 Faeries And Other Folklore, Do they exist..is it true? |
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emerald-eyedwanderer  |
 Posted: 24-Jan-2005, 01:55 PM
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The Gypsy Artist
Group: Celtic Princess
Posts: 990
Joined: 23-Apr-2004
Zodiac: Hawthorn
Realm: Wherever life takes me.
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I think they are a fun part of myths and legends of the world. I love hearing, reading and learning more about them. Here, in America, we don't have the rich history and culture European countries have. So you don't hear about them much anywhere but fantasy stories. I never realized how much they are thought of in other countries. A friend of mine just visited Ireland last year, and she told me that in Ireland, people will spend the extra costs to build things around what they believe is a fairy bush, shrub, ect. On the bus she took around the country, they pointed out certain spots that were saved from development in order to preserve "fairy shrubs". I think it's neat, and would love to see those places.
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Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you judge people you have no time to love them. ~Mother Teresa
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| Aragorn |
Posted: 24-Jan-2005, 04:29 PM
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Celtic Guardian
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 535
Joined: 06-May-2004
Zodiac: Ivy
Realm: Middle Earth
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Some interesting definitions and variations on the name Faerie: The words 'fey' and 'faerie' come from the French and started to replace the Old English 'Elf' during the Tudor period. Spenser and Shakespeare popularised the change. 'Elfland' and 'Faerieland','Elf' and 'Faerie' were and still are interchangable words. The spellings of 'faerie' are numerous: fayerye, fairy,fayre,faerie,faery,fairy. Faerie is a world of dark enchantments, of captivating beauty,of enormous ugliness, of callous superficiality, of humour,mischief,joy, and isnspiration,of terror,laughter,love and tragedy. It is far richer than fiction would generally lead one to believe and, beyond that,it is a world to enter with extreme caution, for of all things that faeries resent the most is curious humans blundering about the private domains like so many ill mannered tourists. So go softly-where the rewards are enchanting, the dangers are real.
I would have a tough time thinking Faeries could be ugly....probably not a definition I would use to describe them.
BTW: I found a very interesting site with tons of Celtic Folklore. I read some of the stories and I was having such a good time I figured I had better share.
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| dragonboy3611 |
Posted: 24-Jan-2005, 07:12 PM
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A Friend to who needs one.
Group: Ireland
Posts: 743
Joined: 01-Nov-2004
Zodiac: Birch
Realm: USA, New York
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No matter what anyone wishes to tell me, I truley believe they faes and dragons, unicorns and lepricons, pixies and ....well you get the picture.
I believe they all exist. Can there ever be true, true proof? Most likely not. But some things in this world just need to be left alone! People need that. Science can't solve everthing 
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"Men at some time are masters of their fate"
Jul Caesar, Act i, Sc.2
"When sorrow comes, they come not single spies, but in battalions"
Hamlet, Act iv, Sc.5
"All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity"
Hamlet, Act i, Sc.2
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| Aragorn |
Posted: 25-Jan-2005, 09:14 AM
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Celtic Guardian
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 535
Joined: 06-May-2004
Zodiac: Ivy
Realm: Middle Earth
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I really enjoy reading fantasy books with knights, dragons, Gnomes, Faeries, damsels in distress. I can get lost in these books. I really don't believe some of what science portrays as being their truths. So, that being said..and since I can not disprove or prove these things did not exist so I do at least entertain the thought they do or did. Knights I know existed and I am sure with the many tales of dragons it would lead me to believe they did exist. We did have dinosaurs, so why couldn't some of them be dragons? As far as Gnomes, Dwarfs, and Faeries, I have not seen any but does that mean they are not real? No, just means I ain't seen any..hehe. I fault no one for believing or not believing in these things.
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| stoirmeil |
Posted: 06-Feb-2005, 07:28 PM
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Celtic Guardian
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 3,581
Joined: 07-Nov-2004
Zodiac: Birch
Realm: New York
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Here is a nice story from ElectricScotland.com:
THE Scottish Brownie formed a class of beings distinct in habit and disposition from the freakish and mischievous elves. He was meagre, shaggy, and wild in his appearance.
