Information on Fairies, Elves, Goblins and Mythical Creatures
This
page has been designed to assist children with their art exams and
dissitations. We hope this will help all students currently studying
for exams and GCSE`s.
After many hundreds of enquries regarding information on fairies
and the methods and design skills of Myrea we have included new
information in this FAQ section.
See also How to Draw a Fairy
Please read the following and the other pages in my web site before
requesting any information about my work or details about fairies,
elves and pixies.
Thank you
FAIRIES
DEFINITION AND MEANING
The Spanish word hada comes from the Latin fata which, in
turn, derived from fatum, meaning fate or destiny. In the Middle
Ages, it was defined by the gentiles as a divinity or unknown
force which had a fascinatig effect on the other divinities and
on men and events. The French word fée has a similar origin
and resulted in the English words fey and fairie which, as time
went by, suffered spelling variations from fayerye, fayre, faerie,
faery, and fairy. According to its ethimology, it is a fantastic
being pictured as a woman known to have magical powers. For the
Saxons, the word ferie refers to the world of fairies as an entity,
being a geographical location. In Spanish it turned out to be
féerico, depicting something wonderful or fantastic, as
applied for example to música féerica (fairy music).
INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF FAIRIES
 At the outset of the third millennium, in a globalized world
concerned more about geopolitics and amassing large fortunes,
and supported in an imposing technological development, inhabited
by a man immersed himself in city stress and an endless whirl
of activities, you might as well ask why speak about something
so far away from the real world, making up the universe of
illusion and fantasy? May be the answer is that those magical
beings encourage the hope that the innocent imagination of
childhood is still present in our hearts just drowsy awaiting
for a fresh breeze of a pure heart, deprived of all evil to
find the ideal conditions to see, talk and believe again in
fairies like when he was a child.
Could anyone ever introduce us to a fairy? Or are they
who freely decide whether they accept a human being or
not?
The world of Fairies is a mixture of a mysterious enchantment,
a charming beauty, but also of a huge ugliness, of insensitive
shallowness, humour, malice, joy and inspiration, fear, laughter,
love, and tragedy. It is richer than what we are usually induced
to think by literature. In addition, extreme caution should
be exercised to penetrate into this world, as nothing is more
irritating to fairies than several human beings curiously moving
around their extraordinary dominions, like spoiled tourists.
Love, but also abandonment and death, may follow under their
spell. Like human beings, they live in a universe of contradictions
As stated by the brilliant English playwright William Shakespeare
in his Hamlet, there are on earth more things than those that
can be perceived by imagination. It could also be added that,
by a high percentage, the fantastic is invisible to the naked
eye. The belief in the existence of fairies is common to the
most diverse cultures. It origin dates back to myths and legends
of each culture.
One of those legends assures that fairies are fallen angels
or dead pagans not good enough to be admitted in the Eden,
or not wicked enough to go to hell. That is why they were compelled
to live eternally halfway.
Another legend read that once Eve was on the bank of a river
bathing her children when she heard God who spoke to her. Fearful,
Eve hid her children who had not been bathed so that God could
not see them. God, who sees everything, asked her whether all
her children were there. Eve lied and bowed. God warned her
that those children that had been hidden from Him would be
ever after hidden from the eyes of men. Those where the children
who turned out to be fairies or elfs.
LOCATION OF THE WORLD OF FAIRIES
Location of these elementary beings has varied throughout
time and cultures. For the Irish, sometimes it was found in the
horizon; other under their own feet; on other occasions, on hills,
or in a magical island in the high seas or under the ocean.
Other cultures state that the world of fairies may be found
in nature, a plant, a tree, the earth, a lake, the breeze,
the sun, the perfum of flowers and all that is natural around
us. Summing up, air, water, earth, and fire are the four elements
where Elementary Spirits are
contained.
THE HISTORY AND FOLKLORE OF FAIRIES
Have you wondered where fairies are from? Is it another dimension?
|