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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:44:28 GMT -5
corpse lights or candles (See will-o'-the-wisps)
See also Corpse roads
Corpse roads provided a practical means for transporting corpses, often from remote communities, to cemeteries that had burial rights, such as parish churches and chapels of ease.[1] In Britain, such routes can also be known by a number of other names, e.g.: bier road, burial road, coffin line, coffin road, corpse way, funeral road, lych way, lyke way, or procession way.[1] etc. Such "church-ways" have developed a great deal of associated folklore regarding ghosts, spirits, wraiths, etc.
Characteristics of corpse roads The spirits of the dead The essence of deep-rooted spirit lore is that supposed spirits of one kind or another – spirits of the dead, phantasms of the living, wraiths, or nature entities like fairies move through the physical landscape along special routes. In their ideal, pristine form, at least, such routes are conceived of as being straight, having something in common with ley lines. By the same token, convoluted or non-linear features hinder spirit movement i.e. labyrinths and mazes.
Hedge maze in the "English Garden" at Schönbusch Park, Aschaffenburg, Germany. Spirits or ghosts were said to fly along on a direct course close to the ground, so a straight line connecting two places was kept clear of fences, walls, and buildings to avoid obstructing the flitting spectres.[5] The paths would run in a straight line over mountains and valleys and through marshes. In towns, they would pass the houses closely or go right through them. The paths end or originate at a cemetery; therefore, such a path or road was believed to have the same characteristics as a cemetery, where spirits of the deceased thrive.
The corpse roads or ways were left unploughed and it was considered very bad luck if for any reason a different route had to be taken.[6]
Corpse candles and other related phenomena A corpse candle or light is a flame or ball of light, often blue, that is seen to travel just above the ground on the route from the cemetery to the dying person's house and back again, and is particularly associated with Wales.[7] A corpse fire is very similar as the name comes from lights appearing specifically within graveyards where it was believed the lights were an omen of death or coming tragedy and would mark the route of a future funeral, from the victim's house to the graveyard, where it would vanish into the ground at the site of the burial. The appearance was often said to be on the night before a death.[8]
Omphalotus olearius, bioluminescent fungus Among European rural people, especially in Gaelic, Slavic, and Germanic folklore, the will-o'-the-wisps are held to be mischievous spirits of the dead or other supernatural beings attempting to lead travellers astray[9] (compare Puck). Sometimes they are believed to be the spirits of unbaptized or stillborn children, flitting between heaven and hell. Other names are Jack O' Lantern, or Joan of the Wad, Jenny Burn-tail, Kitty wi' the Whisp, or Spunkie.[10]
Anybody seeing this phenomenon might merely have been seeing, without knowing, a luminescent barn owl, at least in some instances. Much anecdotal evidence supports the fact that barn owls have a luminescence which may be due to fungal bioluminescence (foxfire).[11] It is also possible those who have observed corpse candles may have been witnessing the effect of methane gases produced by decomposing organic material found in swamps, marshlands, and bogs.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania, by Joseph Noel Paton In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck says:
Now it is the time of night, That the graves all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite, In the church-way paths to glide.
Puck suggests a secret history of these routes, for unsurprisingly they attracted long extant folk lore, running not only through the physical countryside but also through the invisible geography, the 'mental terrain', of pre-industrial country-folk. Shakespeare's lines leave little doubt that the physical corpse roads came to be perceived as being spirit routes, taking on qualities which lingered in the folklore of his age and which he incorporated into his play knowing that it would be a familiar concept.
Spirit roads and archaeological features
Spirits could reportedly not cross running water such as the Glen Water near Darvel in Scotland. The spirit roads, such as the church-ways, were always conceived of as being straight, but the physical corpse roads of the United Kingdom vary as much as any other path. Corpses were conveyed along defined corpse roads to avoid their spirits returning to haunt the living. It was a widespread custom, for example, that the feet of the corpse be kept pointing away from the family home on its journey to the cemetery.[12]
View of the megalithic complex at Knocknakilla in County Cork, with a stone row shown behind a 3.5 m portal stone Other minor ritualistic means of preventing the return of the dead person included ensuring that the route the corpse took to burial would take it over bridges or stepping stones across running water which spirits could not cross, stiles, and various other 'liminal' ("betwixt and between") locations, all of which had reputations for preventing or hindering the free passage of spirits. The living took pains to prevent the dead from wandering the land as lost souls or animated corpses, for the belief in revenants (ghosts) was widespread in mediæval Europe.
People using the corpse roads assumed that they could be passages for ghosts. The ancient spirit folklore that attached itself to the medieval and later corpse roads also may have informed certain prehistoric features. In Britain, for instance, Neolithic earthen avenues called cursuses link burial mounds: these features can run for considerable distances, even miles, and are largely straight, or straight in segments, connecting funerary sites. The purpose of these avenues is imperfectly understood, but some kind of spirit-way function may be one reasonable explanation. Similarly, some Neolithic and Bronze Age graves, especially in France and Britain, are associated with stone rows, like those at Merrivale on Dartmoor, with intriguing blocking stones at their ends.[13]
Homer Sykes in Mysterious Britain says that the 'holed' Cornish 'Tolvan' stone was used to block a now lost ancient burial chamber, and suggests that the hole allowed a way in for funeral purposes and a passage out for the spirits of the dead.[14]
In Britain, around 4000–6000 years old, bog causeways constructed from timber have been excavated. The "Sweet Track" in Somerset, is one of the oldest and the excavations along this old straight track indicated that one of its uses was for transporting the dead.[15]
Associated legends and beliefs Some country-folk claim that if a dead body is carried across a field it will thereafter fail to produce good crop yields.[3] Throughout the United Kingdom and Europe it is still believed that touching a corpse in the coffin will allow the departed spirit to go in peace to its rest, and bring good luck to the living.[16]
View east across Loch Leven from Kinross Phantom lights are sometimes seen on the Scottish cemetery-island of Mun in Loch Leven and traditionally such lights were thought to be omens of impending death; the soul also was thought to depart the body in the form of a flame or light.[7]
In Ireland, the féar gortach ("hungry grass"/"violent hunger") is said to grow at a place where an unenclosed corpse was laid on its way to burial. This is thought to be a permanent effect and anyone who stands on such grass is said to develop insatiable hunger. One such place is in Ballinamore and was so notorious that the woman of the nearby house kept a supply of food on hand for victims.[17]
On Aranmore Island off Ireland each passing funeral would stop and erect a memorial pile of stones on the smooth rocky surface on the roadside enclosure.[18]
The existence of specific coffin stones, crosses or lychgates on church-ways, suggests that these may have been specially positioned and sanctified so as to allow the coffin to be placed there temporarily without the chance of the ground becoming in some way tainted or the spirit given an opportunity to escape and haunt its place of death.[19]
St David's Cathedral from the gatehouse Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) in the 13th-century relates the strange story of a marble footbridge leading from the church over the Alan rivulet in Saint Davids. The marble stone was called 'Llechllafar' (the talking stone) because it once spoke when a corpse was carried over it to the cemetery for interment. The effort of speech had caused it to break, despite its size of ten feet in length, six in breadth and one in thickness. This bridge was worn smooth due to its age and the thousands of people who had walked over it, however the superstition was so widely held that corpses were no longer carried over it.[20] This ancient bridge was replaced in the 16th century and its present location is not known.[21][22]
Another legend is that Merlin had prophesied the death on Llechllafar of an English King, conqueror of Ireland, who had been injured by a man with a red hand. King Henry II went on pilgrimage to Saint David's after coming from Ireland, heard of the prophecy and crossed Llechllafar without ill effect. He boasted that Merlin was a liar, to which a bystander replied that the King would not conquer Ireland and was therefore not the king of the prophecy.[20] This turned out to be true, for Henry never did conquer the whole of Ireland.[21][22]
A Devon legend tells of a funeral procession heading across Dartmoor on its way to Widecombe and the burial ground, carrying a particularly unpopular and evil old man. They reach the coffin stone and place the coffin on it while they rest. A beam of light strikes the coffin, reducing it and its contents to ashes and splitting the coffin stone. The party believes that God did not wish to have such an evil man buried in a cemetery.[19]
The villagers in Manaton in Devon used to carry coffins three times round the churchyard cross, much to the irritation of the vicar, who opposed the superstition. Upon being ignored, he had the cross destroyed.[23]
The 'Lych way' is a track lying to the south-west of Devil's Tor on Dartmoor. The dead from remote moorland homesteads were taken along this track to Lydford church for burial. Many reports have been made of monks in white and phantom funeral processions seen walking along this path.[24]
Childe's Tomb on Dartmoor is the site of the death of Childe who was caught in a snowstorm, killed and disembowelled his horse and climbed inside for shelter, but still froze to death. He left a message to say that the first person to bury him would get his lands at Plymstock. The greedy monks of Tavistock buried him and claimed the lands. The ghosts of monks carrying a bier have been seen at Childe's tomb.[24]
An old woman at Fryup in Yorkshire was well known locally for keeping the "Mark's e’en watch" (24 April), as she lived alongside a corpse road known as the "Old Hell Road". In this 'watch', typically a village seer would hold a vigil between 11 pm and 1 am on St. Mark's Day, in order to look for the wraiths of those who would die in the following year.[13]
The Lyke Wake Walk in North Yorkshire is not a corpse road but takes its name from the Lyke Wake Dirge[25] [26]
Crossroads Places where tracks intersect are considered dangerous and are believed occupied by special spirit-guardians because they are places of transition where the world and the underworld intersect. The Celtic god Lugh indicated the right road at such places and was a guide to the traveler's footsteps. The god of the dead was the divinity of the crossroad and later Christian crosses were erected at such places.[27]
Crossroads divination was conducted in Britain and other parts of Europe, and is associated with the belief that the Devil could be made to manifest at such intersections. Crossroads lore also includes the idea that spirits of the dead could be "bound" (immobilized or rendered powerless) at crossroads, specifically suicides and hanged criminals, but also witches, outlaws and gypsies.[27] The belief was that since straight routes could facilitate the movement of spirits, so contrary features like crossroads and stone or turf labyrinths could hinder it. An example of a crossroad execution-ground was the famous Tyburn, London, which stood on the spot where the Roman road to Edgware crossed the Roman road heading west out of London.[13]
Excluding the spirits of the dead
A witch ball on a Rowan tree in Lambroughton, Ayrshire.
