look like butterflies)
Wings
Germany
Kabolds
Act like brownies
Colorful clothing
Don't expect much in return, except portion of family dinner
Faces of little old men
Happy to do chores for certain families
Look like garden gnomes
Not treated with respect, mischievous toward mortal host(s)
Tall, pointy cap
Usually live in barns or hearths
Nigeria
Zin
Evil
Looking at once can cause death
Preys on unknowing travelers
Water spirit
Canada
Tootega
Appear as little old women walking on water
Female
Live in little stone houses on an island
Water spirits
Elves & Fae
Known for over two thousand years
Medieval Europe:
fairy human woman with magic powers
Wings no appearance until late 1700s
Trooping Fae (Patu - Paierehe of the Maori of New Zealand):
Appear in mists
Live in trees
Love music and dancing
Sometimes teach mortals magic, but not usually
Solitary Fae:
Leprechauns:
Always trick to look away and vanish, leaving them lost, bewildered, and no treasure
Mortals try to persuade them to lead them to their secret stash of gold
Pixie-led: to be lost
Very rich
Traps and Tricks
Folklore elves:
Beautiful and generous
Treated with nervous respect
Intrigued by mortals
Quick, small,and supernatural
Can always outwit mortals
Will steal cows, bread, milk, and babies, and leave challengings in place
Household Helpers
Some live with mortals
Holland: redcaps
Scandinavia: nis
Germany: kobolds
Great Britain: brownies, hobgoblins, piskies
Russia: domovoys
Brownies & Hobgoblins
Small
Raggedly dressed
Help with domestic chores
Creatures By Area
Arctic Circle: uldra
Greenland: margyr
Africa: camelopard, werecrocodiles
Egypt: Great Sphinx, Hermes Trismegistus, mummies
South Africa: Flying Dutchman, Tokoloshi
North America: bogeyman, Bokwus, ogopogo, N'haitaka, sasquatch, bigfoot, slimyslim, thunderbird, windigo
Central America: Quetzalcoatl
South America: werejaguars, Ahuitzotle
Asia: Arabian phoenix, genies/djinn, gh?ls, griffins, Nagas, Nagini, roc, yeti, abominable snowman
China: Chinese dragons, Feng-Heang, Ki Lin, Ch'i Lin, Yellow Dragon, weresnake
India: garudabird, manticore, Syma the Black, sabala, the Spotted, weretigers
Japan: Ho-o, Japanese Dragons, kirin, vampire cat of Nabeshima
Korea: Korean dragons, dokkaebi
Europe: basilisk, blue caps, bogeymen, cockatrice, doppleg?ngers, ghouls, golems, Green Man, Hippogriff, Western dragons, Western Unicorns, wyvern, Morgan le Fay, rusalka
Northern Europe: barbegazi, thumpers, knockers, uldra
Eastern Europe: vodyanoi
Great Britain: Barguest, boggarts, brownies, corpse-light, foxfire, Gwydion, Herne the Hunter, hobgoblins, ignis fatuus, Jack O'Lantern, John Dee, kelpie, Merlin, Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, piskies, pixies, Robin Goodfellow, Puck, screaming skulls, seal women, selkies, trows, Will O'The Wisp
If You See A Fae Ring
Poem
If you see a Fae ring
In a field of grass,
Very lightly step around,
Tip toe as you pass,
Last night fairies frolicked there
And they're sleeping somewhere near.
If you see a fairy
Lying fast asleep,
Shut your eyes
And run away,
Do not stay to peek!
Do not tell
Or you will break a fairy spell.
