Harry Potter: A Fairy Story, Part 1

Jim Kay illustration for the Harry Potter illustrated editions. Copyright Bloomsbury.

The Harry Potter saga is one of the most popular, engaging, and compelling fairy tales of all time—and yes, the Potter saga is a fairy tale. According to Webster's Dictionary, a fairy tale is “a story involving fantastic forces and beings (as fairies, wizards, and goblins) – called also fairy story.” Harry Potter's wizarding world is Faerie.

Faerie is the magical realm where faeries live. This is J.K. Rowling's wizarding world. Faerie exists parallel to the mundane (muggle) world, on a different plane of existence. All magical beings are fairies (also known as fae). It could even be argued that witches and wizards are fae because they are magical beings who mostly live in the wizarding world (Faerie).

It is said that the fae and humans once lived side by side but that at some point a veil separated the magical from the mundane world. In the Potter world wizards hid their world from the muggle world and created laws to prevent the exposure of magic.

There are places where the veil is said to be thinner and people may enter Faerie or see fae. In the Potter books The Leaky Cauldron, the entrance to Diagon Alley, the entrance to Platform 9 ¾, and the Knight Bus are such places, where people cross the veil into the wizarding world.

Harry passes through the veil between the mundane world and Faerie throughout his life. After his family is attacked by Voldemort, he is taken from the wizarding world into the muggle world—rather like a changeling in reverse.

In the wizarding world Harry encounters all manner of fairy. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Hagrid is half-giant. He is the first fae that Harry encounters, and he serves as Harry's guide into the wizarding world. The first place Harry and Hagrid visit in Diagon Alley is Gringotts, which is owned and staffed by goblins. At Hogwarts, Hagrid introduces Harry to unicorns and to the centaur Firenze. He also shows Harry the baby dragon Norbert. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the house elf Dobby appears in Harry's room and follows him throughout his second year at Hogwarts. The hippogriff Buckbeak plays a major role in Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban, and merfolk and generic fairies appear in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Please come back for part 2 of "Harry Potter: A Fairy Story."

Harry Potter Birthday Weekend this Friday on Freeform

Hagrid presents Harry with a cake for his 11th birthday. Copyright Warner Bros.

Fans of everybody’s favorite fairy story all know that Harry Potter’s birthday falls on July 31. This week, basic cable TV network Freeform will celebrate with a “Harry Potter Birthday Weekend” movie marathon. The special event airs July 29-31. The network will also begin airing the premiere of the documentary “Tom Felton Meets the Superfans” on the Freeform App.  Freeform has lots of ways for fans to participate in the celebration too!

Boy wizard Harry James Potter was born to Lily Potter, a witch, and James Potter, a wizard, on July 31, 1980, in Godric’s Hollow in the West Country of England. James and Lily named the wizard Sirius Black as Harry’s godfather. On Harry’s first birthday, Sirius gave him a toy flying broom as a gift. That would be the only birthday that Harry Potter celebrated with his family. Harry’s parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort on Halloween night, 1981.

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and founder and head of the Order of the Phoenix, decided to place Harry Potter with Lily’s cruel and abusive muggle sister and her husband rather than with his godfather when his parents were murdered. They never had a birthday party for him. The first birthday celebration in Harry’s memory was his eleventh birthday for which Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Grounds and Keys at Hogwarts, showed up to give Harry his welcome letter to Hogwarts and presented Harry with a birthday cake.  “Yer a wizard, Harry!” With those words, Harry Potter found out that he was a magic being. Harry Potter shares a birthday with J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, and screenwriter of the upcoming Harry Potter universe movies series “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

Here’s the schedule for Freeform’s “Harry Potter Birthday Weekend.” All air times are U.S. Eastern Time:

Fri., July 29, 2016:

3:00 p.m. - “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”

6:45 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”

Sat., July 30, 2016:

7 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”

10:45 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”

3:15 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”

6:30 p.m. – “Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire”

10:15 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Sun., July 31, 2016:

7 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”

10 a.m. – “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”

1:30 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

5 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”

8:45 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2”

Mon., August 1, 2016:

1:30 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”

5 p.m. – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2”

Freeform won’t be airing “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” during the “Harry Potter Birthday Weekend” because of TV broadcast rights. Fans can celebrate along with Freeform their official Twitter account by adding #HappyBirthdayHarryPotter to all of their tweets. Freeform will also offer polls on Wishbone and animated social shareables. Potter Fans can also keep up to date by checking out Freeform’s official Facebook page.