A labyrinth. This was part of a broader fear of spirits that might flit into dwellings. Witch bottles were common throughout Europe – bottles or glass spheres containing a mass of threads, often with charms entangled in them. Its purpose was to draw in and trap evil and negative energy directed at its owner. Folk magic contends that the witch bottle protects against evil spirits and magical attack, and counteracts spells cast by witches, also forestalling the passage into habitations of witches flying about at night.[28] A witch ball was much the same; however, a more light-hearted belief was that the witch saw her distorted face in the curved glass and was frightened away. The term witch ball is probably a corruption of watch ball because it was used as a guard against evil spirits.
If straight lines did not hinder the passage of spirits, then convoluted or tangled "lines" could ensnare them and ancient stone and turf labyrinths, found in many parts of Europe and Scandinavia, could serve the purpose of capturing evil spirits.[15]
Corpse paths worldwide
Stone elephants along the spirit way of the Hongwu Emperor at Ming Xiaoling During several dynasties of the imperial China, the pathway to the burial mound of an emperor or a high dignitary would be lined with the statues of real and fantastic animals and of the civil and military officials, and would be known as the shendao (spirit way) At major imperial mausolea, such as Ming Xiaoling in Nanjing or the Ming Dynasty Tombs near Beijing, the spirit way could be several hundreds of meters, sometimes over a kilometer, long.
A straight Viking cult or Corpse road at Rosaring, Uppland, Sweden, was unearthed by archaeologists. The body of the dead Viking chieftains were drawn along it in a ceremonial wagon to the grave site. The Netherlands had the Doodwegen or Spokenwegen, the deathroads or ghostroads, converging on medieval cemeteries, some surviving in straight section fragments to this day.[15]
In the Arenal area of Costa Rica, NASA surveys detected straight paths running considerable distances through the mountainous rainforest. Upon closer examination, these routes were found to date from CE 500–1200 and had been constructed as corpse paths, along which bodies were carried to burial.[15]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:44:50 GMT -5
scrats
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:48:32 GMT -5
mahounds
Mahound and Mahoun are variant forms of the name Muhammad, often found in Medieval and later European literature.[1] The name has been used in the past by Christian writers to vilify Muhammad.[2] It was especially connected to the depiction of Muhammad as a god worshipped by pagans, or a demon who inspired a false religion.
The perception that Muslims worshipped Muhammad was common in the Middle Ages. According to Bernard Lewis, the "development of the concept of Mahound started with considering Muhammad as a kind of demon or false god worshipped with Apollyon and Termagant in an unholy trinity in The Song of Roland. Finally, after the Reformation, Muhammad was seen as a cunning and self-seeking imposter."[5]
To be fair Muslims do give the impression that they worship Muhammad.
A similar belief was the claim that the Knights Templar worshipped a god called Baphomet, also widely interpreted as a variant of the name "Mahommet".[6]
The name appears in various medieval mystery plays, in which Mahound is sometimes portrayed as a generic "pagan" god worshipped by villains such as Herod and the Pharaoh of the Exodus. One play depicts both Herod the Great and his son Herod Antipas as worshipping Mahound,[7] while in another play Pharaoh encourages the Egyptians to pursue the Israelites into the Red Sea with the words: Heave up your hearts ay to Mahound.[8]
In Scottish popular culture the variant form "Mahoun" was also used as the name of the devil, who was called Old Mahoun.[9] Robert Burns wrote
"The Deil cam fiddlin thro' the town, And danc'd awa wi' th'Exciseman; And ilka wife cries auld Mahoun, I wish you luck o' the prize, man."[10]
G. K. Chesterton uses "Mahound" rather than "Mohammed" in his poem Lepanto.[11] More recently, Salman Rushdie, in his novel The Satanic Verses, chose the name Mahound to refer to Muhammad as he appears in one character's dreams. However, he is not identified as Satan in that work.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:49:54 GMT -5
Trow
A trow [trʌu](also trowe or drow or dtrow), is a malignant or mischievous fairy or spirit in the folkloric traditions of the Orkney and Shetland islands. Trows are generally inclined to be short of stature, ugly, and shy in nature.
Trows are nocturnal creatures, like the troll of Scandinavian legend with which the trow shares many similarities. They venture out of their 'trowie knowes' (earthen mound dwellings) solely in the evening, and often enter households as the inhabitants sleep. Trows traditionally have a fondness for music, and folktales tell of their habit of kidnapping musicians or luring them to their dens.
Terminology The trow [trʌu], in the Scots dialect, is defined as a ‘sprite or fairy’ of mischievous nature in dictionaries of Scots English and of Orkney and Shetland dialects.[2][3] The word is borrowed from ‘troll’ (Norwegian and Old Norse: troll) of Scandinavian mythology.[2] The word also occurs as a variant drow, as commented on by Walter Scott;[5] although drow could also be used in the sense of ‘the devil’ in Orkney.[4][7]
The word drow also occurs in the Shetland Norn language, meaning ‘huldrefolk’ ("the hidden people", fairies), ‘troll-folk’,[6] or ‘ghost’.[8] As drow is obviously not a Norse language spelling, linguist Jakob Jakobsen proposed it was taken from the common (Scots) term "trow",[c] which was assimilated with Old Norse draugr or Norwegian draug.[6] The reconstructed Shetland word would be *drog if it did descend from Old Norse draugr, but this is unattested, nor was it adopted into the Nynorsk vocabulary to supersede the known form.[8][d]
General remarks The trows were one of the matters on which a taboo was imposed on speaking about them.[e] It was also considered unlucky to catch sight of a trow, though auspicious to hear one speaking[13] (cf. §Trowie tunes below).
Sea trow See also: tangie The sea trow (Latin: Troicis recté Trowis)[f] of Stronsay, as described by Jo. Ben's[g] Description of the Orkney Islands (1529), was a maritime monster resembling a colt whose entire body was cloaked in seaweed, with a coiled or matted coat of hair, sexual organs like a horse's, and known to copulate[h] with the women of the island.[16][20]
Joseph Ben,[19] or perhaps rather John Ben, was said to be a non-local itinerant, a Scottish ecclesiastic making a tour of Orkney.[18]
According to Samuel Hibbert the sea trow was a local version of the neckar, and he specified that it was reputed to be decked with various stuff from out of the sea, especially fuci (Fucus spp. of seaweed), whose larger forms near shore are known as "tang" in the Shetlands.[21] And though Hibbert does not make the connection, other sources have equated the sea trow with the tangie.[22]
Origins and parallels Ben's sea trow (trowis) bore resemblance to the anciently known incubus, as it "seems to have occupied the visions of the female sex", as noted by John Graham Dalyell (1835).[14]
Book author Joan Dey (1991) speculates that the tradition, and perhaps that of the selkie, may be based in part on the Norse invasions of the Northern Isles. She states that the conquest by the Vikings sent the indigenous, dark-haired Picts into hiding and that "many stories exist in Shetland of these strange people, smaller and darker than the tall, blond Vikings who, having been driven off their land into sea caves, emerged at night to steal from the new land owners".[23] However, most Roman sources describe the Picts as tall, long-limbed and red or fair haired.
