-
How similar are Native American Little People and European fairies?
Native American Little People and European fairies are at times so similar it might be tempting to conclude they’re the same species. Nevertheless, Native American folklore is obviously not the same thing as European folklore, and stories about the Little People and the fairies arose in completely different contexts and cultures. This only makes the…
-
A note on transgender and other queer fairies
I recently came across a passage in the travel diary of Fr. Jacques Marquette (the first European missionary to travel down the Mississippi River), in which he describes how “men” who lived as women among the Illinois people of the seventeenth century occupied a spiritually elevated position in the community. Here’s the passage: As you…
-
The fairies’ departure from New England
A common theme in British and Irish fairy lore is that the Fair Folk have abandoned their former territories and withdrawn from the world of men. Folklore is full of seers who say the fairies have either gone away or no longer show themselves to mortals. This may be a result of the encroachment of…
-
When is a fairy a human?
This summer I came across a reference in the journal Northeast Folklore to the notion that sorceresses were called fairy women in Quebec French. Unfortunately, the editor didn’t give the French word, but I assume it was la fée, like the fairy godmothers in Sleeping Beauty. The editor seemed to be implying that the French…
-
My travels in search of New England fairies
By the time I’d finished researching my book New England Fairies: A History of the Little People of the Hills and Forests, I calculated that I’d driven for about 31 hours, visiting all six New England states. The map below shows the route I took. I began in Connecticut then headed to Rhode Island, Massachusetts,…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Fairies of New England: The Little People of the Hills and Forests 