Kubiando!

A word heard on many a tongue of faerie revellers across the world, the Kubiando site tells how this magical word was a gift from the Fae via a little girl with one foot in Faerieland. ‘Kubi’ relates to a House Spirit, and ‘ando’ means blessing or bliss, so quite literally a blessing from the heart (for the home is where the heart is). But Kubiando is more than a word, it is a way of living, of relating to the universe and planet Earth and being an inspiration and inspiring those around you. The Kubiando tale is now being transformed into lyrical verse so it’s message can continue to be spread around the world.

The Faeries of Pudding Pie Hill

A curious ritual is associated with an ancient burial mound known as Pudding Pie Hill, near Sowerby in Yorkshire (UK). It is believed if you run around the barrow nine times then plunge the blade of a knife into the ground, when you put your ear to the side of the mound you will be able to hear the faeries inside talking. The use of a knife is interesting – it perhaps comes from the belief faeries are repelled by iron. It would also probably come in handy should the faeries discover the illicit eavesdropper!

The Faery Maiden of Llyn Y Fan Fach

Each year on the First of August it is said a water faerie can be seen on the surface of Llyn y Fan Fach, a mountain lake in the Myddfai region of Wales.
She is perhaps the same faerie who, in the 12th Century married a local farmer named Gwyn. He tried to catch her attention by offering a gift of bread, but she refused as it was too hard. The next day she found his bread too soft. On the third day however she found the bread to her liking and accepted his offer of marriage.
Her father said he would allow his daughter to marry a mortal if young Gwyn could tell her apart from her identical twin. Gwyn has having difficulty distinguishing between the sisters, but at last one moved her foot slightly and he recognised his love.
As a wedding gift she brought from the lake many fairy cows, sheep and horses, and they all settled on Gwyn’s farm. There was one condition the faery placed upon their marriage however, that if Gwyn should strike her three times during their life together she would leave forever. But the years that followed were happy ones and the couple had three fine sons.
Then one day, Gwyn tapped his wife on the shoulder. At this she began to weep and said he had stuck the first blow. Later at a wedding she started to sob, but when Gwyn patted her shoulder to comfort her she said he had struck the second blow. From now on Gwyn took all care to do touch his wife in any way that could be considered a blow, until one day they attended a funeral. The Faery started laughing during its course and Gwyn, embarrassed, put his hand on her arm to quiet her. This was to be the final blow, and she left her broken-hearted husband and returned under the lake’s surface with her dowry of fairy animals.
The farmer never saw his wife again, although she would sometimes come to the surface to teach her eldest son the secrets of herbal medicine. He and his descendants became the famed Physicians of Myddfai. The last of the family line descended from the farmer and the lake faery died out in the 19th Century.

Blue Men of the Minch

The undersea caves in the Sound of Shiant (Scotland) were home to a particularly unfriendly group of mermen. As the name suggests, they have blue skin, and long straggled beards. The Gaelic name for the Minch is Sruth nam fear Gorma – the Channel of the Blue Men. They would swim to the surface and call up storms to wreck any ships trying to pass through. The sailors were offered one chance of survival – the ship’s Captain would be challenged to a rhyming contest with the Blue Men. If he won, he and his crew were able to sail on unharmed. If he lost the ship would be wrecked and the sailors drowned.

Faeries and Bells

‘Neither Sleep, Neither Lie, Inkberrow’s ting-tang hangs so high’

There are many references in folklore to faeries leaving an area after being disturbed by the installation of bells in churches. Traditionally, bells were used as it was thought they drove away evil spirits, so when faeries began to be demonised the association of faeries hating bells also began. Like other aspects of faerie lore however, there is contradictory instances of faeries using bells themselves. For example, the Faerie Queen in the Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer had her horses mane ‘hung with fifty silver bells and nine’. Perhaps it is only the large iron bells the Fae find unpleasant, while little ‘tinkerbells’ are perfectly acceptable.

Faerie Folks Are In Old Oaks

There is an old rhyme that runs ‘Turn your cloakes for Faerie Folks are in old Oakes’, and oak is also one of the ‘Fairy Tree Triad’ of Great Britain.
Oak is known to be ‘King of the Forest’ – a single tree can live to be incredibly ancient and grow to a tremendous girth. One hollow oak was 20 metres round at the base – ample enough in fact for it to contain an alehouse!
The Greenman is more often than not depicted wreathed in Oak leaves, and acorns with a face drawn on them are considered lucky as they contain his spirit and the seed of potential. It was believed Oakmen lived in saplings sprouted from felled Oaks. They are unpleasant creatures who take delight in offering seemingly delicious food to travellers which is actually glamoured poisonous fungi.
There are several well known ‘Fairy Oaks’, individual trees with their own stories relating to the Fae. One such is found in Flintshire (Wales) – in the 18th Century a couple left their baby under its boughs believing the child to be a changeling. The next morning however they found the baby still there, thus it couldn’t be a changeling otherwise its Faerie parents would have taken it away.