Landmarks Most mounds in Orkney are associated with "mound-dweller" (hogboon; Old Norse: haugbúinn; Norwegian: haugbonde) living inside them,[24] and though local lore does always specify, the dweller is commonly the trow.[25]
A reputedly trow-haunted mound may not in fact be a burial mound. The Long Howe in Tankerness, a glacial mound, was believed to contain trows, and thus avoided after dark.[26] A group of mounds around Trowie Glen in Hoy are also geological formations, but feared for its trows throughout the valley,[27] and also unapproached after dark.[28]
The stone circle on Fetlar has been dubbed the Haltadans (meaning ‘Limping Dance’) since according to legend, they represent a group of petrified music-loving trows who were so engrossed by dancing to the trowie fiddler's tunes that they failed to hide before dawn's break.[29]
On the mainland in Canisbay, Caithness is a "Mire of Trowskerry" associated with trows.[1]
Kunal trows A Kunal-Trow (or King-Trow) is a type of trow in the lore of Unst, Shetland. The Kunal-Trow is alleged to be a race without females, and said to wander after dark and sometimes found weeping due to the lack of companionship. But they do take human wife, once in their lives, and she invariably dies after giving birth to a son. The Kunal-Trow would subsequently require the service of a human wet-nurse, and may abduct a midwife for this purpose.[35][36]
They are said to consume earth formed into shapes of fish and fowl, even babies, which taste and smell like the real thing.[35]
One (a King-Trow) famously haunted a broch ruin. Another married a witch who extracted all the trow's secrets, and gave birth to Ganfer (astral body) and Finis (an apparition who appears in the guise of someone whose death is imminent), yet she has cheated death with her arts.[35]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:53:48 GMT -5
Gnome
A gnome /noʊm/[1] is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characteristics have been reinterpreted to suit the needs of various story tellers, but it is typically said to be a small humanoid that lives underground.[2]
In Romanticism and modern fairy tales
Gnome Watching Railway Train, Carl Spitzweg, 1848 The English word is attested from the early 18th century. Gnomes are used in Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock". The creatures from this mock-epic are small, celestial creatures which were prudish women in their past lives, and now spend all of eternity looking out for prudish women (in parallel to the guardian angels in Catholic belief). Other uses of the term gnome remain obscure until the early 19th century, when it is taken up by authors of Romanticist collections of fairy tales and becomes mostly synonymous with the older word goblin.
Pope's stated source, the French satire (by Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars, the abbot of Villars) Comte de Gabalis (1670) describes gnomes as such:
"The Earth is filled almost to the center with Gnomes or Pharyes, a people of small stature, the guardians of treasures, of mines, and of precious stones. They are ingenious, friends of men, and easie (sic) to be commandded (sic). They furnish the children of the Sages with as much money, as they have need of; and never ask any other reward of their services, than the glory of being commanded. The Gnomides or wives of these Gnomes or Pharyes, are little, but very handsom (sic); and their habit marvellously (sic) curious."[5]
Villars used the term gnomide to refer to female gnomes (often "gnomid" in English translations).[6] Modern fiction instead uses the word "gnomess" to refer to female gnomes.[7][8]
In 19th-century fiction, the chthonic gnome became a sort of antithesis to the more airy or luminous fairy. Nathaniel Hawthorne in Twice-Told Tales (1837) contrasts the two in "Small enough to be king of the fairies, and ugly enough to be king of the gnomes" (cited after OED). Similarly, gnomes are contrasted to elves, as in William Cullen Bryant's Little People of the Snow (1877), which has "let us have a tale of elves that ride by night, with jingling reins, or gnomes of the mine" (cited after OED).
One of the first movements in Mussorgsky's 1874 work Pictures at an Exhibition, named "Gnomus" (Latin for "The Gnome"), is written to sound as if a gnome is moving about, his movements constantly changing in speed.
Gnomus MENU0:00 Franz Hartmann in 1895 satirized materialism in an allegorical tale entitled Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg. The English translation appeared in 1896 as Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg. In this story, the Gnomes are still clearly subterranean creatures, guarding treasures of gold within the Untersberg mountain.
As a figure of 19th-century fairy tales, the term gnome became largely synonymous with other terms for "little people" by the 20th century, such as goblin, brownie, leprechaun and other instances of the "domestic spirit" type, losing its strict association with earth or the underground world.
Modern fantasy literature Creatures called gnomes have been used in the fantasy genre of fiction and later gaming since the mid-nineteenth century, typically in a cunning role, e.g. as an inventor.[9] In L. Frank Baum's Oz series (created 1900 to 1914), the Nomes (so spelled), especially their king, are the chief adversaries of the Oz people. They are ugly, hot-tempered, immortal, round-bodied with spindly legs and arms, have long beards and wild hair, live underground, and are the militant protectors/hoarders of jewels and precious metals. Baum does not depict any female gnomes. Ruth Plumly Thompson, who continued the series (1972 to 1976) after Baum's death, reverted to the traditional spelling. L. Frank Baum also featured the classical gnomes in his book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. They are in charge of watching over the rocks and their king is part of the Council of Immortals. In addition, they also created the sleigh bells for Santa Claus' reindeer. J. R. R. Tolkien, in the legendarium (created 1914 to 1973) surrounding his Elves, uses "Gnomes" as the initial and later dropped name of the Noldor, the most gifted and technologically minded of his elvish races, in conscious exploitation of the similarity with the word gnomic. Gnome is thus Tolkien's English loan-translation of the Quenya word Noldo (plural Noldor), "those with knowledge". Tolkien's "Gnomes" are generally tall, beautiful, dark-haired, light-skinned, immortal, and typically wise but suffer from pride, tend towards violence, and have an overweening love of the works of their own hands, particularly gemstones. Many of them live in cities below ground (Nargothrond) or in secluded mountain fortresses (Gondolin). He uses "Gnomes" to refer to both males and females. In The Father Christmas Letters (between 1920 and 1942), which Tolkien wrote for his children, Red Gnomes are presented as helpful creatures who come from Norway to the North Pole to assist Father Christmas and his Elves in fighting the wicked Goblins. BB's The Little Grey Men (1942) is a story of the last gnomes in England, little wild men who live by hunting and fishing. In C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (created 1950 to 1956), the gnomes are sometimes called "Earthmen". They live in the Underland, a series of caverns. Unlike the traditional, more human-like gnomes, they can have a wide variety of physical features and skin colours. They are used as slaves by the Lady of the Green Kirtle until her defeat, at which point they return to their true home, the much deeper (and hotter) underground realm of Bism. The Dutch books Gnomes (1976) and The Secret Book of Gnomes (1984), written by Wil Huygen, deal with gnomes living together in harmony. These same books are the basis for a made-for-TV animated film and the Spanish-animated series The World of David the Gnome (as well as the spin-off Wisdom of the Gnomes). The word "gnome", in this case, is used in place of the Dutch kabouter. In the Warcraft franchise (1994 to present), particularly as featured in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, gnomes are a race of beings separate from but allied to dwarves and humans, with whom they share the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms. Crafty, intelligent, and smaller than their dwarven brethren, gnomes are one of two races in Azeroth regarded as technologically savvy. It is suggested in lore that the gnomes originally were mechanical creations that at some point became organic lifeforms. In World of Warcraft, gnomes are an exile race, having irradiated their home city of Gnomeregan in an unsuccessful last-ditch effort to drive out marauding foes.[10] In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (created 1997 to 2007), gnomes are pests that inhabit the gardens of witches and wizards. They are small creatures with heads that look like potatoes on small stubby bodies. Gnomes are generally considered harmless but mischievous and may bite with sharp teeth. In the books, it is stated that the Weasleys are lenient to gnomes, and tolerate their presence, preferring to throw them out of the garden rather than more extreme measures. In A. Yoshinobu’s Sorcerous Stabber Orphen , the European concept of a gnome is used in order to introduce the Far Eastern notion of the Koropokkuru, a mythical indigenous race of small people: gnomes are a prosecuted minority banned from learning wizardry and attending magical schools.[11] In Terry Brooks' Shannara series (created 1977 to 2017), gnomes are an offshoot race created after the Great Wars. There are several distinctive classes of gnomes. Gnomes are the smallest race. In The Sword of Shannara they are considered to be tribal and warlike, the one race that can be the most easily subverted to an evil cause. This is evidenced by their allegiance to the Warlock Lord in The Sword of Shannara and to the Mord Wraiths in The Wishsong of Shannara. Terry Pratchett included gnomes in his Discworld series. Gnomes were six inches in height but quite strong, often inflicting pain upon anyone underestimating them. One prominent gnome became a Watchman in Ankh-Morpork as the force became more diversified under the command of Sam Vimes, with Buggy Swires appearing in Jingo. Another gnome in the series was Wee Mad Arthur a pest terminator in Feet of Clay.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:54:26 GMT -5
Sprite
A sprite is a supernatural entity in European mythology. They are often depicted as fairy-like creatures or as an ethereal entity.[1]
The word sprite is derived from the Latin spiritus ("spirit"), via the French esprit. Variations on the term include spright and the Celtic spriggan. The term is chiefly used with regard to elves and fairies in European folklore, and in modern English is rarely used in reference to spirits.
