Did Fairies Exist in Sussex? Does it matter now?

Did Fairies Exist in Sussex? Does it matter now?

The word ‘Fairies’ comes from the old French word ‘Faeries’. In the time when the Saxons were in Sussex the word ‘Fairies’ was pronounced and spelt ‘Pharisees’ (Parish & Hall, 1957); this is due to the old Sussex dialect.

There are a number of different classifications for fairies. When we visualise fairies we think of them as small pixie type of creatures, tiny, mystical beings with wings. We also expect them to have some form of magical powers like ‘Tinkerbell’ from the story of ‘Peter Pan’. We do not expect them to be dark as ‘Maleficent’ from ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is portrayed. As a result this is what children today suspect a fairy to look and act like. On the contrary fairies have been around a lot longer than you might first expect. One of the earliest forms of fairies can be found in the mythical beings in Greek mythology such as nymphs. There are also the Norse version of fairies which are the elves and the Valkyries. Before William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote about fairies in his play ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ fairies had been spoken about by Chaucer (2012) in ‘The Canterbury Tales’ where he talked about fairies covering Britain before the time of King Arthur in the 5^th and 6^th century. This leads on to where we believe fairies originated in Yorkshire and were called the ‘Cottingley Fairies’ (www.sussexarch.org.uk), as seen below.  

The Cottingley Fairies

Many tales of fairies seem to be cautionary tales, suggesting that fairies can be very helpful. However, if you are to get on the wrong side of fairies they can bring you misery and danger. Over the years fairies have been given different names, from ‘Puck’ or Pook’ derived from the Saxon word ‘Puca’ meaning Goblin (Simpson & Roud, 2000), who are seen as nasty mischievous fairies that do no good. ‘Dobbs’ or ‘Master Dobbs’ is the names given to a house fairy. It is said that if someone is working harder than usual people would say “Master Dobbs has been helping you” (Parish & Hall, 1957) insinuating that the individual had been given help to achieve such work. As said previously, there are a number of different names given to fairies and all suggest different types.   

Fairies fall into stories of Folklore and there are a number of such stories in Sussex, suggesting that at least the idea of fairies existed in the area. A sight in Sussex known as ‘Harrows Hill’ is considered to be one of the last places inhabited by fairies; a few other sights were known for having fairies as inhabitants (www.sussexarch.org.uk). Fairies are also known for not accepting gifts; many stories show farmers repaying fairies for their work with presents. As soon as they receive any gifts they leave abruptly and upset. The reason for this is still a mystery to us today. 

Does it matter now whether fairies exist or not? Whether you believe in fairies or not there has been a wide range of historical writings about them and what they have done in the past. To this day there are still people out there believing that fairies exist still, and who are you or I to say they do not exist.

Do fairies have a place in education? 
Educators have used well known fairy tales and applied them to ethical issues  in student counseling (Henderson, Kathryn & Malone, 2012). The case studies viewed in Henderson et al. (2012) addressed topics such as the threat and harm to others, confidentiality, working with minors and a number of others. The fairy tales demonstrate ethical dilemmas that students can take away. 

References

Chaucer, G. (2012). The Canterbury Tales. london: The Floating Press. 239.

Henderson, Kathryn L. & Malone, S.L. (2012). Ethical Fairy Tales: Using Fairy Tales as Illustrative Ethical Dilemmas With Counseling Students. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health. 7, 65-82.

Joe, J. (2004). Origin of the Faeries. Available: http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html. Last accessed 7th October 2014.

Parish, W.D. & Hall, H. (1957). A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect. Lewes: Farncombe & Co. 31.

Simpson, J. & Roud, S. (2000). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 286.

Staveley, D. (2014). Fairy Folklore. Available: http://www.sussexarch.org.uk/saaf/fairies.html. Last accessed 7th October 2014.