The Huldufolk: The hidden people of Iceland

Francisco Diez Photography, Wikimedia Commons attribution license

Iceland is a magical place full of mystery and beauty. Though thought of as a land of ice, snow, and frost, Iceland is lush and green in the summer. Iceland is known for its volcanoes, geysers, clear clean streams, mountains, waterfalls, frozen rivers, glaciers, and the Aurora Borealis. It’s also famous for belief in the huldufólk, or hidden folk. In fact, Icelander’s common belief in the huldufólk has gotten Iceland into the U.S. news. In October of 2013, The Atlantic magazine featured an article titled “Why So Many Icelanders Still Believe in Invisible Elves” by Ryan Jacobs, and CNN even aired a story about Iceland’s Elf School. These are just a couple of examples in a long line of articles and TV news features about Iceland’s Huldufólk.

Huldufólk are elves, trolls, and other types of fairies that reside in Iceland. Unlike here in the U.S., many people in Iceland reportedly either believe in fairies or don’t deny their existence. Whenever a story about Iceland’s huldufólk comes out, it’s stated that polls of Icelanders find that anywhere from 54% to over 80% of the people do not deny that there may be fairies in Iceland. To be fair, though, the government of Iceland, and many Icelanders are embarrassed by their country’s reputation for belief in the Huldufolk. I tried to contact Iceland’s department of tourism, and the Icelandic embassy in the U.S. for comment but got no reply.

Still, it’s not unheard of for government bodies to delay building projects in order for huldufólk experts to make certain that there are no fairies living in a site where construction is planned. The article in The Atlantic talked about a recent case where a new road project outside Reykjavík was delayed, in part, because of concerns that the area is inhabited by elves. There are reports of accidents happening when people try to move rocks or boulders inhabited by the huldufólk. Heavy machinery breaks, even illness befalls those involved.

The most familiar huldufólk are elves, who are said to look just like humans. The elves are said to range in height from 1 to 9 feet tall, and dress in old fashioned clothing. It’s said that people who are clairvoyant can see and communicate with elves. Many people report encounters with elves. Some say that they have been approached for help in delivering babies for elven women. A few people even claim to have had romantic encounters with elves.

In 2006, the feature documentary “Huldufólk 102” was released and got the world talking about Iceland and the fairies. The film by writer/director Nisha Inalsingh was an official selection at eight major film festivals including Raindance, Athens, Toronto, and Australia. Please click here to view the trailer.

Visitors to Iceland can take “Hidden World Walks” that are conducted by tour operators that are authorized by the Icelandic Tourism Board. While in Iceland visitors can also attend Elf School. For over twenty years the Elf School has been teaching students all about fairies such as elves, mountain spirits, trolls, gnomes, dwarves, and more.

For more about Iceland’s folklore read “Icelandic Folktales & Legends” by Jacqueline Simpson.

 

Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Tales: Throwback book review

Cover art by Brian Froud, Abrams Books, 2014

I think that everyone who loves fairies knows and loves the fairy art of Brian Froud. The English illustrator became world famous with the publication of the 1979 art book “Faeries” which was co-authored by Alan Lee. In 2014, I reviewed “Brian Froud’s Faerie’s Tales.” Here’s my review.  

“Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Tales” by renowned fairy artist Brian Froud  was published by Abrams. This beautiful coffee table book was authored by Brian Froud along with his wife Wendy, who became famous when she created Yoda for “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” The book includes fairy art by Brian Froud and fairy dolls created by Wendy Froud.

There is an aged tree that stands guard between the human world and Fairy land. The fairies call it the Parliament Oak. Brian and Wendy Froud, referred to by the fairies as “the Two,” invited the fairies to come and have their portraits painted by “the portrait painter to the fairies.” The fairies not only obliged, but were very intent on sharing their stories with the humans.