Belief in sprites
The prince thanking the Water sprite, from The Princess Nobody: A Tale of Fairyland (1884) by Andrew Lang The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, elves, fairies, etc. has been common in many parts of the world, and might to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as "neo-druidism" and Ásatrú.
In some elemental magics, the sprite is often believed to be the elemental of air (see also sylph).
Water sprite For the plant species, see Ceratopteris thalictroides. Main article: Water spirit
Dancing Fairies by the Swedish painter August Malmström A water sprite (also called a water fairy or water faery) is a general term for an elemental spirit associated with water, according to alchemist Paracelsus. Water sprites are said to be able to breathe water or air and sometimes can fly.
These creatures exist in the mythology of various groups. Ancient Greeks knew water nymphs in several types such as naiads (or nyads), which were divine entities that tended to be fixed in one place[2] and so differed from gods or physical creatures. Slavic mythology knows them as vilas.
Water sprites differ from corporeal beings, such as selkies, mermaids, and sirens, as they are not purely physical and are more akin to local deities than animals.[3]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:56:03 GMT -5
fates, see Norns
The Norns (Old Norse: norn, plural: nornir) in Norse mythology[1] are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men. They roughly correspond to other controllers of humans' destiny, such as the Fates, elsewhere in European mythology.
In Snorri Sturluson's interpretation of the Völuspá, Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi and Skuld, the three most important of the Norns, come out from a hall standing at the Well of Urðr or Well of Fate. They draw water from the well and take sand that lies around it, which they pour over the Yggdrasill tree so that its branches will not rot.[2] These three Norns are described as powerful maiden giantesses (Jotuns) whose arrival from Jötunheimr ended the golden age of the gods.[2] They may be the same as the maidens of Mögþrasir who are described in Vafþrúðnismál (see below).[2]
Beside these three famous Norns, there are many others who appear at a person's birth in order to determine his or her future.[2] In the pre-Christian Norse societies, Norns were thought to have visited newborn children.[3] There were both malevolent and benevolent Norns: the former caused all the malevolent and tragic events in the world while the latter were kind and protective goddesses.[2]
Matres and Matrones The Germanic Matres and Matrones, female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD depicted on votive objects and altars almost entirely in groups of three from the first to the fifth century AD have been proposed as connected with the later Germanic dísir, valkyries, and norns,[43] potentially stemming from them.[44]
Three norns Theories have been proposed that there is no foundation in Norse mythology for the notion that the three main norns should each be associated exclusively with the past, the present, and the future;[2] rather, all three represent destiny as it is twined with the flow of time.[2] Moreover, theories have been proposed that the idea that there are three main norns may be due to a late influence from Greek and Roman mythology, where there are also spinning fate goddesses (Moirai and Parcae).[2]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:58:12 GMT -5
fiends (See Demons)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 13:59:10 GMT -5
Sibyl
The sibyls were female prophets[1][2] or oracles in Ancient Greece. The earliest sibyls, according to legend,[3] prophesied at holy sites. Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity, originally at Delphi and Pessinos. In Late Antiquity, various writers attested to the existence of sibyls in Greece, Italy, the Levant, and Asia Minor.
The English word sibyl (/ˈsɪbəl/ or /ˈsɪbɪl/) comes—via the Old French sibile and the Latin sibylla—from the ancient Greek Σίβυλλα (Sibylla).[4][5] Varro derived the name from theobule ("divine counsel"), but modern philologists mostly propose an Old Italic[6] or alternatively a Semitic etymology.[7]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 14:00:09 GMT -5
Nicnevins
Nicneven, Nicnevin or Nicnevan (from Scottish Gaelic surname Neachneohain meaning "daughter(s) of the divine," and/or "daughter(s) of Scathach" NicNaoimhein meaning "daughter of the little saint"),[1] is a Queen of the Fairies in Scottish folklore.
In Ireland and Scotland, "the Feile na Marbh", (the “festival of the dead”), takes place on Samhain (Celtic New Year). The names Nicneven, Satia, Bensozie, Zobiana, Abundia, and Herodiana were all used to identify the Scottish Witch Goddess of Samhain. This name was first found in Montgomerie’s Flyting (c.1585),[1] and was seemingly taken from a woman in Scotland condemned to death for witchcraft before she was burnt at the stake as a witch.[2] In the Borders the name for this archetype was Gyre-Carling (with variants such as Gyre-Carlin, Gy-Carling, and Gay-Carlin).[3] Gyre is possibly a cognate of the Norse word geri and thus has the meaning "greedy,"[4] or it may be from the Norse gýgr meaning "ogress";[1] carling or carline is a Scots and Northern English word meaning "old woman" which is from, or related to, the Norse word kerling (of the same meaning).[5][6]
The woman known as "Niknevin" accused of witchcraft in 1569 told her interrogators that the apothecaries had caused her arrest because of her superior healing powers. She was said to be over 100 years old.[7]
Legend She was sometimes thought of as the mother witch, Hecate, or a Habundia figure of Scottish fairy mythology.[8] This guise is frankly diabolical.[9] Sir Walter Scott calls her:
"A gigantic and malignant female, the Hecate of this mythology, who rode on the storm and marshalled the rambling host of wanderers under her grim banner. This hag (in all respects the reverse of the Mab or Titania of the Celtic creed) was called Nicneven in that later system which blended the faith of the Celts and of the Goths on this subject. The great Scottish poet Dunbar has made a spirited description of this Hecate riding at the head of witches and good neighbours (fairies, namely), sorceresses and elves, indifferently, upon the ghostly eve of All-Hallow Mass. In Italy we hear of the hags arraying themselves under the orders of Diana (in her triple character of Hecate, doubtless) and Herodias, who were the joint leaders of their choir. But we return to the more simple fairy belief, as entertained by the Celts before they were conquered by the Saxons."[10] Alexander Montgomerie, in his Flyting, described her as:
Nicnevin with her nymphes, in number anew With charms from Caitness and Chanrie of Ross Whose cunning consists in casting a clew.[11]
The elder Nicnevin retained the habit of night-riding with an "elrich" entourage mounted on unlikely and supernatural steeds. Another satirical popular depiction made her leave Scotland after a love-quarrel with her neighbour, to become wife of "Mahomyte" and queen of the "Jowis." She was an enemy of Christian people, and "levit vpoun Christiane menis flesche;" still, her absence caused dogs to stop barking and hens to stop laying.[12] But in Fife, the Gyre-Carling was associated with spinning and knitting, like Habetrot; there it was believed to be unlucky to leave a piece of knitting unfinished at the New Year, lest the Gyre-Carling steal it.[13]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 14:01:28 GMT -5
Whitewomen or Witte Wieven
In Dutch mythology and legends, the Witte Wieven (also known as Wittewijven) are spirits of "wise women" (or else elven beings). The mythology dates back at least to the pre-Christian era (7th century) and was known in the present-day regions of the Netherlands, Belgium and parts of France. In some places they were known as Juffers or Joffers ("ladies"), or as Dames Blanches (White Ladies) in French.
Origins Witte wieven in modern Dutch Low Saxon literally translates to "white women", but originally meant "wise women". "Wit" or "witte" meant wise in a way similar to the English "witty". Witte wieven is still often translated to "white woman", as the words come from the same roots. The association of wise women with the color white was either an accidental translation error, or a symbolic color association for wisdom (sources differ).
Historically, the witte wieven are thought to be wise female herbalists and medicine healers who took care of people's physical and mental ailments. It was said they had the talent for prophecy and looking into the future. They had a high status in the communities, and so when they died ceremonies were held at their grave sites to honour them.
According to mythology, their spirits remained on earth, and they became living spirits (or elven beings) that either helped or hindered people who encountered them. They tended to reside in the burial sites or other sacred places. It was thought that mist on a gravehill was the spirit of the wise woman appearing, and people would bring them offerings and ask for help.
