The FAERY Month of May

Why would a mortal month be strongly associated with timeless beings?

And does that make May a time to celebrate – or to beware?

Some things just go together like sun and fun, peanut butter and jelly, and Watson and Holmes. One pairing that's much, much older is that of faeries and May.

The ancient Celts of the British Isles and much of Europe celebrated Beltane as a spring festival of renewal, fertility, planting and growth. Many people today still observe Beltane.  Even more celebrate May Day (May 1^st). Just as the spirits of the dead and other supernatural beings are associated with the waning of the light at Samhain or Halloween, the veil between worlds is also believed to be thin during this time of growth and new life. And the creatures to be most afraid of?

Faeries.

While many May rituals were simply happy celebrations, just as many were intended for protection. It’s no coincidence that a portion of the Beltane feast was given as an offering to the fae. Associated with nature spirits, they were considered to be one of the main threats to the success of the growing season and the fruitfulness of both livestock and humans. Faeries were easily offended and quick to anger. Unless appeased, they might cause a crop to wilt or cows to stop producing milk. (Mind you, they might do so anyway out of mischief or sheer spite!)

Pleasant weather often accompanies May but sleeping in the open air was considered dangerous because the faeries were thought to be at their most powerful during this month. Worse, both male and female fae were actively on the prowl for attractive mortals to carry off to their otherworldly realms! There, the captives would become lovers, servants, nursemaids … or simply toys. If the easily-bored fae tired of you, you might eventually be freed. But since time moves differently there, a mere day could be years long and you would not return to the world you knew.

Meeting a faery in broad daylight in May was also perilous. Even the most benign of fae beings could be tricky. Any conversation had to carefully negotiated so you wouldn’t accidentally agree to a bad bargain or be fooled into making a promise you couldn’t fulfill. Ordinary words that humans take for granted could be dangerous. A simple “thank you” was the height of insult!

Small wonder that people sought to protect themselves, their households, and their farms from these powerful and capricious immortals.

Since we're only halfway through this perilous month, I've included the following tips from one of my past posts:

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE FAE

Garlands made of yellow flowers such as marsh marigolds and primroses were hung over the barn doors to protect the horses from being ridden to exhaustion by faeries in the night. The flowers were also spread over windowsills and hung above the door-posts of the house for safety. Your best bet, however, was a plant called St. John's Wort. Wearing it was said to provide strong protection from faery magic.

Faeries could vanish at will and remain invisible to mortal eyes for as long as they pleased. Carrying a four-leafed clover would allow you to see and thus avoid them. A Celtic tradition was to sew several of the clovers into a tiny bag to be worn around the neck. You could discern the faeries once for each clover in the bag.

Red berries were believed to keep faeries at bay, especially if they were from rowan trees, mountain ash or holly. So did red verbena (a flower). Daisies were often tucked into children’s pockets or woven into fanciful chains to wear around their necks to prevent them from being taken away by the faeries. And if you were walking through the woods, it was best to carry a walking stick or staff made of ash or rowan wood.

Traditionally, yeast-risen bread provided protection from the Fae. Carrying bread with you, even just a crust, had a two-fold effect. It would repel some faeries. Other faeries would accept it as an offering and leave you alone.

My Welsh gramma taught me the old tradition of leaving a saucer of milk and a slice of bread or some bread crusts on the back porch for the faeries, so they wouldn’t play pranks on the family, ruin the garden, or trouble the livestock.

Salt is associated with purity, and spreading salt across the threshold and along the windowsills has often been used to keep faeries, demons, and spirits out of houses. If you had to carry food to the farmhands in the fields or tote your lunch to school, sprinkling it with salt was said to keep the faeries from taking it – or from extracting the nourishment from it unseen!

Even humble oatmeal was believed to be a faery repellent. You could carry a handful of dry oatmeal in your pocket or sprinkle it on your clothes.

But the very best protection against faeries? Iron. In any form or shape, legend has it that the metal is like kryptonite to the fae. If you kept an iron nail in your pocket, you couldn’t be carried away by them. Sometimes iron nails were sewn into the hems of children’s clothing for that very reason. A pair of iron shears hung on the wall near a baby’s bed was said to prevent the child from being swapped for a sickly faery baby. Horseshoes were nailed over doorposts, not for “luck” as we sometimes do today, but to repel the fae. Some traditions call for the horseshoe to be placed on its side like the letter “C”, resembling the crescent moon.

Enjoy the rest of the merry month of May – and don't forget to watch out for faeries!

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Faeries + Fantasy + Romance
= The Grim Series

Available in paperback, Kindle ebook, audiobook and Audible See ALL Dani Harper novels on her Amazon Author Page or go to her website at http://www.daniharper.com

Shamrocks and Clovers - Are you feeling lucky?

When I was a kid, I used to hunt for four-leafed clovers in the belief that they brought good luck. I didn’t know then that one was only considered lucky if you found it by accident – the clover was useless if you looked for it on purpose! No wonder I didn’t get the pony I was hoping for….

