What are Fairies? Who are the Faery Folk?
I am indebted to Mr R.J. Stewart for granting permission to quote from his book “The Living World of Faery
“The faery races are our natural allies between the outer realm of manifest nature and the inner realm of ever-becoming, of transformation, of boundless potential. They are our cousins in the art of perfection and health of the land and the planet. We have abandoned them and polluted the world, which means that we have abandoned and polluted ourselves, for the human and faery races mirror and complete one another.”
Jack in the Green
Jack in the Green is a figure in English (and other folklore) who continues make a regular appearance at ceremonies both in England and abroad in countries like Spain and North America. Not only do the traditional parades survive but in some towns they have been revived where once they fell into disuse, so it would appear that Jack in the Green is making his presence felt more strongly as we are drawn closer to the ideas of sustainable living and care for the environment.
During these celebrations he might be accompanied by the Lord and Lady of May or attendants known as Bogies, and together they celebrate May Day and the coming of Summer. He is, or he has close associations with, the Green Man who embodies the spirit of natural fertility and the green woods. Like so many characters of his type Jack is best described in poetry and song:
“Jack-In-The-Green” from the album Songs From The Wood by Jethro Tull, 1977 (Island Records (UK) Chrysalis Records (US)).
Have you seen Jack-In-The-Green?
With his long tail hanging down.
He sits quietly under every tree —
in the folds of his velvet gown.
He drinks from the empty acorn cup
the dew that dawn sweetly bestows.
And taps his cane upon the ground —
signals the snowdrops it’s time to grow.
It’s no fun being Jack-In-The-Green —
no place to dance, no time for song.
He wears the colours of the summer soldier —
carries the green flag all the winter long.
Jack, do you never sleep —
does the green still run deep in your heart?
Or will these changing times,
motorways, power lines,
keep us apart?
Well, I don’t think so —
I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.
The rowan, the oak and the holly tree
are the charges left for you to groom.
Each blade of grass whispers Jack-In-The-Green.
Oh Jack, please help me through my winter’s night.
And we are the berries on the holly tree.
Oh, the mistlethrush is coming.
Jack, put out the light.
Jethro Tull are still performing after 40 years in the business. Here they are singing Jack in the Green in 1977. Check the band’s website for discography and tour dates.
The Fairy Folk of Tara
On the ancient Hill of Tara, from whose heights the High Kings once ruled all Ireland, from where the sacred fires in pagan days announced the annual resurrection of the sun, the Easter Tide, where the magic of Patrick prevailed over the magic of the Druids, and where the hosts of the Tuatha De Danann were wont to appear at the great Feast of Samain, to-day the fairy-folk of modern times hold undisputed sovereignty. And from no point better than Tara, which thus was once the magical and political centre of the Sacred Island, could we begin our study of the Irish Fairy-Faith. Though the Hill has lain unploughed and deserted since the curses of Christian priests fell upon it, on the calm air of summer evenings, at the twilight hour, wondrous music still sounds over its slopes, and at night long, weird processions of silent spirits march round its grass-grown raths and forts. It is only men who fear the curse of the Christians; the fairy-folk regard it not.
The Rev. Father Peter Kenney, of Kilmessan, had directed me to John Graham, an old man over seventy years of age, who has lived near Tara most of his life; and after I had found John, and he had led me from rath to rath and then right through the length of the site where once stood the banquet hail of kings and heroes and Druids, as he earnestly described the past glories of Tara to which these ancient monuments bear silent testimony, we sat down in the thick sweet grass on the Sacred Hill and began talking of the olden times in Ireland, and then of the ‘good people’:–
The ‘Good People’s’ Music.–‘As sure as you are sitting down I beard the pipes there in that wood (pointing to a wood on the north-west slope of the Hill, and west of the banquet hall). I heard the music another time on a hot summer evening at the Rath of Ringlestown, in a field where all the grass had been burned off; and I often heard it in the wood of Tara. Whenever the good people play, you hear their music all through the field as plain as can be; and it is the grandest kind of music. It may last half the night, but once day comes, it ends.’
Who the ‘Good People’ are.–I now asked John what sort of a race the ‘good people’ are, and where they came from, and this is his reply:–’People killed and murdered in war stay on earth till their time is up, and they are among the good people. The souls on this earth are as thick as the grass (running his walking-stick through a thick clump), and you can’t see them; and evil spirits are just as thick, too, and people don’t know it. Because there are so many spirits knocking (going) about they must appear to some people. The old folk saw the good people here on the Hill a hundred times, and they’d always be talking about them. The good people can see everything, and you dare not meddle with them. They live in raths, and their houses are in them. The opinion always was that they are a race of spirits, for they can go into different forms, and can appear big as well as little.’
Source: The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, W.Y.Evans-Wentz, London and New York; H. Froude, 1911
Fairy Tales on your iPhone
You can now enjoy fifty six of the original magcial tales written by brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm on your iPhone. The application displays them together with the illustrations by Walter Crane that appeared in the original 1886 edition. So now you can read them to your children or read them to yourself and keep that inner child alive.
The Artist Grimoire of Celtic Artist Brenda D. Baker
Here’s an artist’s blog well worth a visit, The Artist Grimoire of Celtic Artist Brenda D. Baker.
I’m loathe to pontificate about art as I believe it speaks for itself and it can have the same or different messages to each individual, so pay the site a visit and see for yourself. The Celtic and Faerie influences are self evident and very pleasing on the eye. Power to your brush, Brenda.
