Thursday, 8 September 2011

Warding off fairies...folklore

Anyone who has recently read a story to a young female of the species cannot fail to be aware of the immense popularity of fairies in modern children’s fiction.

The modern fairy is a minute female who is very much a creature of her times. She is fashionably dressed in well-coordinated clothes, with modishly styled hair, the whole liberally sprinkled with sparkles. Above all, the fairy of today’s fiction is intent on doing good, both in fairyland and in the land of humans.

In the Celtic tradition of Scotland and elsewhere, by no means all fairies were out to do good. Admittedly, there were some kindly fairies who did good deeds to humans and these belonged to what was called the Seelie Court. The many fairies who were malicious and wicked belonged to the Unseelie Court. These mischievous creatures were dead set on causing as much harm as possible to humans and they were a powerful force for evil.

As to clothes, some fairies were thought to wear green – but, apart from that, not much was known about their appearance. This is hardly surprising, as they were invisible for most of the time.

In modern children’s fiction, children – or at least little girls – are very anxious to meet up with fairies and they frequently do so. In former times, however, people were only too anxious to avoid the company of fairies and did their very best to ward them off.

Various things were called into play to help in this task. Horseshoes, then as now, were considered to be a symbol of good luck, but they were also regarded as a fairy deterrent. This was particularly effective if the horseshoe was made of iron, as would most likely be the case, since iron was regarded as a powerful deterrent to all malevolent supernatural creatures. The horseshoe was made even more of a threat to fairies if iron nails were used to fix it to door or the fireside.

A rowan tree planted near the threshold of the house was thought to keep at bay fairies and other forces of evil, such as witches. Other plant life was also used in the relentless struggle against fairies. Such plants included gorse, rosemary and dill, while St John’s Wort, now often used to ward off depression, was used to ward off fairies who were intent on stealing away humans while they were asleep.

It was a common part of fairy business to steal humans away. However, it appears that they mostly concentrated on the removal of human children. When they did steal away a human child, they would frequently leave a fairy child (called a changeling) in its place. The fairies’ most determined attempts at child-stealing were made between the time a child was born and the time it was baptised.

Much effort was concentrated on preventing the fairy invaders from carrying off a baby – or, indeed, the baby’s mother. Staying with the iron theme, someone in the household where there was a new-born baby might hammer a row of iron nails into the headboard of the bed where the new mother and baby were lying.

In some parts of Scotland, a pair of trousers belonging to the baby’s father was thought to frighten off fairies. The trousers were hung at the foot of the bed in which mother and baby slept. Sometimes the father’s shirt was used to wrap the new-born baby in, to stop the fairy thieves in their tracks. I do not know why fairies should be so afraid of male garments. It cannot have been that fairies were weak females who were afraid of men, because not all fairies in the Celtic tradition were female.

Human urine was another weapon used in the battle against the fairies. Presumably this could be supplied by a member of either sex. The urine was sprinkled on the doorposts of the front door or on the doorposts of the room where the baby lay. Apparently fairies found the smell of human urine extremely offensive and were likely to give it a wide berth. It cannot have been very pleasant for the humans in the house, either.

More pleasant-smelling was the practice of lighting a piece of fir-wood and carrying it three times around the bed where mother and baby lay. Alternatively, the lit wood was twirled three times round the heads of mother and baby. Poor things. They never seem to have got a moment’s peace when this fight against the fairies was being waged around them.

How would you know if the fairies had outwitted all attempts to stop them from making off with the baby and had left one of theirs in its place? Well, the fairy child was apt to be very pale, almost greenish in hue, and very frail-looking. They were said to seem to be always hungry and always crying, often with a particularly strange, pitiful cry. I know. That does sound like most babies, does it not?

Many Scottish changelings were thought to have a particular longing to play the bagpipes. They did their best to get hold of a set and if they did they could play them without receiving any tuition. Or was that skirling noise just their pitiful cry again?

If you suspected that the fairies had taken a baby and had left a changeling in its place, what action could you take? Well, you could get out the girdle. A girdle in this sense was not a female undergarment to pull the stomach in, but a flat cast-iron pan for making pancakes or scones on.

The girdle was placed on the open fire as though a baking session were about to begin. The child who was thought to have been dumped by the fairies was then held very near the girdle over the fire. If the child were indeed a changeling it would, supposedly, go straight up the chimney to be replaced by the real child who would come down the chimney.

The purpose of the girdle was to catch the baby who was returning home so that it would not land in the fire and get burnt. It presumably did not matter if the changeling suffered such a fate. There were various variations on this process and they all sound decidedly risky.

If members of a household failed to unmask a changeling at a very early stage, the outlook was not good for the changeling. When its identity was suspected, he or she might be subjected to ill-treatment, such as being left to suffer from exposure on a dung-heap, or might even be murdered. It has been suggested that the authorities might turn a blind eye to such treatment of changelings.

There was a particular kind of fairy in the Celtic tradition that people did not want to ward off. This was a Brownie. A Brownie was a kind of nocturnal fairy who spent the night carrying out the household or farm tasks while members of the household were asleep. The said household members allegedly had to be hard-working and kind-hearted in order to qualify for Brownie help.

The work of Brownies did not go unrewarded. They were paid not in money, but in food – particularly milk, honey and porridge. Brownies were very fond of their food and could be temperamental. If one night the food was not put out, the Brownie might well go into a huff and storm off to households new.

By Betty Kirkpatrick

Wearing a stone with a hole bored through it by running water (looking through the hole allows you to see through glamour).
There are also a few rules about faeries and houses. A faerie cannot enter a house unless invited (although they interpret almost anything as invitation). And faeries are unlikely to steal from or even enter a house that already has a household faerie such as a brownie attached to it. Also if you have a faerie such as a brownie, a gift of clothes or anything else will cause that faerie to leave forever.

