Fairy

Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things by Sophie Anderson (1823-1903).

A fairy (from the Latin fatum: fate, destiny) is a fantastic humanoid spirit. According to tradition, they are spirit protectors of nature, belonging to the same family of elves, gnomes and goblins, (in some traditions the use of the word "fairy" is proposed to refer to this entire family of beings magical). At present they are usually represented in the form of a woman (although it is known that there would also be men) with shiny wings.

These beings are characterized as beings in human form with the innate ability to manipulate magic, with long lifespans (in some places being immortal) and remaining invisible or hidden to the human eye. A case is known in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, was deceived by some girls who were photographed with paper figures in the form of fairies, to which the renowned writer attributed authenticity.

Features

Fairy dancingby Nils Blommér (1816-1853).

According to the works of Chrétien de Troyes and especially Jean D'Arras, Couldrette and Thiiring von Ringoltingen, fairies are beings of great beauty, very white, possessing considerable wealth and sometimes endowed with talent in construction or other Arts. They are almost always linked to or very close to forests and water (rivers, lakes, springs...). In addition, all of them have knowledge of plants, stones and spells. With them they achieve their material wealth and their charms.

It is common for the fairies of medieval literature to wish to join a man to found a family, but they do not try to catch him. On the contrary, they offer her to share his fortune, to be his lover, his partner and the mother of her children, clearly imposing a pact from the beginning, if the pact is broken the union disappears. Clear cases would be that of Melusina or her mother Persina of hers.

Origin

Fates existed in Greek mythology and the poet Ovid, among others, mentions them in his immortal work Metamorphosis. Some could be men, in the case of their king Oberón, and other women as the case may be. Academics such as Victoria Cirlot see in the Fates an antecedent of the fairies, at least of the fairy godmothers.

Authors such as Collin de Plancy (1842, p. 201) and especially Sherman Loomis (1991) trace the origin of the fairy world to Celtic mythology and Central European folk stories. According to this line of thought, medieval authors such as D'Arras, Couldrette and Thiiring von Ringoltingen collected the Celtic oral tradition and linked it to characters such as Melusina, Viviana, the lover of the magician Merlin, Morgana or the Lady of the fountain.

It would be in the Late Middle Ages when the female fairy occupies all the prominence. The first fairy would be the Lady of the Lake described by Chrétien de Troyes in his work Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette. It was the Lady of the Lake who took care of the education of the hero Lancelot and who cured him of his madness. She shows all the characteristics of a fairy, but the term fairy is not mentioned, it is expanded a little more in later works to include her name, Viviane. It was at the end of the 14th century that the Frenchman Jean D ´Arras ((1478) 1854) who used the word fairy for the first time in his novel Melusina. This work was written with the intention of giving the Dukes of Lusignan an almost mythological ancestry and in it all the fairies are women. It is Melusina, her mother and her sisters.

Celtic legends speak of the kingdom of the Áes Sídhe (pronounced As Shi) also known in English as Fairy Folk, and where the best translation into our language would be Fairies, although it is important to emphasize that there is no talk of the Victorian conception of Fairies, those tiny beings with butterfly wings, which are actually pixies. The Áes Sídhe, are semi-divine beings who live between this and the other world, with important connections with nature and deities, most of the stories represent them as people not very tall, but with a human appearance and height, white complexion, light eyes and very black hair.

In medieval tales, fairies (sometimes called "The Good People" or "The Good People") appear associated with enchantments and spells, knowing the power and virtues of words, legends and herbs, which they allowed them to stay young and beautiful, and accumulate great wealth.

In some books, it is mentioned that fairies do all things innocently, even though their behavior may be wicked. In many heraldic shields of this time the world of fairies is reflected. Many aristocrats wanted to show that they came from a lineage of the fairies.

In Cantabrian mythology they are called anjanas, among which are the Ijanas of the Valley of Aras, whose characteristic is that they have huge breasts and are ugly, but they can change their appearance at will. This same type of fairies is found on the island of Gotland, in Sweden. In Galicia they are called mouras , in Asturias they are called xanas, in Catalonia, in addition to fada, they are called goja and in the Balearic Islands Dames d'aigua.

Nordic and Greek mythology -embodied in the nymphs and dryads of Homer and Ovid- influenced the concept that the first bards formed from fairies, but over time the Scots, Irish, Welsh and other European peoples arrived to possess a body full of traditions, founded mainly on Celtic legends.

Initially attributed to fairy human proportions, Shakespeare's tiny, ethereal creatures powerfully influenced later conceptions of English poets.

Several common traits characterize these inhabitants of the other world in all countries: they are classified into beneficent and evil, they occasionally require human support, their orders must be strictly followed under penalty of terrible punishments, etc.

Some of them are fae-turned-fairy but were once female. These became fairies because of some infraction against nature (since it is the place where they live), being punished for it to have such an appearance, even to live in the world of fairies. They can be disenchanted in various ways on specific dates of the year, such as the night of San Juan and for example when they look out at the crystalline waters and ask to be disenchanted. For those who became fairies or crossed the border between the human and fairy worlds, the time in space changed as a day or a month could be a year or a century.

There are several fairies with harmful powers that use it against humans, most of the time for mistreating nature (cutting down a forest would be a real catastrophe for their world). They came to kidnap children to exchange them for fairy beings totally equal to the kidnapped children. Thus they tried to create a lineage between humans and fairies, although the children died shortly after, since they were pale and weak. In the Middle Ages all those children who were pale and thin were considered to be children of fairies and had taken the place of the true child.

