Table of Contents
Introduction
The
connection between humans, fairies, and deities
Fairy
Classifications
Humans who
become fairies
Fairies are
nature spirits
Wells,
Springs and Pools
Trees,
Forests, Glens and Plants
Fairies are
animals
Mountains,
Rocks, and Lands
Forces of
nature
House,
Hearth, and Field
Fairies
are
the gods of the past
Fairies as
their own class of spirits
Common
fairy traits
Analysisi
of the fairies in fairy tales
Rumpelstiltskin
and Analysis
Briar Rose
Analysis of
Briar Rose
Puss in
Boots
Analysis of
Puss in Boots
The
Spindle, the Shuttle and the Needle
Analysis of The Spindle, the shuttle and the Needle
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Fairies
are gods of the past
Note: this is a preview which
has been edited and condenced.
Just as there are deities grown out of tales of fairies, trees, and
other natural forces, so to did the deities eventually return to being
such beings as people thought less and less about them. Even as
lessened beings, however, the deities of old: “To a
considerable
degree retain their hold on the faith of the peasant and, at least in
outlying districts, maintain a vigorous existence. The Church has waged
war against them for centuries and has degraded and disfigured many of
them. Although their expression has in many cases become greatly
altered, yet their original features may easily be recognized by a
careful observer.” (Ralston, 1872)
These deity/fairies manifested themselves as both friendly and
unfriendly beings while retaining their close relationship with humans
or growing bitter and cruel over time. Byelobog, one of the divinities
of the Russians which retained his kind nature, became Bylun, an old
man which assists travelers in finding their way out of dark forests
and also assists reapers within corn fields. (Ralston, 1872)
In Great Britian there was a former deity who dressed in leaves and
would help children lost in the mountains. (Briggs, 1967) Danu, a
goddess of the Celtic peoples, became not one but many fairy beings one
of which is a hag known as Black Annis which haunts caverns and hills
from which she seeks to devour humans. Hills in general it would seem
have become the resting places of the gods which had passed on into
their fairy forms.
“In a prayer of S. Columba's, (he) begs God to dispel "this
host
(i.e. the old gods) around the cairns that reigneth." In Ireland, the
divinity of the Tuatha Dé Danann is still recalled. Eochaid
O'Flynn (tenth century), doubtful whether they are men or demons
concludes, "Though I have treated of these deities in order, yet have I
not adored them." Even in later times they were still thought of as
gods in exile, a view which appears in the romantic tales and sagas
existing side by side with the notices of the annalists. They were also
regarded as fairy kings and queens, and yet fairies of a different
order from those of ordinary tradition. (Maccullock, 1911)
Many of these deities returned to being simple natural phenomena. The
Blue Hag of the highlands, for example, appears to be the
personification of winter. She herds deer and fights spring with her
staff which freezes the ground. When spring wins, she hides her staff
under holly where the grass never grows. (Briggs 1967)
As we’ve seen, internal duality, that is making the same
being
good and bad, was common among the old religions of Europe. As time
went on the deities’ abilities to do either of these grew
less
and less until they were left tormenting children. The lessening of
deities became so extreme that Dirra, one of the gods of old, was
captured by the Earl of Desmond as a fairy bride after she’d
become a simple water nymph. It was not, however, just the Christians
who lessened the deities of the peoples they’d conquered or
converted.
Charles Squire maintains that many of the fairy beings of Ireland are
the divinities of the pre-Celtic peoples who inhabited that kingdom who
were lessened when the Celts invaded. Specifically he states that:
“The leprechaun, who makes shoes for the fairies and knows
where
hidden treasures are, the Gan Ceanach, or "love-talker" who fills the
ears of idle girls with pleasant fancies when to merely mortal ideas
they should be busy with their work; the pooka, who leads travellers
astray, or taking the shape of an ass or mule, beguiles them to mount
upon his back to their discomfiture; the Dulachan, who rides without a
head, and other friendly or malicious spirits. Whence come they? A
possible answer suggests itself. Preceding the Aryans and surviving the
Aryan conquest all over Europe was a large, non-Aryan population which
must have had its own gods who would retain their worship, be revered
by successive generations, and remain rooted to the soil.”
(Maccullock, 1911)
It would seem strange to think that a divine being, a god, could be
captured the way a leprechaun is. Forced to become some man’s
bride through a simple trick the way many fairies are in legend, or
that they should be so feebly petty as to try to
“beguile”
people to ride them as a means to cause people discomfiture. |