Myth/Folklore

You might have heard about fairies in the most fantasy genre. It is a type of mythical creature of folklore and romance originating European. "Fairy" is an umbrella term describing a wide array of spirits that usually associated with nature. They usually have magic powers and dwelling on earth in close relationship with humans.

"Take the Fair Face of Woman", by Sophie Gengembre Anderson in 1869.

The storyteller, or the seanshai during the area when Celts were still pagans, tell a variety of Irish legends about supernatural begins, one of them is the fairies. The stories we told today came from the mixture of Celt and Christian folklore in the age of Christianity. It is a combination of disparate elements from folk believe sources that influenced by the literature and speculation.

In the "Tuatha de Danann", a tale of Ireland, a race of people that are well-known by their strong, almost God-like, powers, had ruled Ireland from the early 19th century B.C. until the end of the following century. After been defeated by Milesians, they went into the Sidhe underground and became known as the Daoine Sidhe. They had children with the likes of Fionn mac Cumhaill, also known as Aos Si, these underground people eventually became smaller after generations.

"Riders of the Sidhe (1911), painting by John Duncan"

The belief in Irish fairies had spread widely in the early modern era. There are numerous fairies specifically associated with Ireland, but many of them could be divided into even more smaller types of fairies.

Another interesting thing that happened before such as the mystery that people talk about: whether the Cottingley Faries are real or not. Cottingley Fairies is one kind of fairies in the fairy folk. It has first appeared in 1917 in the photograph taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two young cousins that lived in Cottingley, England. The picture showed some of the Cottingley fairies and them as the two little girls playing in the forest. When the photograph had been spread as a piece of news, people began to talk about this as a topic. Under the appraisal of a professional photographer, it has been proven the photograph is real, but not fake. However, in 1981, one of the girls, Frances admitted the photograph is fake. Yet, she persisted that she had played with Cottingley fairies before.

"The first of the five photographs, taken by Elsie Wright in 1917, shows Frances Griffiths with the alleged fairies."

There is various kind of movies that are about fairies, and one of them is the "Tinker Bell". "Tinker Bell" is a series of Disney movies, and its movie is about fairies. The main character of "Tinker Bell" is Tinker Bell, a fairy who has appeared in a variety of film and television adaptations of the Peter Pan stories. The stories revolve around Tinker Bell and her fairy friends.

"The picture shows the characters of "Tinker Bell", the one who's standing on the tree is Tinker Bell."

All the fairies have their own identities in doing different jobs since they were born in this fairy village. Everyone is talented in different things and the queen, which is Queen Clarion, is the top of all fairies. The fairies in this movie all have similar characteristics like the Irish fairy folktale, they all small with wings, and are associated with nature. Moreover, some of the Tinker Bell movies have some interactions with the humans, and they play with them, just as the fairies in Irish fairy folklore.

All I want to say, it is very interesting to see the different kinds of fairies in fairy folklore. If you are also interested in the myths of the fairies, try to read about the stories or watch the movies about "Tinker Bell", and get some ideas about the fairies that you've never heard before.

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