05/10/2025
Samhain, Fairies, and the Dead.
The period of Samhain is a time when our consciousness seems much more attuned to the Otherworld.
For some, this means the return of the ancestors and the dead, whereas for others, Samhain is a time when the decidedly non-human beings of the Otherworld are more active.
Although scholars tend to argue about this separation, (and which may be the real "reason for the season"), I tend to find the parallels much more interesting, personally.
A good example of this is a local ancient site which is reputedly a place where many people have seen both a fairy-girl, and a ghost.
As the ghost in question is also that of a young girl I am inclined to think that people are reporting the same type of encounter but from different perspectives, depending on their beliefs, and, maybe, expectations.
In Irish folklore this crossover between fairies and the dead has a very long tradition. In fact, in all of European fairy-lore, as far as I can tell, this is a subject which is very difficult to separate.
The work of anthropologists such as Carlo Ginzburg and academics such as Professor Claude Lecouteux, to name but two, demonstrate that within the minds of those who encounter these supernatural beings it is often a matter of cultural lenses as to whether the account is recorded as folklore, fairy-lore or a ghost story.
Really, as Ginzburg's book, The Night Battles, shows us, it is very often a combination of all three.
The most famous example is that of The Wild Hunt where both fairies and the dead parade through the countryside on certain nights as well as being accompanied by witches who are transported to the parade in their dreams.
In this account from the Irish folklore archives we have an example of a woman who is taken by the fairies after she has died following a transgression.
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5215809/5214400/5233675...
However, a contrasting example is this account in which a woman is taken to the fairy Otherworld in her physical form and returned days later.
https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4758474/4747124
In Ireland, we have countless tales of a person being taken by the good folk both before and after they have died on the mortal plane.
From stories of brides seen after they have been buried, to accounts of maidens who disappear into a fairy fort, it seems that a physical body can be taken to the fairy Otherworld as easily as a persons soul.
At least, that's how it is usually framed.
But what about the beings described as fairies or ghosts?
How can they interact with both human beings and the dead at the same time?
The term fairy is roughly 900 years old in all of its various spellings and associations. For some, this means that using the term fairy to describe an older supernatural-being is inaccurate, but based on what fairies themselves have said about their own concept of, and place within, time, our descriptions of them mean very little in the grand scheme of things.
(Unless they are insulting and disrespectful descriptions, of course! It's a whole other ball game in those circumstances!)
Fairies not only seem to belong to a different flow of time, they also seem to bring this power or effect to wherever they appear and whoever they appear to.
And this may give us an interesting answer to the fairy-girl or ghost I mentioned at the start of this piece.
We often hear of someone losing their way when they visit a place associated with fairies. Whether this is being pixie-led at a stone circle or stepping on a 'stray sod' in a field known to be frequented by themselves, it is as much a stepping out of time as it is a loss of one's sense of direction.
In almost every case of being pixie-led the person who becomes lost not only describes not knowing how to get back but also complete changes in the surrounding landscape itself. In many cases vast forests appear where there were none a moment earlier and there are even reports of huge mountain ranges being sighted where none could possibly exist.
Irish tales of the Banshee often contain odd details such as the Banshee referring to generations of a family who have not been born yet, as if she is seeing events in the future. Fairies themselves have a habit of foretelling, cursing and prophesy as if they are outside of the everyday bounds of time.
We can even notice this in fairy tales such as the Sleeping Beauty.
The Irish wise-woman Biddy Early was said to be able to tell the future by reading the patterns within a bottle she was given by the fairies.
The words of the fairy in the texts, The Knight of Staufenberg, as well as the Lay of Lanval describe how she can move outside the bounds of time, “Where I wish to be, I am.” and “Where I want to be, there I am too.” she tells us.
There is something powerful and ominous, almost, in the words of this being.
It seems difficult, then, to call these encounters as being that of either fairies or ghosts. If we are merely seeing an image of something outside of our own experience of time then perhaps the fairy is in fact a human being captured in the fairy realm but unable to see us in return as they are existing in another time entirely.
Or, if the fairies are able to capture the dead, and are, perhaps on some occasions, the dead themselves, then how do we distinguish at all?
A further tangent here is the tradition of burying unbaptised babies at sites associated with fairies. This is a complicated and sensitive subject and I have written about it in more detail here: https://www.facebook.com/CircleStoriesDavidHalpin/posts/920713701610640?__tn__=K-R
As those who have delved deeply into this subject will testify to, there are no simple answers here. My own view is that to make our way forward we have to grapple with all of these philosophical concepts.
While folklore is a wonderful resource, it is not going to provide answers unless we also acknowledge that fairy sightings continue today. The world-view of our ancestors was different to our own and their understanding of the beings we call fairies was shaped by the prevailing cultural paradigms and influences.
By overcoming our prejudices with respect to the term fairy we can examine ancient tales and accounts as well as contemporary examples without having to fit the experiences into one category or another.
The folklorist Andrew Lang tells us that when a person enters a stone circle time becomes meaningless. He writes that when an encounter with the other crowd occurs, "A person gains a gift of vision to see past and future events and the viewless forms of air."
Our ancestors took responsibility for the interactions which occurred at these ancient sites and ethereal connection points.
They guarded the words and rituals for a reason as the transformative power at these places was not to be taken lightly.
Perhaps, by following their example, the ongoing sighting of the fairy-girl/ ghost can be examined from a less restrictive context and open up a path closed off by current attitudes.
(C.) David Halpin.
Art credit: Devils and Witches in the Woods by Esao Andrews.