The king and queen of the fairies appoint a “mischief maker” fairy called Finn to coordinate this gathering of fairies at the Parliament oak. Because the fairies are such ancient beings, many of them have forgotten their stories. Finn gets the idea to employ a family of “Dusters,” fairies who dust long forgotten memories to reveal them.  The Dusters gather fairy stories from humans, and bring them back to help the fairies remember, and tell the stories from their points of view.

As each fairy sits for their portrait, they tell their tale. Many of these stories are quite dark, yet still enchanting. The fairy stories are interspersed within the over-arching story of Finn and the Dusters. Finn, being a mischief maker can’t help himself, and sets out to make a bit of fun by having his uncle Hellebore, a trickster, bring his collection of “lost” fairy artifacts to the fairy gathering and lay them out for their owners to claim. In the mayhem, the young dusters, Ela and Epi sneak away for an adventure, and get trapped inside a human mind. Their parents, Finn and Hellebore must find and rescue them before they are trapped forever.

Along the way, the fairies’ tales are shared along with haunting paintings of them by Brian Froud, and charming fairy figures by Wendy Froud. The sheer number of fairy paintings by Brian Froud for this book is astounding. Some of them are full page portraits, others are smaller, several appearing on a single page. They are entrancing, mysterious, and mystical.

Verdict: Buy it. “Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Tales” is a must-have for lovers of fairy stories and fairy art. The book is printed on nice, heavy coated stock, and is of superior quality. This book is made to last, and will need to because everyone who sees it will be drawn, as if by magic, to pick it up and take a journey into Faerie. The suggested retail price is only $35.00, but Amazon.com always offers a great discount.

Parts of this article originally appeared in my National Fairies Examiner column.

Fairies 101: The Will O' the Wisp

"Wil-o-the-Wisp" by Hermann Hendrich (1854-1931)

Halloo my dearies! Today's post is the second in what will be an ongoing series of articles appearing now and again called "Fairies 101." These articles will tell the story of various kinds of fairy folk. I hope you enjoy.

The fairy known as the Will o' the Wisp is one of the most enigmatic of the fairy folk. It manifests as a dim light appearing near the ground at twilight, about the hour of sunset. It appears to lead people (often travelers) toward a destination, moving with them when they walk and stopping when they halt.

The Will o' the Wisp is unpredictable and can lead people astray--but, according to other stories, it can also lead travelers to fortune or to their fate. The Will o' the Wisp is known throughout Europe by a variety of names, including Herwisch and Irrwisch in Germany, Ellylldan and Pwca in Wales, lyktgubbe in Sweden, teine biorach in Ireland, and Kitty-Candlestick, Hobby-Lantern, ignis fatuus, Jenny-Burnt-Tale, Jack-o'-Lantern, and many other names in England.

According to the folklore scholar Katharine Briggs, in her Encyclopedia of Fairies, the Will o' the Wisp is primarily a trickster that delights in leading travelers at night into dangerous ground, such as bogs or marshes. In the stories she cites, the Will o' the Wisp was once a man who was rejected by both Heaven and Hell, and so had to roam the earth forever with only a dim light to guide him and keep him warm. When the Will o' the Wisp appears in a graveyard it is believed to predict a death. Briggs points out, though, that Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, could act as the Will o' the Wisp when he chose, specifically in order to trick and mislead travelers.

Cassandra Eason, in A Complete Guide to Faeries & Magical Beings, and Edain McCoy, in A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk, have a different understanding of the Will o' the Wisp. They say that these fairies can help humans as well as hurt them, as the Will o' the Wisp does in Disney's movie Brave. McCoy and Eason both suggest that the Jack-o'-Lantern, so much in evidence at Hallowe'en, is based on the Will o' the Wisp's ability to protect against the evil spirits that mislead travelers.

Scientists have long claimed that the Will o' the Wisp phenomenon is caused by the igniting of swamp gas. According to the swamp gas theory, gases such as methane and phosphene, which are produced by rotting marshland vegetation, spontaneously combust, creating a flame. According to Eason, “[R]esearch undertaken in 1980 by Dr. Alan Mills of Leicester University's Department of Geology was unable to reproduce … a will o' the wisp type flame... Nor could the researcher discover any natural source of ignition.” It has also been pointed out that many sightings of the Will o' the Wisp are not in or around marshlands. This theory also fails to explain the interactive nature of this fairy, or the reports of it soaring and swooping, or moving against the wind.

