THe fairies of Irish Folklore

Now that you have a brief understanding of more traditional and more modern understandings of fairies, let us look at the context of fairies in Irish Folklore. These beliefs are mostly performative (oral stories and visual acts). These beliefs are transmitted at micro levels between friends and close acquaintances. The context of fairies is often found at the periphery of society, the beliefs are passed down from generation to generation which allow for a continuing level of belief. However, there is another side to this. These beliefs are sometimes weaponized against the believer such that tricksters may pull a prank that would be associated with a fairy on someone who is a known believer. Other people will performativity show their disbelief such as cutting down a fairy tree to show that nothing will happen. We can then understand the stories of fairies as analogous to cultural legends. They are passed from person to person, they are often informal. Belief in the being is not a prerequisite for participation in the folklore. In fact, it seems that as many people who participate are non-believers, sceptics, or only lightly acquainted with the idea of fairies. Thus, the context of Fairies is Irish folklore can be understood as an ingrained cultural understanding that is shared belief or no belief among those who inhabit the emerald isle.

 

Part of what makes Irish Fairies as interesting as folklore is that the practice of their folklore does not differentiate between believers and non-believers. There are the tricksters who turn the belief of others against themselves and there are those who per-formatively show their disbelief such as the man who cuts down the fairy tree to prove that nothing will happen if he does so. These disbelievers or non-believers would answer the question of if they believe in fairies quite simply, no. However, they take part in the folklore that surrounds fairies as surely as do true believers. Even though belief in fairies in Ireland is waning, rationalism gives rise to disbelief in anything magical or anything outside of the realm of normalcy, there is still a very strong folklore tradition around Irish fairies. Take a quick perusal of the web results and you will find a plethora of websites devoted to Irish fairies and their lore (fairy trees, fairy rings, stories), to stories about Fairies, or even for novelty fairy tree lights! The folklore surrounding Irish Fairies is quite rich and quite strong despite the evidence that shows that belief wanes.