#fairy circles

[mekhetmask]

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Namibia’s Fairy Circles, Namibia

Originally thought by the Himba people to be caused by the Gods, in modern times the sand termite and competition between plant species have also been blamed.

[plotjotsandespressoshots]

Someone in my neighborhood keeps trying to get rid of mushrooms but they are just kicking them and spreading spores 🤣 it makes my mornings.

[mask131]

The folklore of Normandy: Fairies

Loosely translated from Amélie Bosquet’s “La Normandie romanesque et merveilleuse ; traditions, légendes et superstitions populaires de cette province” - “Romantic and marvelous Normandy ; traditions, legends and superstitions of this province”, 1845-54

Article: Les fées (fairies)

Dancing is the fairies’ favorite pleasure. At night, when the moon shines bright, they gather to dance in a circle - and they dance without crushing any grass, without even touching the ground, they dance - or rather they slide - to the sound of melodious instruments. But anyone who dares approach such a celebration will be taken by a strong vertigo - a vertigo which will compel them to take part of the dance. At first welcome with good will, encouraged and flattered by the fairies, the newcomer might be pleased with their decision... But soon the magical circle goes faster and faster, turning without ever stopping, and when it finally stops the poor human falls on the ground, exhausted. Sometimes, as a last cruelty, these malicious fairies like to make their human partner jump at an incredible height - and if they do not die by landing back onto the earth, they will certainly find themselves in the morning with a lot of broken bones and damaged muscles. The area where fairies dance are easily recognizable: it is always a circular area, where the grass looks like it was burned - they are called “cercle des fées”, “circle of fairies”. There are two types of circle of fairies: one has green grass in the center, surrounded by a dry circle ; the other is barren in the center, with around a circle of grass thicker and fresher than the rest of the meadow. 

While the fairies of Normandy greatly enjoy dancing, they have other hobbies. In some regions, they are depicted as very clean and industruous folks (which separates them from the elfes - elves). The fairies often go to lonely fountains, where they wash their laundry before having it dry on druidic stones. Once the laundry is dry, they store it in little caverns either inside of rocks or under mounds and tumulus - places called “Chambres des fées” (Fairy rooms) or “Grottes des fées” (Fairy grottos). These true housewives do even more: like the lutins, they are very proficient in rural work. They usually choose a given farm, and borrow there horses, harnesses and tools - because in the night, they will use them for mysterious works that seemingly do not give any visible results in the morning, but must have some hidden utility. Proud and mischievious, the Normandy fairies like to ride on horses in an unusual fashion: they sit on the neck of the animal, and make yokes out of the mane of the beast. 

Fairies are said to be very talented, good and knowledgeable in everything they do, so much that they bring happiness and bless everything they touch. When they use drudge-animals, they will grow fat, the tools they touched are repaired (if they were broken) or become as if they were new (if they were worn-out). Fnally, they are gracious, kind, easily attach themselves to people, and like to give little services to others - they are even known to gift cakes to those that please them (or those that have the good idea to not disturb them). 

Article: Le rendez-vous des fées (The meeting of the fairies)

At a certain crossroad of Normandy, it was believed that every night, the great council of the fairies gathered to make a surveillance work over the land. Each fairy had a given area to watch over, and they had to make a full report on everything that happened in their area. The president of the assembly held between her hands a “book of life”, which contained the name of every inhabitant of Normandy. As the president heard the other fairies’ report, she placed either a white dot or a black dot next to each name - a white dot if they were favorable to the person’s actions and deeds, a black dot if the person’s actions displeased them. Then, a judgement was pronounced over the crime of the black-doted individuals. Each nocturnal gathering ended up in a wild and acrobatic dance. 

The results of the judgements happened quite fast afterward. You see, this crossroad was a needed step on the way towards the market of Gisors - so all those that either had to sell their products or go buy their groceries had to go through the crossroad. Each and every person arriving by the crossroad felt a sudden tiredness, that forced them to stop or sit down - no matter how much they wanted to go forward. But this was an artificial fatigue, that only stopped for a moment. The good people, those that had a white dot in the fairies’ book, promplty got up back again, feeling all fresh and full of energy - they advanced quickly on the road, with their head high and their heart happy. At the market of Gisors, they were acclaimed with “Here are the good people!”, recognized by ther brave walk and their bubbling behavior. However, bad people, those with the black dot, felt ashamed and scared at the crossroad, and their bodies was suddenly covered in a certain type of nsects... When the market of Gisors saw them arrive, dragging their feet, scratching themselves all over, they were welcomed with the screams “Here are the bad people! They have lice!”. 