The ancient Celts of Wales carried sprigs of clover as a charm against evil spirits, particularly faeries. The clover might be tucked in one’s hat. Or multiple clovers might be sewn into a tiny bag and hung around the neck. This would enable the wearer to see through faery glamor – but it would only work once for each clover that was in the bag.

The faeries couldn't hide from you if you were
carrying a four-leaf clover.Photo licensed from Bigstock.com

Druids esteemed the four-leafed clover as a source of protection, because holding one would allow you to see not just faeries, but many other supernatural creatures. A salve was sometimes made of four-leafed clovers and applied to the “third eye” area of the forehead, to bring out psychic abilities. And in the Middle Ages, a four-leafed clover worn inside your shoe was believed to lead you to either love or treasure! (If you put one in each shoe, did you find both?)

Both shamrocks and four-leafed clovers come from the 
same plant: Common White Clover (Trifolium Repens).
Photo licensed from Bigstock.com

The four-leafed clover is a symbol of good luck in many countries, but is most often associated with Ireland. The Irish claim that they have more of them growing there than anywhere else in the world. Maybe they do, since BOTH traditional Irish shamrocks and four-leafed clovers come from the very same plant:  Common White Clover, also known as Dutch Clover (Trifolium Repens). That’s right, it’s the same stuff that sometimes takes over the lawn on this side of the Atlantic. Irish botanist Caleb Threlkeld verified this when he wrote about Trifolium Repens in his 1727 book about local flora: “This plant is worn by the people in their hats upon the seventeenth day of March yearly.”

True, there are some pretty potted plants sold around March 17^th that claim to be official shamrocks, but they’re usually oxalis or wood sorrel. The leaves occur in a variety of colors, but apparently aren't brimming with good fortune. (I enjoy them anyway.)

The shamrock and the four-leafed clover are both
commonly associated with Ireland.
Photo: Public Domain

The Irish word for shamrock is seamróg, referring to the trefoil leaf of the clover plant. St. Patrick allegedly made it famous by taking an ordinary three-leafed clover and using it as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This is an excellent example of Christianity adopting – and changing – the symbols of ancient pagan faiths. The three leaves had previously been known as the three phases of the Goddess – Maiden, Mother and Crone!

So why are there four-leafed clovers if clover naturally has three leaves? Long thought to be a simple plant mutation, scientists have now found a recessive gene for the anomaly. In fact, there are no known limits as to how many leaves a clover can have. According to Guinness, the world record for the most leaves on a clover stem has been held by Shigeo Obara of Japan since 2002 when he discovered a clover with 18 leaves. He bested his record a few years later with a 21-leafed clover (see photo on this site - http://yeinjee.com/21-leafs-clover/). And in 2009, just before Obara died, he was credited with finding a clover with no less than 56 leaves!!!

Rabbits LOVE clover.
I wonder how many four leaf clovers
this little guy has eaten?
Photo licensed from Bigstock.com

In Ireland and a few other places, a clover bearing more than four leaves is said to bring BAD luck. In other countries, however, there are different meanings according to leaf number:

•      Two-leafed clover = love
•      Four-leafed clover = luck 
•      Five-leafed clover = attracts wealth
•      Six-leafed clover = fame
•      Seven-leafed clover = long life

So just how rare are clovers with more than the standard three leaves? Estimates place them at about one in 10,000 when naturally grown. Because the four-leafed clover is such a well-known symbol of good fortune, an entire industry has sprung up around them. You can buy genuine four-leafed clovers pressed between glass, embedded in resin, made into jewelry etc. But to get enough of them, some horticulturalists have refined the clover plant using the newly-discovered genes. In their specialized plots, four-leafed clovers occur about once in every 41 plants!

However, the luckiest man in the world just might be Edward Martin Sr. of Alaska. Guinness certified Martin's collection of 111,060 four-leaf clovers in 2007, and it's reported he has well over 160,000 now! 

(See how all those clovers were counted in this article in the Peninsula Clarion News - http://peninsulaclarion.com/stories/061307/news_0613new003.shtml#.WMcP2zsrI2w )

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I grew up on Celtic faery stories. Not the ones where faeries are tiny beings with delicate wings, and as sweet-natured as they are pretty. Nope, I teethed on the ones where faeries come in every shape and size. Dark or light, terrifying or beautiful, sensual or cold, indifferent or cruel ... all are dangerous!

My Grim Series is based on one of my favorite fae legends (with thanks to my Welsh grandmother). The Grim is also known as the Black Dog, and his role is to act as a herald of death and misfortune. But how did he get a job like that? And what if he doesn't want it?

Check Amazon for STORM WARRIOR, STORM BOUND, and STORM WARNED

Watch for the upcoming release of STORM CROSSED, Book 4 of the Grim Series!