Scattering primroses on the threshold of your home, faeries cannot cross them.

* note that water that has had feet washed in it will ward fairies off and fire is used to test for fairy magic.

Practical beliefs and protection



“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.”

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. Another ambiguous piece of folklore revolves about poultry: a cock's crow drove away fairies, but other tales recount fairies keeping poultry.

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 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.Other brownies left households or farms because they heard a complaint, or a compliment. People who saw the fairies were advised not to look closely, because they resented infringements on their privacy.


Cold iron is a poetic and archaic term for iron, referring to the fact that it feels cold to the touch.
Lady Wilde in her book Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland. says "any old iron will do, the older the better" Horseshoes are often hung above a door for Luck and to protect a home from the faeries.

The use of Iron as protection from faeries probably goes back to Neolithic times, and stems from prehistoric conflicts between neolithic cultures and more advanced groups possessing Iron tools and weapons. The Celtic tribes were one of the earliest people in Europe to develop an Iron Age Culture, when they came into contact with people such as the Picts (who would have had only stone age technology) the tools and weapons of the Celts must have seemed magical in comparison to their stone headed axes and flint arrows.

The ancient Greeks and Romans forbade iron in their temples and its use by their priests. Ancient Saxons would not put iron rune wands in cemeteries for fear that the iron would scare away the departed spirits.

Bells are used as protection against faeries (they especially dislike church bells). Fire thrown into water in which the feet have been washed takes away the power of the water to admit the Fairies into the house at night. Using bread and salt, bells, whistling, snapping the fingers, or turning your clothes inside out will also deter them. Herbs they do not like are St. Johns Wort, red verbena, and daisies. The strongest plant against them is the four-leaf clover, which protects against fairy glamour. If you are chased by a faerie and you jump across running water, they cannot follow.

The Patu-paiarehe, the Maori equivalent of the Fae, are driven away by the use of red ochre, which contains iron. A legend illustrating this can be found here
The Maori had not developed any metal technologies but used tools of wood and stone.

Salt was another item that was used to keep fairies at bay.

In 1911, W.Y.Evans-Wentz, mentions the 'Fairy paths', along which invisible elemental spirits are believed to travel across Ireland. In his book 'The fairy faith in Celtic countries', he referred to them as the 'arteries' through which the Earth's magnetism circulates. Ley Lines/Magnetism.

Fairy darts are generally aimed at the fingers, causing the joints to swell and grow red and inflamed. An eminent fairy-woman made the cure of fairy darts her speciality, and she was sent for by all the country round, and was generally successful. But she had no power unless asked to make the cure, and she took no reward at the time; not till the patient was cured, and the dart extracted. The treatment included a great many prayers and much anointing with a salve, of which she only had the secret. Then she proceeded to extract the dart with great solemnity, working with a small instrument, on the point of which she finally produced the dart. This proved to be a bit of flax artfully laid under the skin by the malicious fairies, causing all the evil, and of course on seeing the flax no one could doubt the power of the operator, and the grateful patient paid his fee.

A Claim To Have Seen Fairies

William Blake was a poet and an artist. He work was rather mystical and sometimes he painted fairies.

William Blake also claimed to have seen fairies. This conversation is recorded by Allan Cunningham in his "Lives Of Eminent British Painters".

"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".
Website link:

Ronan Coghlan Handbook of Fairies (Capall Bann, 2002)
C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (1964)Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland By Lady Francesca Wilde 1888


Amy P said...

Thank you for posting this, it's very timely! My 7 year old has been asking a lot of questions about fairies. She made a house for them and kept asking me what they like in their houses. I told her to try to think like a fairy :) She asked me to find her a book about fairies, not a story book but a research book, now I have a place to start. Thanks again :)

storybookforest said...

Found you through the Gypsy Dreams party. I Love fairies- in all their moods and so does my eleven yr old daughter. I was always told if you left anything other than milk for the brownies they would leave because you were so well off their help was no longer needed. Love the lore and respect the flying lights. May all your gypsy dreams come true!

Gaby Bee said...

Thanks so much for being a new follower on my blog! I'm delighted to see new faces, because they lead me to their own blogs that I might not have found before! I have some catching up to do in exploring new blogs, but from what I've seen on yours so far, I'm going to have a lot of fun seeing your pictures.

Hope you have a wonderful day,

Healing Woman said...

What a wonderful, informative post. I loved the video as well. You put a lot of time into this lovely creation. I may decide to join your practical magic blog party. I entered one last year and loved it.

Thanks so much.

Warm wishes,

jasmoon-butterfly said...

Hi Cheryl ♥ thank you for visiting. Oh it would be great if you joined the party :0) I will be creating something simple on blog this this year but could not miss the envolvement ....cackle cackle )O(

jasmoon-butterfly said...

Hi Amy :0)
Thank you for leaving message, there are more posts about the fae..have to include a link x

jasmoon-butterfly said...

Hi storybookforest, yes love the lore of the fae / elven. Thank you for visiting & taking the time to comment x

jasmoon-butterfly said...

Hello Gaby, well I was very naughty & forgot to include a gypsy post, I asked to be removed from list as not fair on people blog hopping. Saying that I am glad you found me :0) Love & light Trace x

Celestial Elf said...

Inspired by Susanna's writings (of Strange and Norell) thought you might enjoy my short piece entitled How To Avoid (Or To Invite) Enchantment by Faries, Elves & Elementals; I have recorded soundfile (with music) at top page,
so settle back and enjoy.....