I have recently spent some time looking into fairy lore and
came across an article that suggested fairies are the off spring of angels.
This article, which I found through Folklore Thursday,
explained that in the past, angels would come down to Earth and form a close
relationship with female humans, and the end result of this pairing would be to
give birth to a fairy. It is said that the angels were so overcome with desire
for the beautiful female form of the humans that they would be willing to risk
their place in heaven for them.
Of course, in the male orientated world that is our
religious beliefs, all angels were male, meaning that they could sow their seed
into any woman that they found desirable. Interesting that God did not see fit
to create female angels. Or, more to the point, the tales that have derived
from man years of telling have conveniently swiped over any type of female
angel.
But perhaps that is being too basic, in The Bible, and in
religious pictures, angels are not depicted to be in human form so could not be
one gender or another. Still, for the benefit of the creation of fairies, a
male angel having sex with a female human is a step forward in explaining how
fairies came to be.
Fairies are renowned for being mischievous creatures intent
on causing mayhem to the human world around them. So the very idea that a fairy
would have a human and an angel as their parents is something that I find very
intriguing.
Fairies form a large part of our culture, both here in England and throughout Wales, Scotland and
Ireland. They are seen not as the little sprites that we have come to know,
mainly through the likes of Disney, but were tall, strident and confident
beings with a very sexual nature.
Their desires have played out in many folk tales, not least
the Fairy King Lir, who had a wife that died after she had given him four
children. The new wife became so jealous of his love for his four children that
she condemned them all to live as swans.
Next time you see a swan, gliding gracefully over the water,
perhaps you are seeing a glimpse of fairy royalty.
Fairies can be good or bad, light or dark, and the general
way of thinking is that you are most likely to see a fairy at twilight.
Of course, twilight is a very magical time for anything,
that moment before the sun sets and it is just light enough to glimpse into
other worlds. Before the night takes over and the world is plunged into
darkness.
For further readings about fairies and their lore, I would
direct you to the very informative Folklore Thursday website, which can be
found at:
Fairies have been in popular culture for hundreds of years,
and probably the most famous fairy of them all, the Tooth Fairy, you would
think has been around forever, but he or she only came to our attention in
1900. Whether you believe in fairies or not, children will always believe in
the idea of earning money.
Zac Thraves is a
storyteller and writer living in Kent; if you wish to book him to come along to
your party, young or old, or to give a
speech at your local school then please contact him at zacharystories@outlook.com
No comments:
Post a Comment