While many scholars[who?] believe Witte Wieven originated as above from honoring graves of wise women, others think the mythology of witte wieven come from part of the Germanic belief in disen, land wights, and/or alven (Dutch for "elf") for several reasons: The practice of bringing offerings and asking for help from their graves is very similar to honoring disen, land wights and alfen in Germanic paganism. In addition, in some localities the mythological witte wieven were described directly as "Alfen" or "Alven".
Jacob Grimm mentioned them in the Deutsche Mythologie (1835) as the Dutch variant of the German Weiße Frauen: "The people of Friesland, Drenthe and the Netherlands have just as much to tell of their witten wijven or juffers in hills and caverns ... though here they get mixed up with elvish personages."[1]
Characterization At first, early medieval literature described the witte wieven more like pranksters and pests. Later Christian teaching transformed the idea of a "witte wieven" into mistflarden (wisps of mist or fog): ghost witches[dubious – discuss] — recharacterized as evil and to be avoided.
In certain legends "Alvinne" was a ghost in a white cloak.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 14:03:37 GMT -5
fairies/Fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, German, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural.
Myths and stories about fairies do not have a single origin, but are rather a collection of folk beliefs from disparate sources. Various folk theories about the origins of fairies include casting them as either demoted angels or demons in a Christian tradition, as deities in Pagan belief systems, as spirits of the dead, as prehistoric precursors to humans, or as spirits of nature.
The label of fairy has at times applied only to specific magical creatures with human appearance, magical powers, and a penchant for trickery. At other times it has been used to describe any magical creature, such as goblins and gnomes. Fairy has at times been used as an adjective, with a meaning equivalent to "enchanted" or "magical". It is also used as a name for the place these beings come from, the land of Fairy.
A recurring motif of legends about fairies is the need to ward off fairies using protective charms. Common examples of such charms include church bells, wearing clothing inside out, four-leaf clover, and food. Fairies were also sometimes thought to haunt specific locations, and to lead travelers astray using will-o'-the-wisps. Before the advent of modern medicine, fairies were often blamed for sickness, particularly tuberculosis and birth deformities.
In addition to their folkloric origins, fairies were a common feature of Renaissance literature and Romantic art, and were especially popular in the United Kingdom during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The Celtic Revival also saw fairies established as a canonical part of Celtic cultural heritage.
Etymology The English fairy derives from the Early Modern English faerie, meaning "realm of the fays". Faerie, in turn, derives from the Old French form faierie, a derivation from faie (from Vulgar Latin fata) with the abstract noun suffix -erie.
In Old French romance, a faie or fee was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs.[1]
"Fairy" was used to represent: an illusion or enchantment; the land of the Faes; collectively the inhabitants thereof; an individual such as a fairy knight.[1] Faie became Modern English fay, while faierie became fairy, but this spelling almost exclusively refers to one individual (the same meaning as fay). In the sense of "land where fairies dwell", archaic spellings faery and faerie are still in use.
Latinate fay is not related the Germanic fey (from Old English fǣġe), meaning "fated to die".[2] Yet, this unrelated Germanic word "fey" may have been influenced by Old French fae (fay or fairy) as the meaning had shifted slightly to "fated" from the earlier "doomed" or "accursed".[3]
Various folklore traditions refer to fairies euphemistically as wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk (Welsh: Tylwyth Teg), etc.[4]
Historical development The term fairy is sometimes used to describe any magical creature, including goblins and gnomes, while at other times, the term describes only a specific type of ethereal creature or sprite.[5] The concept of "fairy" in the narrower sense is unique to English folklore, later made diminutive in accordance with prevailing tastes of the Victorian era, as in "fairy tales" for children.
Historical origins include various traditions of Brythonic (Bretons, Welsh, Cornish), Gaelic (Irish, Scots, Manx), and Germanic peoples, and of Middle French medieval romances. Fairie was used adjectivally, meaning "enchanted" (as in fairie knight, fairie queene), but also became a generic term for various "enchanted" creatures during the Late Middle English period. Literature of the Elizabethan era conflated elves with the fairies of Romance culture, rendering these terms somewhat interchangeable.
The Victorian era and Edwardian era saw a heightened increase of interest in fairies. The Celtic Revival cast fairies as part of Ireland's cultural heritage. Carole Silvers and others suggested this fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization and loss of older folk ways.[6]
Descriptions
1888 illustration by Luis Ricardo Falero of common modern depiction of a fairy with butterfly wings Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Diminutive fairies of various kinds have been reported through centuries, ranging from quite tiny to the size of a human.[7] These small sizes could be magically assumed, rather than constant.[8] Some smaller fairies could expand their figures to imitate humans.[9] On Orkney, fairies were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in armour.[10] In some folklore, fairies have green eyes. Some depictions of fairies show them with footwear, others as barefoot. Wings, while common in Victorian and later artworks, are rare in folklore; fairies flew by means of magic, sometimes perched on ragwort stems or the backs of birds.[11] Modern illustrations often include dragonfly or butterfly wings.[12]
Origins Early modern fairies does not derive from a single origin; the term is a conflation of disparate elements from folk belief sources, influenced by literature and speculation. In folklore of Ireland, the mythic aes sídhe, or 'people of the fairy hills', have come to a modern meaning somewhat inclusive of fairies. The Scandinavian elves also served as an influence. Folklorists and mythologists have variously depicted fairies as: the unworthy dead, the children of Eve, a kind of demon, a species independent of humans, an older race of humans, and fallen angels.[13] The folkloristic or mythological elements combine Celtic, Germanic and Greco-Roman elements. Folklorists have suggested that 'fairies' arose from various earlier beliefs, which lost currency with the advent of Christianity.[14] These disparate explanations are not necessarily incompatible, as 'fairies' may be traced to multiple sources.
Demoted angels A Christian tenet held that fairies were a class of "demoted" angels.[15] One story described a group of angels revolting, and God ordering the gates of heaven shut; those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became demons, and those caught in between became fairies.[16] Others wrote that some angels, not being godly enough, yet not evil enough for hell, were thrown out of heaven.[17] This concept may explain the tradition of paying a "teind" or tithe to hell; as fallen angels, although not quite devils, they could be viewed as subjects of Satan.[18]
Title page of a 1603 reprinting of Daemonologie King James, in his dissertation Daemonologie, stated the term "faries" referred to illusory spirits (demonic entities) that prophesied to, consorted with, and transported the individuals they served; in medieval times, a witch or sorcerer who had a pact with a familiar spirit might receive these services.[19]
In England's Theosophist circles of the 19th century, a belief in the "angelic" nature of fairies was reported.[20] Entities referred to as Devas were said to guide many processes of nature, such as evolution of organisms, growth of plants, etc., many of which resided inside the Sun (Solar Angels). The more Earthbound Devas included nature spirits, elementals, and fairies,[21] which were described as appearing in the form of colored flames, roughly the size of a human.[22]
Arthur Conan Doyle, in his 1922 book The Coming of the Fairies; The Theosophic View of Fairies, reported that eminent theosophist E. L. Gardner had likened fairies to butterflies, whose function was to provide an essential link between the energy of the sun and the plants of Earth, describing them as having no clean-cut shape ... small, hazy, and somewhat luminous clouds of colour with a brighter sparkish nucleus. "That growth of a plant which we regard as the customary and inevitable result of associating the three factors of sun, seed, and soil would never take place if the fairy builders were absent."[23]
For a similar concept in Persian mythology, see Peri.
Demoted pagan deities At one time it was thought that fairies were originally worshiped as deities, such as nymphs and tree spirits,[24] and with the burgeoning predominance of the Christian Church, reverence for these deities carried on, but in a dwindling state of perceived power. Many deprecated deities of older folklore and myth were repurposed as fairies in Victorian fiction (See the works of W. B. Yeats for examples).
Fairies as demons A recorded Christian belief of the 17th century cast all fairies as demons.[25] This perspective grew more popular with the rise of Puritanism among the Reformed Church of England (See: Anglicanism).[26] The hobgoblin, once a friendly household spirit, became classed as a wicked goblin.[27] Dealing with fairies was considered a form of witchcraft, and punished as such.[28] In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon, king of the faeries, states that neither he nor his court fear the church bells, which the renowned author and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis cast as a politic disassociation from faeries.[29] In an era of intellectual and religious upheaval, some Victorian reappraisals of mythology cast deities in general as metaphors for natural events,[30] which was later refuted by other authors (See: The Triumph of the Moon, by Ronald Hutton). This contentious environment of thought contributed to the modern meaning of 'fairies'.
