Facts about Fairies

Fairies were one such designation, representative of the ethereal and changeable.

Following in the footsteps of the Cottingley fairies and utilizing modern digital technology, fantasy photographers like artist J. Corsentino created a new sub-genre of "fairy photography.

Not as popular as the other types, but still significant, is the belief that fairies represent elemental forces.

Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature.

Edmund Spenser featured fairies in The Faerie Queen.

Fairies have been numerously illustrated in books of fairy tales and sometimes as standalone works of art and sculpture.

A number of these fairies are from adaptations of traditional tales.

Small, angelic beings that live in forests, posses magical abilities and wings, these types of fairies are often associated with nymphs.

Fairies riding domestic animals, such as cows, could cause paralysis or mysterious illnesses.

Changelings are often associated with goblins, and some believe that goblins are in fact scared, disfigured fairies that have fallen from grace.

Consumption (tuberculosis) was sometimes blamed on the fairies forcing young men and women to dance at revels every night, causing them to waste away from lack of rest.

Fairies appeared in medieval romances as one of the beings that a knight errant might encounter.

Fairies in literature took on new life with Romanticism.

Some contributed fairies to a folkloric belief concerning the dead.

Wings, while common in Victorian artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds.

Many beings who are described as deities in older tales are described as "fairies" in more recent writings.

The Cottingley fairies series of photographs were taken by two girls who originally claimed that they showed actual fairies but later admitted they were fakes, except possibly the fifth photo.

Fairies are often depicted in books, stories, and movies.

The question as to the essential nature of fairies has been the topic of myths, stories, and scholarly papers for a very long time.

Interest in fairy themed art enjoyed a brief renaissance following the publication of the Cottingley fairies photographs in 1917, a number of artists turned to painting fairy themes.

Fairies are generally portrayed as humanoid in appearance and as having supernatural abilities such as the ability to fly, cast spells, and to influence or foresee the future.

The ethereal spirit is the most common depiction of fairies in contemporary times.

Just as there are numerous variations in the origin of the creature, so to are there many variations on what fairies are.

Certain locations, known to be haunts of fairies, are to be avoided.

One theory is that the fairies were originally worshiped as gods, but with the coming of Christianity, they lived on, in a dwindled state of power, in folk belief.

Other Victorian artists who depicted fairies include John Atkinson Grimshaw, Joseph Noel Paton, John Anster Fitzgerald, and Daniel Maclise.

Perhaps some of the most well-known fairies were popularized by Walt Disney, including Tinkerbell, from the Peter Pan stories by J.M.

Writers such as Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg were inspired by folklore which featured fairies, such as the Border ballads.

From a cultural standpoint, there are many origins for fairies.

Below is a list of the most basic and popular variations of fairies.

Fairies have often been noted for their mischief and malice.

Paths that the fairies travel are also wise to avoid.

Dealing with fairies was in some cases considered a form of witchcraft and was punished as such.