Why Fae Hide from Mortals (Irish Explanation)
The Tuatha D? Danann were descended from Nemed, leader of a previous wave of inhabitants of Ireland. They came from four cities to the north of Ireland?Falias, Gorias, Murias and Finias?where they acquired their occult skills and attributes. According to Lebor Gab?la ?renn, they came to Ireland "in dark clouds" and "landed on the mountains of [the] Conmaicne Rein in Connachta; and they brought a darkness over the sun for three days and three nights". According to a later version of the story, they arrived in ships on the coast of the Conmaicne Mara's territory (modern Connemara). They immediately burnt the ships "so that they should not think of retreating to them; and the smoke and the mist that came from the vessels filled the neighboring land and air. Therefore it was conceived that they had arrived in clouds of mist". A poem in the Lebor Gab?la ?renn says of their arrival: "It is God who suffered them, though He restrained them they landed with horror, with lofty deed, in their cloud of mighty combat of spectres. Upon a mountain of Conmaicne of Connacht. Without distinction to descerning Ireland, Without ships, a ruthless course the truth was not known beneath the sky of stars, whether they were of heaven or of earth." Led by their king, Nuada, they fought the First Battle of Magh Tuireadh on the west coast, in which they defeated and displaced the native Fir Bolg, who then inhabited Ireland. In the battle, Nuada lost an arm to their champion, Sreng. Since Nuada was no longer "unblemished", he could not continue as king and was replaced by the half-Fomorian Bres, who turned out to be a tyrant. The physician Dian Cecht replaced Nuada's arm with a working silver one and he was reinstated as king. However, Dian Cecht's son Miach was dissatisfied with the replacement so he recited the spell, "ault fri halt d? & f?ith fri f?th" (joint to joint of it and sinew to sinew), which caused flesh to grow over the silver prosthesis over the course of nine days and nights. However, in a fit of jealous rage Dian Cecht slew his own son. Because of Nuada's restoration as leader, Bres complained to his family and his father, Elatha, who sent him to seek assistance from Balor, king of the Fomorians. The Tuatha D? Danann then fought the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh against the Fomorians. Nuada was killed by the Fomorian king Balor's poisonous eye, but Balor was killed himself by Lugh, the champion of the Tuatha D?, who then took over as king. A third battle was fought against a subsequent wave of invaders, the Milesians, from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (present day Galicia and Northern Portugal), descendants of M?l Esp?ine (who are thought to represent the Goidelic Celts). The Milesians encountered three goddesses of the Tuatha D? Danann, ?riu, Banba and Fodla, who asked that the island be named after them; ?riu is the origin of the modern name ?ire, and Banba and Fodla are still sometimes used as poetic names for Ireland. Their three husbands, Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht and Mac Gr?ine, who were kings of the Tuatha D? Danann at that time, asked for a truce of three days, during which the Milesians would lie at anchor nine waves' distance from the shore. The Milesians complied, but the Tuatha D? Danann created a magical storm in an attempt to drive them away. The Milesian poet Amergin calmed the sea with his verse, then his people landed and defeated the Tuatha D? Danann at Tailtiu. When Amergin was called upon to divide the land between the Tuatha D? Danann and his own people, he cleverly allotted the portion above ground to the Milesians and the portion underground to the Tuatha D? Danann. The Tuatha D? Danann were led underground into the Sidhe mounds by Manann?n mac Lir.
Want to learn more about Fae? Here are some websites:
http://www.fairiesworld.com/index_fairy_info.php
http://www.jhsweet.com/Books/fairyfacts.pdf
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy
https://sites.google.com/site/myfairygifts/fairy-information
http://lostdemise.m.webs.com/site/mobile?dm_path=%2Ffairyinformation.htm&fw_sig_access_token=2ca61f20b3418e6f8a5c7911099130794a1a5cb5&fw_sig_session_key=a710712a4cd88c42674cf3265cf63f16cbf0e3f7ba1d35c437e64cafffe28a61-18964162&fw_sig_tier=0&fw_sig_social=1&fw_sig_permissions=none&fw_sig_url=http://www.freewebs.com/lostdemise/&fw_sig_site=18964162&fw_sig_premium=0&fw_sig_is_admin=0&fw_sig_permission_level=0&fw_sig=680ceddfbede1d61141c2b27d0cd8f33&fw_sig_time=1370197709405&fw_sig_api_key=522b0eedffc137c934fc7268582d53a1&fb_sig_network=fw#0113
http://fairysource.com/fairyinfolinks.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/fairy.aspx
http://www.annsparanormal.freehomepage.com/custom3_1.html
http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html
http://www.celticwisdom.net/teachinglinks.html
http://psiwarriors.com/threads/fairy-information.860/
http://sparklefairy.com/2011/01/28/fairy-facts/
http://www.fairyhouses.com/about-fairy-houses/
http://m.facebook.com/fgmfinformationcenter?id=130059953728366&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch&_rdr
http://fairys.com/fairyfactsc16.php
http://www.afaeryhunt.com/fairy_facts.htm
http://www.damselsfairies.co.uk/facts.htm