The Green Children

A curious tale from Suffolk – William of Newburgh, writing in the 12th Century record how villagers came across two children – a brother and sister – in the Wolf-Pits area (now Woolpits). Although they appeared human they both had green skin and talked to each other in an unrecognisable tongue. They were taken to a local nobles house where people tried to give then food. They cried and wailed and refused to eat anything until fresh cut beans were brought before them. They did eat the beans, although they ate them raw and at first tried to get the beans from the stalk until they were shown the proper way. After some time they were weaned onto normal food, but the boy soon sickened and died. His sister remained healthy and gradually lost her green complexion. She learned to speak English and told how they lived in ‘St Martin’s Land’, where there was no sun, only perpetual twilight. They had been tending sheep when they heard bells coming from a cave. Following the sound they passed through a tunnel for some time, until suddenly they found themselves in the open. The light and warmth from the sun made them swoon, which was when the villagers found them.
There is debate over the origins of the children. The eminent folklorist Katherine Briggs pointed out that green was the Celtic colour of death, and beans were considered food for the dead. There are also slightly more modern theories that they were aliens. It is not known if anyone tried to find St Martin’s Land.

The Luck of Edenhall

For over 200 years this famous glass remained in the possession of the Musgrave family of Edenhall, Cumbria (UK). It acquired the curious name ‘The Luck of Edenhall’ due to the story of how it came into the family:
A group of faeries were drinking and making merry at St Cuthbert’s Well in the garden of Edenhall. Some people, attracted by the curious sound, intruded on the faeries revelry. However the faeries took fright and scattered, leaving the cup behind. The last faery to leave shouted out ‘If this cup should break or fall, Farewell the Luck of Edenhall.’ The family very carefully looked after the cup over the following years until in 1926 it was loaned to the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK). There it remains, intact, to this very day. Historians believe the cup to actually be Syrian and date from the 13th century. It is possible it found it’s way to England with a knight returning from the crusades, but no one knows how it came to be at Edenhall.

The Faerie’s Colour

“Now all you young fellows take heed what I tell, In yonder greenwood a green lady doth dwell, Her hair it is green and all green is her gown, And she calleth to all, draw near, come here.”

Green has long been regarded as an unlucky colour, not only for clothes but all painted objects. In earlier centuries in Scotland green objects were called ‘blue’, because to even mention green might summon up the Fae. Even today, green remains the most unpopular colour for cars and there is a lingering belief that green should never, under any circumstances, be seen at a wedding (certainly not the brides clothes!), as it would soon lead to a death.

“Married in May, and kirked in green
Baith bride and bridegroom winna lang be seen.”

The superstition arises in part from green being the ‘Faeries Colour’, and to wear it would risk being put in their power. Countless stories tell of the Fae wearing green clothes, although red caps were also very common as were natural materials like leather, furs and leaves. The wearing of green also conjures up images of those other legendry forest dwellers, Robin Hood and his Merry Men.
Green is the colour of nature, simultaneously the dual properties of life and vitality and death and decay. Today, being ‘green’ is more closely associated with environmentalism and caring for nature, something that should win favour with the Fae.

Hawthorn, Fairy Thorn

Hawthorn is one of the ‘Faerie Tree Triad’ of Britain, along with Oak and Ash. Solitary hawthorns are considered in Britain to be faery meeting places, while in Ireland when they grow near burial mounds it is thought to be where the fae gather, as is a ring of three or more trees. One of the folk names is ‘Fairy Thorn’ – the tree is sacred to the Fae and you should never take anything from it without first asking permission. It is also particularly unwise to sit under a thorn on May Day, Midsummer or Halloween as the power of the Little Folk is at its strongest and you risk falling under their enchantment.
Hawthorns have traditionally been used as a boundary marker and has strong associations with May Day festivities. Young people would go ‘A-Maying’ and collect sprigs of flowering hawthorn to decorate their homes to welcome Spring. It was unlucky however to bring the blossoms in doors, as this would herald a death in the family. Later in the year hawthorns bear small red berries called Haws, which also have the folk name ‘Pixie-Pear’.