Spirits of the dead One belief held that fairies were spirits of the dead.[31] This derived from many factors common in various folklore and myths: same or similar tales of both ghosts and fairies; the Irish sídhe, origin of their term for fairies, were ancient burial mounds; deemed dangerous to eat food in Fairyland and Hades; the dead and fairies depicted as living underground.[32] Diane Purkiss observed an equating of fairies with the untimely dead who left "unfinished lives".[33] One tale recounted a man caught by the fairies, who found that whenever he looked steadily at a fairy, it appeared as a dead neighbor of his.[34] This theory was among the more common traditions related, although many informants also expressed doubts.[35]
Hidden people
Illustration of a fairy by C. E. Brock There is an outdated theory that fairy folklore evolved from folk memories of a prehistoric race: newcomers superseded a body of earlier human or humanoid peoples, and the memories of this defeated race developed into modern conceptions of fairies. Proponents find support in the tradition of cold iron as a charm against fairies, viewed as a cultural memory of invaders with iron weapons displacing peoples who had just stone, bone, wood, etc., at their disposal, and were easily defeated. 19th-century archaeologists uncovered underground rooms in the Orkney islands that resembled the Elfland described in Childe Rowland,[36] which lent additional support. In folklore, flint arrowheads from the Stone Age were attributed to the fairies as "elfshot",[37] while their green clothing and underground homes spoke to a need for camouflage and covert shelter from hostile humans, their magic a necessary skill for combating those with superior weaponry. In a Victorian tenet of evolution, mythic cannibalism among ogres was attributed to memories of more savage races, practising alongside "superior" races of more refined sensibilities.[38]
Elementals A theory that fairies, et al., were intelligent species, distinct from humans and angels.[39] An alchemist, Paracelsus, classed gnomes and sylphs as elementals, meaning magical entities who personify a particular force of nature, and exert powers over these forces.[40] Folklore accounts have described fairies as "spirits of the air".[41]
Characteristics Much folklore of fairies involves methods of protecting oneself from their malice, by means such as cold iron, charms (see amulet, talisman) of rowan trees or various herbs, or simply shunning locations "known" to be theirs, ergo avoiding offending any fairies.[42] Less harmful pranks ascribed to fairies include: tangling the hair of sleepers into fairy-locks (aka elf-locks), stealing small items, and leading a traveler astray. More dangerous behaviors were also attributed to fairies; any form of sudden death might have stemmed from a fairy kidnapping, the evident corpse a magical replica of wood.[43] Consumption (tuberculosis) was sometimes blamed on fairies who forced young men and women to dance at revels every night, causing them to waste away from lack of rest.[44] Rowan trees were considered sacred to fairies,[45] and a charm tree to protect one's home.[46]
Classifications Main article: Classifications of fairies In Scottish folklore, fairies are divided into the Seelie Court (more beneficently inclined, but still dangerous), and the Unseelie Court (more malicious). While fairies of the Seelie Court enjoyed playing generally harmless pranks on humans, those of the Unseelie Court often brought harm to humans for entertainment.[37] Both could be dangerous to humans if offended.
Trooping fairies refers to those who appear in groups and might form settlements, as opposed to solitary fairies, who do not live or associate with others of their kind. In this context, the term fairy is usually held in a wider sense, including various similar beings, such as dwarves and elves of Germanic folklore.[47]
Changelings Main article: Changeling A considerable amount of lore about fairies revolves around changelings, fairies left in the place of stolen humans.[6] In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well.[48] The theme of the swapped child is common in medieval literature and reflects concern over infants thought to be afflicted with unexplained diseases, disorders, or developmental disabilities. In pre-industrial Europe, a peasant family's subsistence frequently depended upon the productive labor of each member, and a person who was a permanent drain on the family's scarce resources could pose a threat to the survival of the entire family.[49]
Protective charms In terms of protective charms, wearing clothing inside out,[50] church bells, St. John's wort, and four-leaf clovers are regarded as effective. In Newfoundland folklore, the most popular type of fairy protection is bread, varying from stale bread to hard tack or a slice of fresh homemade bread. Bread is associated with the home and the hearth, as well as with industry and the taming of nature, and as such, seems to be disliked by some types of fairies. On the other hand, in much of the Celtic folklore, baked goods are a traditional offering to the folk, as are cream and butter.[20] “The prototype of food, and therefore a symbol of life, bread was one of the commonest protections against fairies. Before going out into a fairy-haunted place, it was customary to put a piece of dry bread in one’s pocket.”[51] In County Wexford, Ireland, in 1882, it was reported that “if an infant is carried out after dark a piece of bread is wrapped in its bib or dress, and this protects it from any witchcraft or evil.”[52]
Bells also have an ambiguous role; while they protect against fairies, the fairies riding on horseback — such as the fairy queen — often have bells on their harness. This may be a distinguishing trait between the Seelie Court from the Unseelie Court, such that fairies use them to protect themselves from more wicked members of their race.[53] Another ambiguous piece of folklore revolves about poultry: a cock's crow drove away fairies, but other tales recount fairies keeping poultry.[54]
While many fairies will confuse travelers on the path, the will-o'-the-wisp can be avoided by not following it. Certain locations, known to be haunts of fairies, are to be avoided; C. S. Lewis reported hearing of a cottage more feared for its reported fairies than its reported ghost.[55] In particular, digging in fairy hills was unwise. Paths that the fairies travel are also wise to avoid. Home-owners have knocked corners from houses because the corner blocked the fairy path,[56] and cottages have been built with the front and back doors in line, so that the owners could, in need, leave them both open and let the fairies troop through all night.[57] Locations such as fairy forts were left undisturbed; even cutting brush on fairy forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act.[58] Fairy trees, such as thorn trees, were dangerous to chop down; one such tree was left alone in Scotland, though it prevented a road from being widened for seventy years.[59]
A resin statue of a fairy Other actions were believed to offend fairies. Brownies were known to be driven off by being given clothing, though some folktales recounted that they were offended by the inferior quality of the garments given, and others merely stated it, some even recounting that the brownie was delighted with the gift and left with it.[60] Other brownies left households or farms because they heard a complaint, or a compliment.[61] People who saw the fairies were advised not to look closely, because they resented infringements on their privacy.[62] The need to not offend them could lead to problems: one farmer found that fairies threshed his corn, but the threshing continued after all his corn was gone, and he concluded that they were stealing from his neighbors, leaving him the choice between offending them, dangerous in itself, and profiting by the theft.[63]
Millers were thought by the Scots to be "no canny", owing to their ability to control the forces of nature, such as fire in the kiln, water in the burn, and for being able to set machinery a-whirring. Superstitious communities sometimes believed that the miller must be in league with the fairies. In Scotland, fairies were often mischievous and to be feared. No one dared to set foot in the mill or kiln at night, as it was known that the fairies brought their corn to be milled after dark. So long as the locals believed this, the miller could sleep secure in the knowledge that his stores were not being robbed. John Fraser, the miller of Whitehill, claimed to have hidden and watched the fairies trying unsuccessfully to work the mill. He said he decided to come out of hiding and help them, upon which one of the fairy women gave him a gowpen (double handful of meal) and told him to put it in his empty girnal (store), saying that the store would remain full for a long time, no matter how much he took out.[64]
It is also believed that to know the name of a particular fairy, a person could summon it and force it to do their bidding. The name could be used as an insult towards the fairy in question, but it could also rather contradictorily be used to grant powers and gifts to the user.[citation needed]
Before the advent of modern medicine, many physiological conditions were untreatable and when children were born with abnormalities, it was common to blame the fairies.[65]
Legends Sometimes fairies are described as assuming the guise of an animal.[66] In Scotland, it was peculiar to the fairy women to assume the shape of deer; while witches became mice, hares, cats, gulls, or black sheep. In "The Legend of Knockshigowna", in order to frighten a farmer who pastured his herd on fairy ground, a fairy queen took on the appearance of a great horse, with the wings of an eagle, and a tail like a dragon, hissing loud and spitting fire. Then she would change into a little man lame of a leg, with a bull's head, and a lambent flame playing round it.[67]
In the 19th-century child ballad "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", the elf-knight is a Bluebeard figure, and Isabel must trick and kill him to preserve her life.[68] The child ballad "Tam Lin" reveals that the title character, though living among the fairies and having fairy powers, was, in fact, an "earthly knight" and though his life was pleasant now, he feared that the fairies would pay him as their teind (tithe) to hell.[68]
"Sir Orfeo" tells how Sir Orfeo's wife was kidnapped by the King of Faerie and only by trickery and an excellent harping ability was he able to win her back. "Sir Degare" narrates the tale of a woman overcome by her fairy lover, who in later versions of the story is unmasked as a mortal. "Thomas the Rhymer" shows Thomas escaping with less difficulty, but he spends seven years in Elfland.[69] Oisín is harmed not by his stay in Faerie but by his return; when he dismounts, the three centuries that have passed catch up with him, reducing him to an aged man.[70] King Herla (O.E. "Herla cyning"), originally a guise of Woden but later Christianised as a king in a tale by Walter Map, was said, by Map, to have visited a dwarf's underground mansion and returned three centuries later; although only some of his men crumbled to dust on dismounting, Herla and his men who did not dismount were trapped on horseback, this being one account of the origin of the Wild Hunt of European folklore.[71][72]
A common feature of the fairies is the use of magic to disguise their appearance. Fairy gold is notoriously unreliable, appearing as gold when paid but soon thereafter revealing itself to be leaves, gorse blossoms, gingerbread cakes, or a variety of other comparatively worthless things.[73]
These illusions are also implicit in the tales of fairy ointment. Many tales from Northern Europe[74][75] tell of a mortal woman summoned to attend a fairy birth — sometimes attending a mortal, kidnapped woman's childbed. Invariably, the woman is given something for the child's eyes, usually an ointment; through mischance, or sometimes curiosity, she uses it on one or both of her own eyes. At that point, she sees where she is; one midwife realizes that she was not attending a great lady in a fine house but her own runaway maid-servant in a wretched cave. She escapes without making her ability known but sooner or later betrays that she can see the fairies. She is invariably blinded in that eye or in both if she used the ointment on both.[76]
There have been claims by people in the past, like William Blake, to have seen fairy funerals. Allan Cunningham in his Lives of Eminent British Painters records that William Blake claimed to have seen a fairy funeral. "'Did you ever see a fairy's funeral, madam?' said Blake to a lady who happened to sit next to him. 'Never, sir!' said the lady. 'I have,' said Blake, 'but not before last night.' And he went on to tell how, in his garden, he had seen 'a procession of creatures of the size and colour of green and grey grasshoppers, bearing a body laid out on a rose-leaf, which they buried with songs, and then disappeared.' They are believed to be an omen of death.
