Post by GoldenAerie on Oct 14, 2015 10:25:32 GMT -9
I've always differentiated between fairy and faery, despite them usually meaning the same thing. I've always considered fairies to be the tiny flower fairies, who can grow larger - to about 3'-5'. Faeries were always, in my head, any other type of fae. I don't know if anyone else feels this way.
Here's some general information.
Trooping Fairies - These fairies have similar societal structures to humans (i.e. communities, kingdoms, monarchies, etc).
Solitary Fairies - These fairies don't belong to a particular society structure. (i.e. Robin Goodfellow, house brownie, fairy godmother, etc)
According to their character, there is another division between fairies.
Seelie Court - This term represents fairies who are engaged with their society, existing relatively peacefully with humans and enjoying feasting, hunting, and dancing.
Unseelie Court - The Unseelie is a term for those who find their goal is to disrupt human life at nearly every turn. Often they are described as ugly in appearance and living in the outskirts of society (i.e. in the woods, on war torn lands, etc).
Wings or no wings? Early writings on fairies had them written as being very tiny with gossamer wings who could enlarge to nearly a human size. During the Renaissance things were altered a bit. Solitaries emerged, famously Puck and Robin Goodfellow, who had no wings. The Welsh described their fairies as being beautiful fair humans with golden hair. The Welsh actually had two different groups of fairies, one tiny with wings and the other about knee height without wings, but both had some growing/shrinking abilities. The Irish present the Daoine Sidhe in their lore and history. This fairy group once lived above ground, but as man encroached on their land they moved under the hills and mounds. The Daoine Sidhe have a range of sizes, but only rarely are wings ever mentioned. The majority of Europe does not mention wings on their fairies. The Persians mention them as being light, gossamer creatures entirely benevolent.
Various Ways Humans Can See The Fairy Realm
- Looking through a holed stone (that is stone with a hole through it)
- Dancing around a fairyring nine times clockwise and one time counter-clockwise
- Walking around a fairy mound three times counter-clockwise and calling out "Open Door"