In the daytime he lurked in remote recesses of the old houses which he delighted to haunt; and in the night sedulously employed himself in discharging any laborious task which he thought might be acceptable to the family to whose service he had devoted himself. But the Brownie does not drudge from the hope of recompense. On the contrary, so delicate is his attachment that the offer of reward, but particularly of food, infallibly occasions his disappearance for ever. It is told of a Brownie, who haunted a Border family now extinct, that the lady having fallen unexpectedly in labour, and the servant, who was ordered to ride to Jedburgh for the sage-femme, showing no great alertness in setting out, the familiar spirit slipt on the great-coat of the lingering domestic, rode to the town on the laird's best horse, and returned with the midwife en croupe. During the short space of his absence the Tweed, which they must necessarily ford, rose to a dangerous height. Brownie, who transported his charge with all rapidity, was not to be stopped by this obstacle. He plunged in with the terrified old lady, and landed her in safety where her services were wanted. Having put the horse into the stable (where it was afterwards found in a woful plight), he proceeded to the room of the servant whose duty he had discharged, and, finding him just in the act of drawing on his boots, administered to him a most merciless drubbing with his own horsewhip. Such an important service excited the gratitude of the laird, who, understanding that Brownie had been heard to express a wish to have a green coat, ordered a vestment of that colour to be made and left in his haunts. Brownie took away the green coat, but was never seen more. We may suppose that, tired of his domestic drudgery, he went in his new livery to join the fairies.
You can read more stories at http://www.electricscotland.com/kids/stories/index.htm
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| BoggleBoy |
Posted: 06-Feb-2005, 08:29 PM
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Chieftain of the Clan
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 105
Joined: 22-Jul-2004
Zodiac: Vine
Realm: Troy, Ohio
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Oh boy, is this my subject or what?!?! 
Okay, I kind of consider myself a bit of an expert on faerie lore and of several- not all, but several- folkloric traditions and mythologies from around the world. My speciality is, of course, Celtic, but I also have some knowledge of English, Finnish, Russian, slovacian, German, and Teutonic mythology and folk lore. An amateur mythologist, if you will... I know lots of useless things  ...
Just one technical note: all beings such as gnomes, leprechauns, elves, browines, nixes, goblins, peri (from Persia)... well, you get the idea, are all collectively known as "faeries, fairies, fay, etc..." The realm from which they are all said to dwell or have come from originally is generically called "Faerie, Fairyland, etc.." As I said, just a technical note.
Personal belief aside, it is a nice thought that such belief in cultures such as beloved Ireland ( or Iceland- there, they actually have an accredited college known as Elf School which educates people about the Realms of Faerie and it's denizens) still prevails in its more rural areas. For such belief brings about a very valuable side effect: regard for our natural environment and respect for the eccosystem. Now, that can't be all bad? It is interesting to note that, as "Emerald-eyedwanderer" pointed out, those beliefs don't exist for us here...that is, for the European and other non-indigenous inhabitants. For the original Native tribes, there were beliefs in place that, however, did engender a respect- or should I say, a reverence for the natural world and all the "spirits" of nature (Faeries?mmmmm could be doc. Many say that "faeries" are just that, nature "elementals"). And we are the greatest misusers and exploiters of our own precious planet and the bounty it offers.
Obviously, I could go on and on about this, faeries and regard for nature, and, were I not now at work ( my part time job as front desk manager at a hotel  ) and in fear of boring the you-know-what out of everyone, I would. Aargorn, thanks for those great links! You can never find too much info on those subjects!!!
Oh, and for the record, as far as my own level of personal belief in faeries....if you really want to know, you can e-mail me. I have kind of a long story regarding an incident that happened to me, and I have a lot of trouble explaining it away. It has shaped my outlook on things of that nature. And I did have a wittness there with me.
"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of your philosophy....
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| Haldur |
Posted: 07-Feb-2005, 06:39 PM
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Celtic Guardian
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 537
Joined: 04-Jan-2004
Zodiac: Willow
Realm: Grayson, KY
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The fae are very interesting indeed! And what a wonderful place to start researching, www.sacred-texts.com! It has a wealth of information about faeries, Irish/Scottish folklore, and so much more...I've been going to sacred texts for a while now to research things. If you've got a question about where to find Celtic folklore, that has to be the place!
I think that the fae are very real, as long as we make them real in our minds. I mean, just take a look around nature and see what delightful shapes, colors, and truly "magical" things you take in! I think that faeries, brownies, ghosts, guardian angels, and sasquatch are very real things...there's nothing to really disprove them or prove them, but I think they're there. Heck, anything's possible!
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Haldr, Traveller of the Great Forest"After all is said and done, a lot more will be said than done."
- Unknown
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A ugly fairy hum that would be SCARY!