Tuatha Dé Danann Main article: Tuatha Dé Danann The Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of supernaturally-gifted people in Irish mythology. They are thought to represent the main deities of pre-Christian Ireland. Many of the Irish modern tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann refer to these beings as fairies, though in more ancient times they were regarded as goddesses and gods. The Tuatha Dé Danann were spoken of as having come from islands in the north of the world or, in other sources, from the sky. After being defeated in a series of battles with other otherworldly beings, and then by the ancestors of the current Irish people, they were said to have withdrawn to the sídhe (fairy mounds), where they lived on in popular imagination as "fairies."[citation needed]
They are associated with several Otherworld realms including Mag Mell (the Pleasant Plain), Emain Ablach (the place of apples)), and Tir na nÓg (the Land of Youth).
Aos Sí Main article: Aos Sí The aos sí is the Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish, comparable to the fairies or elves. They are variously said to be ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods.[77] A common theme found among the Celtic nations describes a race of people who had been driven out by invading humans. In old Celtic fairy lore the Aos Sí (people of the fairy mounds) are immortals living in the ancient barrows and cairns. The Irish banshee (Irish Gaelic bean sí which means "woman of the fairy mound") is sometimes described as a ghost.[78]
Scottish Sìthe In the 1691 The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, Reverend Robert Kirk, minister of the Parish of Aberfoyle, Stirling, Scotland, wrote:
These Siths or Fairies they call Sleagh Maith or the Good People...are said to be of middle nature between Man and Angel, as were Daemons thought to be of old; of intelligent fluidous Spirits, and light changeable bodies (lyke those called Astral) somewhat of the nature of a condensed cloud, and best seen in twilight. These bodies be so pliable through the sublety of Spirits that agitate them, that they can make them appear or disappear at pleasure[79]
In literature
Prince Arthur and the Faerie Queene by Johann Heinrich Füssli (c. 1788); scene from The Faerie Queene The word "fairy" was used to describe an individual inhabitant of Faerie before the time of Chaucer.[1]
Fairies appeared in medieval romances as one of the beings that a knight errant might encounter. A fairy lady appeared to Sir Launfal and demanded his love; like the fairy bride of ordinary folklore, she imposed a prohibition on him that in time he violated. Sir Orfeo's wife was carried off by the King of Faerie. Huon of Bordeaux is aided by King Oberon.[80] These fairy characters dwindled in number as the medieval era progressed; the figures became wizards and enchantresses.[81]
The oldest fairies on record in England were first described by the historian Gervase of Tilbury in the 13th century.[82]
In the 1485 book Le Morte d'Arthur, Morgan le Fay, whose connection to the realm of Faerie is implied in her name, is a woman whose magic powers stem from study.[83] While somewhat diminished with time, fairies never completely vanished from the tradition. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a 14th century tale, but the Green Knight himself is an otherworldly being.[81] Edmund Spenser featured fairies in his 1590 book The Faerie Queene.[84] In many works of fiction, fairies are freely mixed with the nymphs and satyrs of classical tradition,[85] while in others (e.g., Lamia), they were seen as displacing the Classical beings. 15th-century poet and monk John Lydgate wrote that King Arthur was crowned in "the land of the fairy" and taken in his death by four fairy queens, to Avalon, where he lies under a "fairy hill" until he is needed again.[86]
The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Joseph Noel Paton (1849): fairies in Shakespeare Fairies appear as significant characters in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the Moon[87] and in which a disturbance of nature caused by a fairy dispute creates tension underlying the plot and informing the actions of the characters. According to Maurice Hunt, Chair of the English Department at Baylor University, the blurring of the identities of fantasy and reality makes possible "that pleasing, narcotic dreaminess associated with the fairies of the play".[88]
Shakespeare's contemporary Michael Drayton features fairies in his Nimphidia, and from these stem Alexander Pope's sylphs of the 1712 poem The Rape of the Lock. In the mid-17th century the French literary style précieuses took up the oral tradition of such tales to write fairy tales, and Madame d'Aulnoy invented the term contes de fée ("fairy tale").[89] While the tales told by the précieuses included many fairies, they were less common in other countries' tales; indeed, the Brothers Grimm included fairies in their first edition but decided this was not authentically German and altered the language in later editions, changing each Fee ("fairy") to an enchantress or wise woman.[90] J. R. R. Tolkien described these tales as taking place in the land of Faerie.[91] Additionally, not all folktales that feature fairies are generally categorized as fairy tales.
The modern depiction of fairies was shaped in the literature of Romanticism during the Victorian era. Writers such as Walter Scott and James Hogg were inspired by folklore which featured fairies, such as the Border ballads. This era saw an increase in the popularity of collecting fairy folklore and an increase in the creation of original works with fairy characters.[92] In Rudyard Kipling's 1906 book of short stories and poems, Puck of Pook's Hill, Puck holds to scorn the moralizing fairies of other Victorian works.[93] The period also saw a revival of older themes in fantasy literature, such as C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, which, while featuring many such classical beings as fauns and dryads, mingles them freely with hags, giants, and other creatures of the folkloric fairy tradition.[94] Victorian flower fairies were popularized in part by Queen Mary’s keen interest in fairy art and by British illustrator and poet Cicely Mary Barker's series of eight books published in 1923 through 1948. Imagery of fairies in literature became prettier and smaller as time progressed.[95] Andrew Lang, complaining of "the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms" in the introduction to The Lilac Fairy Book (1910), observed that "These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed."[96]
A story of the origin of fairies appears in a chapter about Peter Pan in J. M. Barrie's 1902 novel The Little White Bird, and was incorporated into his later works about the character. Barrie wrote, "When the first baby laughed for the first time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies."[97] Fairies are seen in Neverland, in Peter and Wendy, the 1911 novel version of J. M. Barrie's famous Peter Pan stories, and its character Tinker Bell has become a pop culture icon. When Peter Pan is guarding Wendy from pirates, the story says, "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy. Any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter's nose and passed on."[98]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 14:04:11 GMT -5
Thrummy-cap
A Thrummy-cap is a character in Scottish folklore, that appears in many tales. It may have been invented by John Burness in his 1796 Thrummy Cap, A Legend of the Castle of Fiddes.