Other times they tricked a man of noble lineage by transforming themselves into women of incomparable beauty in order to become pregnant with them and give birth to a being half human and half fairy. For the being to survive, the husband should never pray and they should never see the fairies completely naked.

This set of superstitions, derived from the psychic beliefs of all ancient peoples, has inspired notable writers with their fabulous "fairy tales."

The variety of tasks carried out by the fairies is almost infinite, in addition to singing and dancing, they help human beings in the fields, they exert their control over the weather by protecting the crops. For many months they impatiently await the arrival of spring. They also know the exact day the first flowers will bloom but prefer to keep it a secret.

The legends of the planet also say that fairies usually have psychic or magical powers that could make human beings happy, it was also believed that they were bewitched by witches of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries so that they would watch over their victims, on the other hand, they were also said to be angels in their female form, although male fairies were sometimes seen.

According to Celtic mythology, fairies like Linden or Willow trees.

Fairy classes

There are many kinds of fairies, but all of them are independent of the Celtic mythology in which they originate, all of them being speculations and mixtures of different mythologies. These classifications and associations with the elements are contemporary, created by believers in esotericism and spiritualism. Some of these classifications are:

• Lamias, fairies of Basque mythology. They have long hairs that comb with gold combs that are very precious. His feet are palmed, like those of a duck, except for the feet Itxaslamiakmarine lamias, similar to sirens.
• Mouras or Xanas, fairies of Galician and Asturian mythology
• Ninfas, fairies of Greek mythology that can be:
  • Nayades: Ninphas that populate the rivers, sometimes are daughters of these, for example, Euridice;
  • Nereidas: nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea, daughters of Nereo. Sometimes they are described as women with fish tail. Anfitrite and Tetis stand out;
  • Oceanids: nymphs of the ocean, daughters of this. Metis (Mother of Athena) and Doris (mother of nereids) stand out;
  • Dríades: ninphas of the forests, sometimes associated with oaks;
  • Hamadriades: ninphas linked to a concrete tree so that if this was cut, the nymph died with it;
  • Meliades: Nunfas of the brawns, born from the blood of Uranus (god of Heaven). They're the oldest nymphs.
• Silfides, fairies of the winds; Paracelsus is the first to quote them, and they are, according to him, the elemental beings of the air.
• Salamandras, fairies of fire.
• Drinfas, fairies of the earth.
• Tooth Fairy.
• Banshee Fairies of Death
• Sugar fairies.

Bibliography Cited

1. Callejo Cabo, Jesús (1995). Fairies: Guide to the Magical Beings of Spain. Madrid: EDAF. ISBN 978-84-7640-973-2.
2. Collin de Plancy, M. (1842). Infernal dictionary. Brothers Llorents.
3. D ́Arras, Jean ((1478)1854). Melusine. Paris: P. Jannet.
4. Ovid (2012). Metamorphosis. Barcelona: Austral. ISBN 9788467009262.
5. Sherman Loomis, Roger (1991). The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol (in English). Princenton: Princenton University press. ISBN 0691020752.

Recommended bibliography

• Aracil, Miguel G. (1995). Fairies, gnomes, silfides, ondinas. Madrid: Karma 7. ISBN 978-84-88885-22-7.
• Jorge Luis Borges (2007). The Book of Imaginary Beings. Destination. ISBN 84-233-3912-2.
• Coninckx, Greetje (1996). Jorge Luis Borges: The book of imaginary beings. Catholic University of Lovain. Consultation on 01/01/2022.
• Briggs, Katharine (1992/2003, cartoné/rústica). Fairy Dictionary. Palma de Mallorca: José J. de Olañeta, Editor. ISBN 978-84-7651-083-4 / ISBN 978-84-7651-870-0.
• Callejo, Jesus (1995). Fairy. Madrid: Editorial Edaf. ISBN 978-84-7640-973-2.
• - (1999). Fairy. Volume 2 of the Full Work Magic Beings. Madrid: Editorial Edaf. ISBN 978-84-414-0672-8.
• – (2001). Fairy. Madrid: Editorial Edaf. ISBN 978-84-414-0851-7.
• Kirk, Robert (1993, 2009). The Secret Community. Editing and translation of Javier Martin Lalanda. Soft cover/Cartoné. Collection Books of Time 283. Madrid: Siruela Editions. ISBN 978-84-7844-179-2 / ISBN 978-84-9841-277-277.
• VV.AA (2009). Popular stories of Scottish Highlands. Literary editor José Manuel de Prada Samper. Collection The Three Ages / Library of Popular Talents 12. I loaded. Madrid: Siruela Editions. ISBN 978-84-9841-292-5.
• Arthur Conan Doyle (1922). The Coming of the Fairies (in English). New York, Toronto, London: Hodder & Stoughton.
• Arthur Conan Doyle (1998). The mystery of the fairies. Barcelona: José J. de Olañeta.
• Keightley, Thomas (1987). The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries (in English). Forgotten Books. ISBN 9781605061887.
• Keightley, Thomas (1978). The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People (in English). Avenel Books. ISBN 9780517263136.
• William Butler Yeats (1892). Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (in English). New York: THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO., LTD.