¶ … folklore perpetuates the customs and beliefs of the country people. Creating a vast universe of heroes and magical figures, folklore creates a sort of collective dreaming. Fairies are the most important magical figure in Celtic folklore. Known as the "good people," fairies possess intense power that is critically neutral. The demise of the "good people" can be traced to the institution of Christianity, which dismissed the folklore of the indigenous people and imposed and superimposed upon it a set of new myths and cosmologies. Yet it has been impossible to totally stamp out the meaning, significance, and symbolism of the ancient folklore and especially that which is related to the "good people." The Celtic countrymen devised ways, as many traditional cultures have, to syncretize deeper and older beliefs with the Christian ones. The relationship between the countryperson and the domain of the fairies is a complex one. The fairies possess tremendous spiritual and supernatural power, but they are to be respected more than feared. The neutral power of the fairies ensures that they are just as capable of bringing good and bad fortune, and in this way their lives parallel that of the human dimension. Their world is an overlay with the human universe. The country folk devise a set of prayers, sayings, stories, and superstitions around the "good people." God plays a role in these formulations, making the fairy folk exist on a plane between the divine and the mundane. Moreover, human beings...
The world of the "good people" is a means by which the country people feel in control of their often frustrating world, and provides a systematic set of beliefs and structures to make sense of life. The Celtic countryperson can position all aspects of his or her life into the framework of the "good people." The worldview is emotionally charged and shared among the people to create a sense of community, solidarity, and cultural continuity. Rites of passage are particularly important and potent times, during which the "good people" figure prominently. The most important of these rites of passage are birth and death, because those are the transition points between one world and another. After death, relatives and loved ones retail ties with the material world via the "good people." Elders in the community are viewed as being particularly close to the alternative worlds of the "good people" and the "other people," the realm of the dead.
Angels and Fairies The word, "angel," comes from the greek word "angelos," which means "messenger" (MSN Encarta, 2003). Angels are believed to be celestial beings that act as messengers from God; send divine messages; help mankind; and are composed of pure light and absolute love. It is also believed an angel is assigned to a human at birth and that they may stay with us throughout our lives to support us
Holes by Louis Sachar Louis Sachar makes this fantasy story seem realistic by the way he intertwines the elements of fantasy or supernatural, with the everyday things that are going on. The story opens with a description of Camp Green Lake, a very brief glimpse in to why anyone would go to a lake where there is no lake and moves to Stanley's arrival at the camp. The more or
Irish Folklore INTRODUCTION & HISTORY WARS AND HEROES FAIRIES POPULAR CHARMS, WAYS AND TRADITIONS Irish culture is centered upon the folklore and myths that have been a significant part of Irish traditions and history. When it comes to folklore and Gaelic culture, the Irish are proud of their history and often distinguish themselves from the rest of the European culture. This paper will explore traditional Irish folklore and its significance on contemporary Irish culture customs
Today my father and I did go to a funeral of an old woman. But it was not a sad day, for she was old and the death was expected. Together we passed over the ford, the in-between place where the dead and living meet, a place that is neither wet nor dry, and we held a flask from the water of a ford in our hands. Oh, although it
Dazbog is considered an evil being. This Serbian fairy-tale was penned during Christianity's early days, and there was a decidedly concentrated movement to present the old pagan deities as evil and devilish. In one Russian myth, his attributes were the sword and the cudgel, found with the 'clear-sky' war-god and 'storm-god,' respectively. His identity with the latter is also found in Polish mythology as the son of Svarog, the Slavic
"Yeats's flight into fairyland begins in his early childhood with Celtic folklore, 'the chief influence of [his] youth,' and climaxes in his early twenties with the 1888 publication of his first book" (Ben-Merre 2008). Yeats was commissioned to "gather and record the fairy and folk tales of the Irish peasantry" in what eventually became Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (Foster 76). "The collection includes descriptions of
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