Elizabeth Andrews's Blog, page 23

Ivy Faerie: available as cards or prints, ide...

   Ivy Faerie: available as cards or prints, ideal for the festive season!www.magic-myth-legend.co.uk
Apart from being one of the plants brought in for the Christmas decorations the ivy has some interesting folklore surrounding it.This is taken from my book Faerie Flora;"This plant brings good luck, fun and happiness, and growing some over the outside wall of your house will deter misfortune.If you have a house plant of ivy and it dies this might signify that financial problems may be looming.Ivy is the symbol of fidelity and it used to be customary to hand a wreath of ivy leaves to newly weds. The bridesmaids would also carry some mixed in with their bouquets as it was believed to aid fertility and bring good luck. Wands entwined with ivy are still used in nature fertility rites and in spells for love magic. For a woman to dream of her future husband she must collect some leaves and recite the following:Ivy Ivy I love youIn my bosom I put you The first young man who speaks to meMy future husband he shall be"
We decorate our houses with greenery at Christmas as did our Roman and Teutonic predecessors as part of their winter festivals.In some areas it is believed to unlucky to bring Holly and Ivy in before Christmas Eve and all the boughs must be taken down before Twelfth Night.Faeries and goblins come in with the greenery to shelter against the winter cold; in return for this they would behave and cause no mischief. This is why the boughs must be removed otherwise the more malicious kinds of faeries will be encouraged to stay.

The festive season is fast approaching

Christmas seems to be getting earlier every year, I saw Christmas cards etc for sale in our local supermarket as early as September this year. The trouble with this, it is such a big build up by the time Christmas Day has arrived everybody just wants it over! Just mention 'Christmas' and everybody groans!This isn't how it should be, we seem to have forgotten that it is a season of joy not just for buying socks and dodgy jumpers.So I am going to waffle on about old traditions associated with the festive season for the next few weeks to try and get myself in the mood, even seeing the Cocacola ad didn't help!Well, I haven't made my Christmas cake or pud yet and November is the traditional time for this, apparently.It was always a tradition in our house to stir the mix for the cake and have a wish, this is usually done with the pudding mix tho. The traditional threepennybit, the ring, thimble and other charms put in to the puddings are auguries of the future; the thimble for the predestined old maid, the ring for those who are to be married within the year and so on. Bearing a flaming pudding into the dining room harks back to the old fire festival of Yule. This festival sprang from the Scandinavian Yule, from which many of our older Christmas customs come from, this was a sun festival when the Yule log was lit once again.And the mince pies are supposed to remind us of the spices brought by the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem. To eat twelve mince pies between Christmas and Twelfth Night ensures twelve happy months in the coming year. The amount of mince pies consumed over Christmas in our house will probably ensure a decade, at least, of good fortune!

mermaids monsters and other fishy tails..

Well, I am six months into my new illustrated book about Mermaids; what a fascinating subject!There are so many subdivisions of mermaids not counting all the water spirits, water monsters, bog spirits, selkies, noks nacks, hoopies etc.I have to include all of these of course as they are so much a part of the folklore of the country, I think it is only right that I try and cover as many of the watery folk as possible.Take the Tiddy Mun for example; has anybody outside of Cambridgeshire heard of this one I wonder?He is a bog spirit that inhabits the fenland of east anglia and controls the flood waters of the area. He was greatly angered when the Dutch came over to assist with the draining of the fens and brought down a plague on the cattle and the children of the area. He was only appeased when the people apologized and gave offerings of water and beer to him.So any suggestions on little known watery beasties will be greatly appreciated!

Happy Halloween!

The Night of the Dead when the ghosts of all our departed revisit the earth. And a time when all the witches and evil spirits are abroad.Light bonfires on hilltops to ward off evil spirits and bang pots and pans loudly all around the village to scare away evil spirits.
Hey how for Hallow E'enA' the witches tae be seenSome in black and some in greenHey how for Hallow E'en
As you can see this is a bit late.... but family commitments made it impossible for me to finish so ho hum I will finish now and go on to All Souls Day or Soulmass, 2nd Nov.
This is the day when the dead are especially prayed for
Tindle bonfires burn to light souls out of purgatory, in Lancashire huge fire were built on the hills all around the horizon on Halloween and the next day burning faggots carried around the fields. Blazing masses of straw were carried to high ground and thrown into the air. While the burning embers fell all present would knelt and prayed for their departed relatives and friends. The name Purgatory Field still clings to some of the places where this rite was held.
Soul cakes are given to visitors to the house, a big batch would have been made for this purpose. The gift of cakes was originally intended for the souls in Purgatory who needed human help because they could no longer help themselves. In the early 1900's it used to be the soulers used to adults but it became more common for the children to do the honours.
In Cheshire and Shropshire  the children would go from house to house singing the traditional song;
Soul! Soul! for a soul cake!
I pray you, good missis, a soul cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry,
Or any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for them that made us all.
If no soul cakes are forthcoming sweets and coins can be given instead.

Music for Halloween...

This story is from the Shetland IslandsA fiddler from the village of Yell was carried off by Trows to perform for their Halloween celebrations. After playing for what seemed to him the whole night he was allowed to depart and immediately proceeded homewards. When he came to his house in the village he saw with surprise that the roof had collapsed and that everything was in a bad state of disrepair. He banged on the door of his neighbours but complete strangers answered his knock. They knew nothing of the situation and did not know the man, telling him that the house had been in that state for many years. He sought out the oldest inhabitant of the village but even he, though but being of great age, knew of nobody ever staying in the house. But however did remember hearing a tale to the effect that at one time the owner of the house had mysteriously disappeared. This had happened before he was born and it was commonly supposed that the hill folk had taken him.The poor fiddler was completely devastated and had nowhere to go so the old man offered him a bed for the night. The following day which was Sacrament Sunday they both went to church. The fiddler asked to be permitted to communicate. This request was granted but no sooner did he touch the' elements' bread and wine of the Eucharist than the fiddler crumbled into dust.