There are many different variations of the Will o' the Wisp tale. For more on the Will o' the Wisp check the above books as well as the online folklore collection Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts of The University of Pittsburgh. 

Be on the lookout if you're even out at night in a lonely place. The Will o' the Wisp might appear either to help or hinder your journey.

 Parts of this post first appeared as a National Fairies Examiner article.

Fairies 101

"The Meeting of Oberon and Titania" by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939).

Halloo my dearies! I was trying to figure out how to begin our little Fairyland journey on The Fairy Blog, and I decided to begin at the beginning. What is a fairy? A fairy is a resident of Faerie (a.k.a. Fairyland), a being of light, a nature spirit, or flower deva. In short, they are a mystery to us.

Fairies are magical beings that are a part of folklore around the world. They are familiar to us through popular culture, literature, folklore, and mythology. Fairies turn up in stories and tales ranging from Hindu writings to ancient epics to Shakespeare to Peter Pan to Harry Potter.

Typically people think of fairies as tiny human looking beings with wings, but there are many types of magical beings that come under the category of fairies, or fae. According to folklorist Katherine Briggs, “The fairies … are of all kinds. There are good and bad.... There are the big and the little, the beautiful and the ugly, the trooping fairies and the solitary fairies.” Some familiar types include:

Brownie: A type of hobgoblin that helps around the home as long as its rules are followed and it is not annoyed. If angered it can become a boggart and cause great mischief.

Dwarf:  An earth spirit often living in the mountains. Wise beings usually associated with handworks such as mining, crafts, and smithing.

Elf: Alternately depicted as diminutive or human sized, sometimes with pointed ears. Often described as being very beautiful.

Gnome: A small earth elemental known for guarding homes and mines, and for helping in the garden.

Goblin: A small but physically strong fairy, typically malicious. A hobgoblin is, in contrast, a friendly being.

Leprechaun: A small fairy associated with luck, shoe-making, and treasure or gold.

Pixie: A mischievous, but generally good-natured, being. There are several types of pixies, some very small, others of human size, and some like little old men.

Sprite: An elemental fairy, associated with water, fire, or air. Sprites are sometimes described as tiny, winged beings, or nature spirits.

Fairies may fit into more than one category; many have the power to shape-shift. They can be dangerous or helpful to humans. Fairies usually remain invisible, but folklore says that they can be seen by people with second sight or by ordinary people under special circumstances. Fairies live on the other side of the veil between the magical and mundane worlds and can be seen in places where the veil is thinnest and at certain times of year when the veil becomes thinner.That barely touches the tip of the iceberg as far as fairies go, but we'll stop here for today. Fairy blessings to you all!

 Parts of this post originally appeared in Nationally Fairies Examiner article.

Welcome to my new fairy blog!!

Halloo my dearies! I've just started working on The Fairy Blog. I have a lot to learn about how to set things up and how to add images. Please be patient with me while I learn. For several years I wrote a national column about fairies for online news source Examiner.com. In 2011, I started a Facebook fan page as a place to share my fairy articles, and as a way to interact with my followers. I called it "The Fairy Page." 

On The Fairy Page I share lots of beautiful fairy art and illustrations along with poems, musings, quotes, and more. I've made so many fairytastic friends there, and we have such fun on our little visits to Fairyland. Facebook is a wonderful place to interact with friends, but it is limiting because posts have to be short as compared to the articles I was able to write on Examiner, so the two platforms worked well together. I published articles on Examiner, and shared them on The Fairy Page.

Sadly, Examiner has decided to cease operations. That poses two problems for me. First, it puts an end to the little income I was able to earn on Examiner, and I really need that income. Second, it takes away my ability to write the fairy articles that I so love to write and share. I had long been planning on starting a fairy blog, and this situation has given me the kick in the pants I needed to go ahead and do it.

I'm going to try to make a little income by using Google AdSense, and by trying to figure out how to put in an Amazon.com button. I have a lot of research to do about how all that works. I hope you all don't mind if I have a few ads here. It will be far less as compared to the obnoxious ads that Examiner filled my column with, not to mention those evil pop-up adds.

Thank you for joining me on my journey. Fairy blessings to you all!
-Kala