Tag: fairies

History and lore of Beltane, the ancient Celtic festival of May Day

Leo S

Traditionally, Beltane honours life, and represents the peak of Spring and the beginning of Summer. This spring celebration is all about new life, fire, passion, and rebirth, in a time when the earth is lush and green, as new grass and trees return to life after a winter of dormancy, and flowers are abundant everywhere. The Beltane holiday is the time when, in some traditions, the male energy of the god is at its most potent. He is often portrayed with a large and erect phallus, and other symbols of…

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The Legend of the Irish Leprechaun ~

Leo S

The legend of the Irish Leprechaun is a well-known one: little wee well-dressed men, often angry or drunk (or both) with a certain fondness for gold. Classed by some as a type of solitary fairy, they are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. Traditionally these fair folk are rumoured to keep their treasures at the end of a rainbow, but what is the real story behind these little moody little men and their hordes of treasure? Apparently, the legend can be…

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Fairy Steps, the legendary stone steps that were once used to haul coffins up the rockface ~

Leo S

From Beetham village, England, a path climbs to Beetham fell and leads to the so-called Fairy Steps. The second of two flights of stone steps, where the narrow passage squeezes between two sheer rock faces via a flight of natural stone stairs is so named because of a legend. Apparently, if you descend this narrow stone stairway without touching the rocks on either side, the local fairies will grant you a wish. Other legends talk about the fairies using the steps to escape a witches’ cauldron, and it is said…

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Cottingley’s Fairies: the pictures that tricked also Arthur Conan Doyle

Pavel

There are fairies in the stream that runs through the village of Cottingley in West Yorkshire. It’s true, and there are pictures to prove it! The very popular Cottingley Fairies refers to five photographs taken by two schoolgirls between 1917 and 1920 near Cottingley Beck, England, close to a narrow stream. Elsie Wright (1901–1988) and Frances Griffiths (1907–1986), cousins living at Elsie’s house in the village, liked to play by the stream at the bottom of the garden, much to their mothers’ annoyance, because they frequently came back with wet…

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Fairies: Mysterious ladies of the Celtic Folklore.

Pavel

The fairies…magical creatures we’ve heard of since childhood. Fairies are imagined of small stature, dressed in green or red and intent to occupy the day doing the same tasks as men. However, it could be very dangerous to meet them, because, staying with them, people could lost the notion of time and risked “aging” hundreds of years without realizing it (lot of stories tell of people who were entertained to dance with the fairies, but when go back home, they find no more their homes, and centuries have passed!). Also…

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