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Fairy path

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According to folklore a fairy path (or 'passage', 'avenue', or 'pass') is a route taken by fairies usually in a straight line and between sites of traditional significance, such as fairy forts or raths (a class of circular earthwork dating from the Iron Age), "airy" (eerie) mountains and hills, thorn bushes, springs, lakes, rock outcrops, and Stone Age monuments. Ley lines and spirit paths, such as with corpse roads, have some similarities with these fairy paths. A fairy ring is also a path used by fairies, but in a circle, for dancing, as described by poet W. B. Yeats, "...the fairies dance in a place apart, Shaking their milk-white feet in a ring,..."[1] The concept is usually associated with, but not limited to, Celtic folklore, especially that of Ireland.

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The consequences of blocking fairy paths

A Fairy Ring of mushrooms

In Ireland, people who had illnesses or other misfortune, were said to live in houses that were "in the way" or in a "contrary place", obstructing a fairy path. An example is that of a family in which four children sickened and died, leaving the doctors baffled. The fifth child sickened and was near death, only to make a sudden and full recovery. The father told the doctor that he had consulted a wise woman who informed him that his new house extension blocked a fairy path between two fairy forts, whereupon he demolished it and his child became healthy again.[2]

Fairies of the meadow, by Nils Blommér

An example of this fairy path straightness is provided by an account concerning a croft (now a cattle shed) at Knockeencreen, Brosna, County Kerry. In an interview in the 1980s, the last human occupant told of the troubles his grandfather had experienced there, with his cattle periodically and inexplicably dying. The front door is exactly opposite the back door. The grandfather was informed by a passing gypsy that the dwelling stands on a fairy path running between two hills. The gypsy advised the grandfather to keep the doors slightly ajar at night to allow the fairies free passage. The advice was heeded and the problem ceased. It so happens that the building is indeed on a straight line drawn between two local hilltops, and is, moreover, at one end of a long, straight track.[3][4]

The fairies processed from Rath Ringlestown in Ireland every night and parents brought their children in before the fairies were due to pass. The path passed round several bushes which were left undisturbed by the locals. A man who cut down one bush could not get it to burn and sickened and died within a short while as a supposed consequence of his actions. The route also passed between two mud-wall houses and a man who was out at the wrong time was found dead; the fairies having taken him for getting in the way of the procession.[4] A traditional folk tale from the Southern Shore of Newfoundland, Canada, concerns a young married couple who discovered that they had built their house on a path used by the good people, and the steps that couple take to rid themselves of fairy mischief. It seems therefore that the fairy folk had emigrated together with their human counterparts or had been in Canada from time immemorial.[5]

Home-owners have knocked corners from houses because the corner blocked the fairy path,[6] and cottages have been built with the front and back doors in line, so that the owners could, in need, leave them both open and let the fairies troop through all night.[7]

It was believed that a house built on a fairy path would suffer from midnight noises or supernatural manifestations. Ill-luck in the form of sick farm animals or personal illness could be the result and one remedy was to build small fires in several places along the fairy path, using fire from the blessed fire of Saint John's Eve that was lit every year at sunset on 23 June.[8]

Detecting fairy paths and overcoming their influence

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Some builders used to use a technique to see if the planned construction was going to be on a fairy path; they would map out the floor plan in the earth and place a pile of stones at each corner and leave it overnight, if the stones were undisturbed it was safe to build, otherwise the work would not continue. There is another theme that states if one's house is on a fairy path, one must leave the doors and windows open at night, front and back, to allow fairies to pass through. Builders were also advised against using white quartz in their stonework, as it is said to be a fairy stone.[9]

Wise-women were thought to be able to advise home builders of the existence of fairy paths, however in most folk-tales they are only consulted after the event and as a result of disturbances, bad luck, etc.

A building placed on a fairy path would be demolished by the fairy folk, at least twice, often remaining standing however on the third attempt.[10]

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Underwater fairy paths

Irish fairy paths are said to also exist under water, reminiscent of causeways in marshes at sacred sites and those to crannogs and other islands. These paths, only used by the fairy folk, ran from one island to another and were paved with coral, making them and their travellers visible to fishermen in their boats above.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Skelton, Robin (1990). Earth, Air, Fire, Water. Margaret Blackwood. Arkana, Penguin Group. p. 181.
  2. ^ Bord, Janet and Colin (1976). The Secret Country. Pub. Paul Elek, London. ISBN 0-236-40048-7. p. 38.
  3. ^ Where the Leylines led
  4. ^ a b Wentz, W. Y. (1911). The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries. Reprinted. Colin Smythe (1981). ISBN 0-901072-51-6. p. 33.
  5. ^ Newfoundland Fairy Path.
  6. ^ Silver, Carole G. (1999) Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Oxford University Press. p.47 ISBN 0-19-512199-6
  7. ^ Lenihan, Eddie and Green, Carolyn Eve (2004) Meeting The Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland. pp.146–7 ISBN 1-58542-206-1
  8. ^ Bord, Janet and Colin (1976). The Secret Country. Pub. Paul Elek, London. ISBN 0-236-40048-7. pp. 26 – 27.
  9. ^ Maljonic's Fairy Paths
  10. ^ Wentz, W. Y. (1911). The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries. Reprinted. Colin Smythe (1981). ISBN 0-901072-51-6. P. 67.
  11. ^ Pennick, Nigel (1996). Celtic Sacred Landscapes. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01666-6. P. 133.
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