The poetic tale, Thrummy Cap, A Legend of the Castle of Fiddes (1796), written by John Burness (cousin of Robert Burns), was popular during the 19th century in the northeast of Scotland - it may be that Burness invented the legend. The name of the tale "Thrummy Cap" holds the name of one of its protagonists. Thrummy Cap encounters a ghost identical to himself (see also Doppelganger). This ghost shows Thrummy where the castle deeds are, which he had stolen from the Laird. This tale employs the restless ghost motif.[1]
"Thrummy cap" was the name of a ghost in another legend in Methil.[2] In the Methil tale, Thrummy Cap haunts a building at the harbor head - this was said to be the ghost of a wood merchant or carpenter, who was not paid for his work, and consequently drowned himself in Methil harbor, and took to haunting the building.[3]
Additionally "thrummy cap" was a nickname for the devil.[4]
In his 1848 Dictionary of Archaic & Provincial Words, James Halliwell-Philipps claimed the term was from Northumbrian fairy tales, and referred to a "queer-looking little auld man" with exploits taking place in vaults or cellars of old castles.[5] "Thrummy Caps" also appear in Michael Aislabie Denham's 1850s list of spirits and fairies - in which Denham makes an unclear reference to the "Thrummy Hills" near Catterick, and also repeats the claim of it appearing in Northumbrian folktales.[6]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 14:06:02 GMT -5
cutties or bluecaps
Bluecap From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Cutty Soams)
A bluecap is a mythical fairy or ghost in English folklore that inhabits mines and appears as a small blue flame. If miners treat them with respect, the bluecaps lead them to rich deposits of minerals.[1] Like knockers or kobolds, bluecaps can also forewarn miners of cave-ins. They are mostly associated with the Anglo-Scottish borders.[2] They were hard workers and expected to be paid a working man's wages, equal to those of an average putter (a mine worker who pushes the wagons). Their payment was left in a solitary corner of the mine, and they would not accept any more or less than they were owed. The miners would sometimes see the flickering bluecap settle on a full tub of coal, transporting it as though "impelled by the sturdiest sinews".[3] Another being of the same type (though less helpful in nature) was called Cutty Soames[4] or Old Cutty Soames[5] who was known to cut the rope-traces or soams by which the assistant putter was yoked to the tub.[4]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 14:07:30 GMT -5
Nisses
A nisse (Danish: [ˈne̝sə], Norwegian: [ˈnɪ̂sːə]), tomte (Swedish: [ˈtɔ̂mːtɛ]), tomtenisse, or tonttu (Finnish: [ˈtontːu]) is a mythological creature from Nordic folklore today typically associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season. They are generally described as being short, having a long white beard, and wearing a conical or knit cap in gray, red or some other bright colour. They often have an appearance somewhat similar to that of a garden gnome.
The nisse is one of the most familiar creatures of Scandinavian folklore, and he has appeared in many works of Scandinavian literature. With the romanticisation and collection of folklore during the 19th century, the nisse gained popularity.
History and cultural relevance
Nisser on a windowsill According to tradition, the nisse lives in the houses and barns of the farmstead, and secretly acts as their guardian.[27] If treated well, they protect the family and animals from evil and misfortune,[28] and may also aid the chores and farm work.[29] However, they are known to be short tempered, especially when offended. Once insulted, they will usually play tricks, steal items and even maim or kill livestock.[30]
Appearance
Nisse on Christmas Card (1885) The nisse/tomte was often imagined as a small, elderly man (size varies from a few inches to about half the height of an adult man), often with a full beard; dressed in the traditional farmer garb, consisting of a pull-over woolen tunic belted at the waist and knee breeches with stockings. This was still the common male dress in rural Scandinavia in the 17th century, giving an indication of when the idea of the nisse spread. However, there are also folktales where he is believed to be a shapeshifter able to take a shape far larger than an adult man, and other tales where the nisse is believed to have a single, Cyclopean eye. In modern Denmark, nisser are often seen as beardless, wearing grey and red woolens with a red cap. Since nisser are thought to be skilled in illusions and sometimes able to make themselves invisible, one was unlikely to get more than brief glimpses of him no matter what he looked like. Norwegian folklore states that he has four fingers, and sometimes with pointed ears and eyes reflecting light in the dark, like those of a cat. [31]
Height The tomte's height is anywhere from 60 cm (2 ft) to no taller than 90 cm (3 ft) according to one Swedish-American source,[32] whereas the tomte (pl. tomtarna) were just 1 aln tall (an aln or Swedish ell being just shy of 60 cm or 2 ft), according to one local Swedish tradition.[e][33]
Temperament
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
An illustration made by Gudmund Stenersen of an angry tomte stealing hay from a farmer. Despite his small size, the nisse possessed an immense strength. He was easily offended by careless lack of proper respect and lazy farmers. As the protector of the farm and caretaker of livestock, his retributions for bad practices ranged from small pranks like a hard strike to the ear to more severe punishment like killing off the livestock or ruining of the farm's fortune. Observance of traditions was thought important to the nisse as he did not like changes in the way things were done at the farm. He was also easily offended by rudeness: farm workers swearing, urinating in the barns, or not treating the creatures well would do so under the threat of a sound thrashing by the tomte/nisse. If anyone spilled something on the floor in the house, it was considered proper to shout a warning to the tomte below. An angry tomte is featured in the popular children's book by Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (Nils Holgersson's Wonderful Journey Through Sweden). The tomte turns the naughty boy Nils into a tomte in the beginning of the book, and Nils then travels across Sweden on the back of a goose.
One was also required to please the spirit with gifts (see Blót) – a particular gift was a bowl of porridge on Christmas Eve. If the tomte was not given his payment, he would leave the farm or house, or engage in mischief such as tying the cows' tails together in the barn, turning objects upside-down, and breaking things (like a troll). The nisse liked his porridge with a pat of butter on the top. In an often retold story, a farmer put the butter underneath the porridge. When the nisse of his farmstead found that the butter was missing, he was filled with rage and killed the cow resting in the barn. But, as he thus became hungry, he went back to his porridge and ate it, and so found the butter at the bottom of the bowl. Full of grief, he then hurried to search the lands to find another farmer with an identical cow, and replaced the former with the latter. In another tale a Norwegian maid decided to eat the porridge herself, and ended up severely beaten by the nisse. The being swore: "Have you eaten the porridge for the nisse, you have to dance with him!". The farmer found her nearly lifeless the morning after.
The nisse is connected to farm animals in general, but his most treasured animal was the horse. Belief had it that one could see which horse was the tomte's favourite as it would be especially healthy and well taken care of. Sometimes the tomte would even braid its hair and tail. Sometimes actually undoing these braids could mean misfortune or angering the tomte. Some stories tell how the nisse could drive people mad, or bite them. The bite from a nisse was poisonous, and otherworldly healing was required. As the story goes, the girl who was bitten withered and died before help arrived.
After Christianization
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The nisse or tomte was in ancient times believed to be the "soul" of the first inhabitor of the farm; he who cleared the tomt (house lot). He had his dwellings in the burial mounds on the farm, hence the now somewhat archaic Swedish names tomtenisse and tomtekarl, the Swedish and Norwegian tomtegubbe and tomtebonde ("tomte farmer"), Danish husnisse ("house nisse"), the Norwegian haugkall ("mound man"), and the Finnish tonttu-ukko (lit. "house lot man").
The nisse was not always a popular figure, particularly during and after the Christianization of Scandinavia. Like most creatures of folklore he would be seen as heathen (pre-Christian) and be demonized and connected to the Devil. Farmers believing in the house tomte could be seen as worshipping false gods or demons; in a famous 14th century decree Saint Birgitta warns against the worship of tompta gudhi, "tomte gods" (Revelationes, book VI, ch. 78). Folklore added other negative beliefs about the tomte, such as that having a tomte on the farm meant you put the fate of your soul at risk, or that you had to perform various non-Christian rites to lure a tomte to your farm.
The belief in a nisse's tendency to bring riches to the farm by his unseen work could also be dragged into the conflicts between neighbours. If one farmer was doing far better for himself than the others, someone might say that it was because he had a nisse on the farm, doing "ungodly" work and stealing from the neighbours. These rumours could be very damaging for the farmer who found himself accused, much like accusations of witchcraft during the Inquisitions.
Similar folklore See also: Little people (mythology) § Native American folklore
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The nisse shares many aspects with other Scandinavian wights such as the Swedish vättar (from the Old Norse vættr), Danish vætter, Norwegian vetter or tusser. These beings are social, however, whereas the nisse is always solitary (though he is now often pictured with other nisser). Synonyms of nisse includes gårdbo ("(farm)yard-dweller"), gardvord ("yard-warden", see vörðr) in all Scandinavian languages, and god bonde ("good farmer"), gårdsrå ("yard-spirit") in Swedish and Norwegian and fjøsnisse ("barn gnome") in Norwegian. The tomte could also take a ship for his home, and was then known as a skeppstomte or skibsnisse. In Finland, the sauna has a saunatonttu.
In other European folklore, there are many beings similar to the nisse, such as the Scots and English brownie, Northumbrian English hob, West Country pixie, the German Heinzelmännchen, the Dutch kabouter or the Slavic domovoi. Usage in folklore in expressions such as Nisse god dräng ("Nisse good lad") is suggestive of Robin Goodfellow.[34]
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 26, 2021 14:08:12 GMT -5
apparitions
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