THE FAERIE TRADITIONS

The Irish, Scottish and Welsh tales contain most of the faerie tradition. Angus mac Og, a leader of the faerie folk, pursued a dream maiden probably seen in a vigil on Newgrange barrow. He finally found her as a swan maiden and dove after her to join her.

These beings are called FAIRIES or FAERIES: The earlier name was Fays. The "fairy" include Anglo-Saxon elves, the Daoine Sidhs of the Highlands, the Tuatha De Danann of Ireland, the Tylwyth Teg of Wales, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, the Wee Folk, Good Neighbors, and many more. However this does not mean faeries only occur in the British Isles. The Cherokee Indians of North America have many stories of the Little People. The Chinese, Japanese, Aborigines, and African tribes all have a rich folklore of small magic people. Some fairies are friendly, others wild and alien to humans. Fairies are described as less than an inch tall,18 inches tall, three or four feet tall, human size, or as giants. Faerie clothing is usually described as green in Celtic countries with red next. This association between green and the spirit world led the Celts to associate green with death. The fairies of Manx like blue. White and yellow are also common. They also tend to dress in the costumes of the country in which they live. Fairies tresses have been described as red, brown, black or blonde; and the women wear it long and flowing. Fairies distinctly do not like humans spying on them. Fairies tend to guard their real names, instead giving false ones to humans. Some are also capable of shape-shifting into birds to escape capture. Fairies often use glamour (spells) when encountering humans;

in Ireland these spells are called pishogue (pizh-ogue). Fairies value neatness, the ability to keep a secret and generosity among humans. They also like humans to leave out fresh water for washing their babies, and enjoy an offering of milk, bread and cheese. Their favorite hour is twilight, between day and night.

LONE FAY: there are also individual fairies who live alone. These individual fairies usually do not dress as grandly as those of the bands. The lone fairies wear different outfits of fox skins, leaves, green moss, flowers, moleskins, or cobwebs.

BANDED FAY: Many fairies prefer to live in bands, large and small. In Ireland, the men of the Trooping Fairies, the Daoine Sidh and the Shefro wear green coats and red caps, while the women wear green gowns and red shoes. Fairies love finery. They add feathers to their caps, decorate their gowns with gold spangles and wear small coronets, sometimes of pearls. Some of the men wear yellow breeches. They spin and weave within their communities. Fairies have their fairs, hunts, markets, processional rides, games, inter-clan warfare {in Ireland), and revels. Hurling is a particular sport of the Irish fairies. Highland faeries have banquets of roots of silverweed, stalks of heather, milk of red deer and goats, barley meal, bread, mushrooms, honey, and dew. They are quite fond of music and dance. Among their musical instruments are the panpipes, bagpipes, cymbals, tambourines, harps, whistles, and drums. The music of the Londonderry Air is said to have been learned from fairies. Their horses are often shaggy and speckled grey. The Ellyllon (ethlerthlon) are Welsh fairies whose queen is Mab. Their food is toadstools and fairy butter, a fungus found on the roots of old trees.

ELVES are the Trooping Fairies of Britain. In Scotland they are divided into the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. The name is also applied to small fairy boys. Elf-shot describes an illness or disability supposedly caused by their arrows. Elves traditionally wear green.