[totallynotagremlin]

So... i did a thing @atherix

This was the end resukt of your little sneak peak

I thinks its been like 3 or 4 days, idk

Midnight summers is by far my favorite part and im totally not avoiding cub with every bone in my body. Shush ill get to him

Maybe

I had fun, ill probabky do more of these

Also expect lots and updates soon ive got many big projects in mind

Im gonna go bookpress this for like 3 weeks now

[theinternetisaweboflies]

November 8, 2022

[ghostlytales]

Faery Circles

These fairy circles have been puzzling the scientists for a very long time. Even today the origin of circles found in the arid grasslands of the western part of Southern Africa is not known. One of the assumptions that could explain their appearance is a sand termite but the range of the phenomena is much wider that of the termite species.

[solarishashernoseinabook]

did i ever tell you folks there was a fairy circle at my elementary school?

that i used to play in just about every day?

[thesecondface]

fairy rings (and clover circles)

Some time ago I came across the concept of fairy rings and looked up the science behind this geometry. (Fungi mycelia, the underground components of mushrooms, start at a point and grow outwards as they use up nutrients inside the circle). I thought this was pretty cool and filed it away, hoping perhaps that one day I might see some fairy rings in woodland in the autumn, since that's when mushrooms usually produce their fruiting bodies.

Then one day I noticed odd circles in the overgrown grass of my garden. These circles were full of clover and all around them was grass, the usual vaguely monospecific assemblage typical of suburban lawns. Now, clover (I then found) grows prolifically in nitrogen deficit soil, and is so good at replenishing nitrogen and phosphorus that it was historically used to revive depleted agricultural lands before the Bosch-Haber process came into play.

Could they be related to fairy rings? I thought. I knew there had, at some point, been mushrooms in my garden (though I'd never paid attention to their distribution). Were they related? If clover grows on nitrogen deficient soil, and fairy rings create nutrient deficient regions in their interior circles—was there some kind of causality here for the clover distribution?

So came about a tentative hypothesis, that if they were related I would (come autumn) see that famous ring of mushrooms around the clover circles. I am no botanist, so this was all presented with much hesitancy to my family (who absolutely did not care; we are unalike, they and I, but an audience is an audience). And whaddya know: today, there were mushrooms ringing one of the clover circles! Small ones, and earlier than I thought—but a (budding) fairy ring, in my garden! I am quite delighted. Perhaps in a few months there will be a full ring.

[dejahisashmom]

Do you dare enter a fairy ring? The mythical mushroom portals of the supernatural | Ancient Origins

https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/do-you-dare-enter-fairy-ring-mythical-mushroom-portals-supernatural-003677

[parttimereporter]

Some experts believe they're the result of termite activity underneath the soil, as CNN reports. Others suggest that they're created by self-organizing plants.

Some experts questioned whether the newly identified sites even fell under the current, albeit loose, definition of fairy circles.

"Unfortunately, the only guardians of the term 'fairy circle' are self-appointed," Michael Cramer, an ecophysiologist at the University of Cape Town, who was not involved, told the NYT.

In short, the new finding adds to the mystery around the peculiar circles, and plenty more research will be needed to find consensus.

"I think that the world can be complex and that all the hypotheses of the formation of fairy circles could have a place depending on the site or the moment," co-author Emilio Guirado, from the University of Alicante in Spain, told Newsweek.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*peeks at dungeon meshi* hm cute but i'm not sure i comprehend the appeal

*keeps peering in curiosity* oh! each of these characters is, how you say. Insane

[anndr]

New art! "Fey Touched" - inspired by dnd trait. Now you'll be able to show exactly where the fairies touched you.

[mask131]

The folklore of the Berry region: Fades and Ladies

Loosely translated from A. Laisnel de La Salle’s “Croyances et légendes du coeur de la France”, “Beliefs and legends of the center of France”, 1875.

Article: Les Fades

The word “fade” is the one by which fairies are called in central France - it is part of the “langue d’oc” (note of the translator - me -, the language of oc is one of the two “main” languages of France all the way up to the end of the Middle-Ages, which characterized southern France - modern French comes from the northern “langue d’oïl”). And “fade” is merely the langue d’oc word for “fairy”, what the langue d’oïl calls “fée”. Fade comes from the latin “fata”, which was a common name for the Parcae (it links it all to the fairies of Italy, who are called “fatas”). The Fades usually live in the countrysides adjacent to the Indre river’s tributaries. They have mores and tastes very different from the ones of the Martes (note of the translator - me - another legendary entity I might translate the article of later): peaceful and sweet, the Fades like typically rural activities and enjoy a pastoral form of life.

