What Are Fairies? (Celtic Mythology Explained)

what are the Irish fairies or the Danish II there are a few spiritual beings that loom larger in Irish folklore and tradition and fairies or the Danish II they go by many names including the good folk the Dinah maja the little people as I grew up hearing the dew Nevada and the slowest Shia the army of the Shi they were associated with old places from the mounds of the Neolithic to the Rath sand dunes of the Iron Age they could reside beneath the earth within trees streams and fields they could be anywhere unseen saved by those who had the sight but what were they or should I say what are they firstly let's address what the fairy folk are not they are not the gods of the Gaels the gods were reduced to their level by ancient storytellers but it is quite clear that the fairy folk are in fact a lower level a spiritual entity one identical to many others known in indo-european religions across Europe and beyond you know this is why they are commonly referred to in English as fairies for instance but we could also probably add in elves or even dwarves into this mix they all seem to exist within the same sort of sphere medieval people understood them within a Christian context to have been fallen angels that existed on three separate levels in the air within the land and waters and beneath the earth dwelling with the devil this corresponds roughly to the tripartite spatial division of the indo-european worldview so there are various types of these entities dwelling throughout the totality of the world but their power and composition are thought to be largely similar to understand them further we should understand what she is if they are the people of it now the old Irish word she'd is the name given to the various mounds from ancient times where it was believed and rightly so in many cases that the dead were buried this word in turn comes from indo-european she step we need to sit to rest the origin for Irish see and English sit it would seem then that the mounds were named this because they were the seats of kings or perhaps and probably more correctly they were called this because that is where the ancient people were put to rest or sat and rested in death thus the she or the she'd in old irish pronunciation means something like the resting place with a possible connotation of graveyard she'd can also mean peace in old irish thus demonstrating again this connotation here that these beings are of places where people are at peace meaning exactly the same as we mean in english when we say that likely a euphemism for death and indeed it was considered very unlucky to call the fairies by name which is why they were called things like fair folk good people you know these are euphemistic names she can also refer to a type of wind a gust of air or sudden blast which would otherwise be called something like glia recall that many of these mounds also had entranceways passages inside them like Newgrange for instance if one stands before the entrance of such a passage or cave because of the temperature differential one can feel often a breeze upon them that was likely thought to emanate from within the cave or the passageway from the underworld there are various references to the Dana she linked to the wind even with tornadoes and dust devils being referred to as fairy Gus the reason they are so associated with wind has to do with their spiritual or one might say ghostly nature in indo-european thought the wind and air was closely tied to if not identical to the spirit such that the human force of life or what was thought of part of the soul was viewed as wind in all indo-european beliefs Latin for instance uses the word animals for soul and this word refers to breath or wind from proto-indo-european HANA meaning breath which gives rise to greek animals meaning wind or breeze and old irish and him meaning soul or life and in modern irish this is used to mean name now this meaning is directly equivalent to the toe carrion be where anima means soul or self so thus the very core of the human being its spiritual essence was wind or breath so the nature of the fairies has also akin to that of breath they are beings of air or spirit and thus they move through the air and can likewise control here when a person died it was thought that their spirit was also moved through the air being air itself this is also akin to later myths of people being abducted by fairies disappearing into their world never to be seen again and where have they gone and what is their world it is the world of the dead the world of the spirit detached from physical form a type of shadow world that mirrors our own which is quite how the fairy world is described in various sources they are perhaps most akin to ghosts but with the caveat that they are not generally considered to be spirits of the dead but are spiritual beings in origin they are a type of minor level deity you could say but as the fair folk are not high gods of the celestial realm they do not exist within that heavenly realm and they play a sort of intermediary role the very host the slick Shia where it's said to be led on various occasions by none other than Loog Lada when we realize the spiritual nature of these entities and that thus Lucia were strongly connected to winds it is possible that this is referring to a similar phenomena as the Wild Hunt in continental sources it may well be that the fairy host here is thought of as the storm winds where as the sphere of Luke is a lightning blast there is a great description of this host given in an old Irish poem dedicated to them and it goes white shields they carry in their hands with emblems of pale silver with glittering blue swords with mighty stout horns in well devised battle array ahead of their fair chieftain they March amid Blue Spears pale visage curly-headed bands they scatter the battalions of the foe they ravage every land they attack splendidly they marched combat a swift distinguished avenging host no wonder though their strength be great sons of queens and kings are one and all on their heads our beautiful golden yellow Mane's with smooth homely bodies with bright blue star dies with pure crystal teeth and thin red lips good they are at man-slaying melodious in the alehouse masterly at making songs skilled at playing fit hell and as you can see from that description they in fact are very similar to the sort of personality or character that comes through about Luke himself so the fair folk can bring luck and they can also bring disease and death in various stories they escort people into the underworld and so they may play a role in bringing souls of the Dead after death carrying them away on the wind perhaps however they were also thought to seek people's deaths on occasions hitting them with fairy Spears or arrows to cause them maladies and death where they would claim them in the fairy world when they died joint inflammation and many other illnesses were ascribed to them even leprosy was said to be caused by them the actions of these faerie darts is similar to the power ascribed early on in Greek myth to the arrows of Apollo sometimes it was thought that certain stones especially quartz and also stone age arrows or axe heads were actually fairy darts and these were kept by people who were known as fairy doctors who would chant while performing rituals with these objects waving them over the person thought to be afflicted by a fairy dart in order to heal them and others were kept buried under people's homes sometimes or buried under their barns traditionally offerings were made to the fairies of biscuits bread cakes milk and other small offerings it was thought that they were especially protective of ancient sacred sites and to disturb these places would be to bring ruin upon the ones who did when in the early 19th century archaeological discoveries were made of masses of gold people considered it to be fairy gold and warned of danger to anyone associated with it even more recently these concerns were expressed at various times with road construction projects that into or near ancient sites now there are many different types of ace she ordina she and each one should really have its own video there's too much to get into and one but this is meant to give an overview of sort of what they are in origin and they are spirit beings akin to air or wind but there are three major types as mentioned the fairies of the air which manifests as gusts of wind and even storm winds and are presented as warriors and a great cavalcade of horsemen there are those of the land and waters which reside in localized places such as trees or ancient sites and mounds streams and lakes and there are those who dwell in the dark in the deep places the fairies of the air and land were thought to be beautiful and marvelous and to create sweet music if only they were appeased by humans are left alone in their sites undisturbed they would be peaceful or or would even help people at some times but those of the dark we're thought to be willfully evil and were equated with Christian demons so I'd like to give a big thanks to my patreon subscribers if you'd like to help out this channel I recommend that you head over there I take video requests answer questions do Q&A videos and that sort of thing gaurav mila Margot sa shot ah goes Mari go knee chasse go hard

Channel: Fortress of Lugh

Views: 197,976

Rating: 4.9464726 out of 5

Keywords: Fairies, Aos Si, Aos Sidhe, Daoine Sidhe, Ghosts, Irish Fairies, Irish Myth

Id: Eszb1jqJtoQ

Length: 12min 31sec (751 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 15 2020