The Coming of the Faeries
The Faeries are as eternal as the human beings who created them. A belief in faeries has always existed, although it has meant something different to each generation.
The word 'faery' originally came from the Latin 'fatae', meaning the Fates. It also meant 'faerie' meaning a place of enchantment, which could be either a place or the spirits who lived there.
Faerie was described in the seventeenth century as one species of supernatural creatures 'of a middle nature between man and angel'. The word is now more commonly used to cover the whole area of the supernatural not claimed by angels and devils, and the name 'faeries' or faeries is recognized everywhere.
In British folklore, faery embraces a huge cast of
characters ranging from the familiar elves, dragons,
and mermaids to the more rareified seal-like Selkies,
the monstrous Irish Firbolgs and the Scottish spinner
Habetrots. The word is also used to describe a number
of spirits with similar characteristics, who reappear in
tales from all over Britain, under different names according
to the area in which they live. The Brownie, for example,
is the Bwca in Wales, the Bodach in the Highlands and
the Fenodoree in the Isle of Man.
To mention the faery name, either individually or celeectively, however, was originally considered taboo by many people. The restriction probably stemmed from the primitive belief that to name a person, or spirit, is to have power over them. The earliest faeries of folk legend represented powerful natural forces that were to be feared and placated. Their love of secrecy was respected by those anxious not to offend them and they were described, euphemistically, as 'the Good Neighbours' or 'the Good Folk'.
The earliest written reference to faeries of any kind in England, occurs in an eleventh-century manuscript of Anglo-Saxon charms against elf-shot. This was a magic, disease-bearing arrow.
When oral tales of faery beliefs and faery sightings started to be written down, a wealth of folk legend was available for writers and artists to draw upon. Later, as belief in them declined, the faeries became more decorative than monstrous and today's popular image of faeryland was largely shaped by the captivating miniature world imagined by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Its faery scenes have influenced generations of writers and artists.
Taken from The Faeryland Companion by Beatrice Phillpotts
page created by Arian Sidhe