The parish of Notre-Dame-de-Pouligny kept alive the story of one of those fairies, who was living in a grotto called the “Trou aux Fades” (Hole of the Fades). This fade spent all of her time taking care of the sheep of the Bos domain: every day she took them to the field, and every night she made sure they came home safely. She took such a good care of the animals that farm workers stopped doing their jobs - since she was doing it for them. Thanks to her, the flock was growing - she was a true benediction. Each female sheep gave birth, at least, to two lambs each, and when it was time to shave the sheep, each one produced at ten pounds of wool - and wool of the finest quality, thinner and whiter than any other wool! But this centuries-old prosperity stopped abruptly one day, by an extraordinary event. One Christmas Eve, as the lady of the Bos domain was going to the midnight mass of Pouligny-Notre-Dame, when she returned she approached the crib of her youngest child. It was a child as beautiful as day, and young enough to still be breast-fed - the child was sleeping when she went to the mass, and she decided to breastfeed him at her return... Only to scream as her baby bit her breast. Light was brought, and instead of the pink and chubby baby, the lady and her servants discovered a hairy, skinny, screaming creature, which jumped at the face of anyone that dared to approach him. The story stops here - we do not know what happened to the little monster, nor where the true son of the lady of the domain went - but what is known is that, ever since this evet, the fade stopped living in the Bos domain, since every accused her (and everybody accuses her still) of having caused this baby-swapping. 

Article: Dames, Bonne-Dames et Demoiselles

The Dames (Ladies) or Bonnes-Dames (Good-Ladies), and the Demoiselles (Maidens) are not very different from the Fades - in fact it can be argued they might be one and the same. The Dames and Demoiselles usually live in plains, enjoying the shadow under old oak trees, the green grass of the meadows, and the fountains. Numerous areas, in the countryside surrounding La Châtre, are amed things such as “pré à la Dame” (the pasture of the Lady) or “champ de la Dame” (field of the Lady). We also find things such as “fontaine à la Dame”, “the fountain of the Lady” or “l’Effe à la Dame”, a regional version of “L’étang à la Dame” - “The pond of te Lady”. 

In the Lacs parish, old spinner women spoke of the Dame de la Font Chancela (Lady of the Font Chancela), who was known to appear under the moonlight on a meadow near to the Font Chancela fountain - a meadow still called “Pré à la Dame”, “Meadow of the Lady”. The Lady of Font Chancela was said to be incredibly beautiful, and a local lord fell in love with her. Many times he managed to capture her during her nocturnal apparitions - but each time he placed her on the back of his horse, to bring her back to his manor, she melted away between his arms - literaly melting away - and left him with such a feeling of deep and permanent cold that all the fires of love in his heart died out... as least for a whole years, before his love for the lady was again set ablaze and he tried to ravish her again. It is said that the Lady of Font Chancela is quite a prudish fairy, and very easy to vex. If you ever end up near the cold spring of the Font Chancela, during a hot summer day, and if you ever take some water out of it, beware to not say anything about the water being too cold - else the Dame might make you lose the ability to speak like a human being, and curse you to bark like a dog for the rest of your life. In fact, many things extraordinary are said to regularly happen around the Font Chancela fountain.

The Chaumoi de Montlevic is known as an area crossed by two main paths - one going north-south, the other east-west. Near the crossroad where those paths meet, there is a patch of land known as “le champ de la Demoiselle” (the field of the Maiden). It is sad that, at night, from everywhere around the countryside, you can see there a giant woman, who keeps growing taller and taller the closer you get to her, without ever moving. 

In the east of the Berry region, around the Bourbonnais, it is said that the fairies are more powerful during certain days than during others. The 1st of May is said to be one of those “days of powers” - but it is on the night of the 1st of May that the fairies decide to “rousiner”. Rousiner is a verb meaning here that they clean away the dew out of some meadows with their long white dresses - such a process makes the meadow sterile. It is also said that the fairies were able to cause harm to the harvest and to the vintage by merely breathing on it - but given the villagers of the area knew very well the dates of these dangerous times, they also made sure, as the fairies arrived, to lit up great bonfires in the field. They wandered the meadows beating up the air with long poles, and they used rifles to shoot around - all of this to keep away malevolent spirits. But not all fairies were as negative as those ones. Some, on the contrary, were known to bring fertility and abundance to the places they frequented. The best meadows and pastures were said to be where the Dames played and danced. The places where they like to promenade and dance in circles can be easily identified: they have capricious meanders, orbs are seen covering a very fresh and very rich grass, and often mousseron (a “rival” of the truffe mushroom) grow spontaneously in these places. It is believed in numerous places that the mysterious circles (formed by the footsteps of fairies during nocturnal dances) are sanctuaries: as such, if you are under a threat, for example hunted by malevolent beasts, attacked by a devil, or any other kind of wicked spirit, you can take refuge in one of those fairies circles. 

[the1beardedgent]

Never did find who did this under this Oak tree. The people I asked denied doing it, saying it just appeared one morning. Could it be a faery circle? spiral? lol