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Lived Folklore in the Fairy Census


rashore

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Group of little girls dressed as fairies rehersing for their play.
 
#sthash.1HrcuRvS.vxAXqGOu.dpbs

Lived Folklore in the Fairy Census

 

Last autumn I felt torn in two. I was editing, by day, with Ceri Houlbrook,  Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies, 500 AD to the Present, a book on folklore. Magical Folk (Gibson Square 2017) has sixteen chapters on the fairies of different parts of Britain and Ireland, and emigrant fairies in North America, put together by some of our best fairy historians and folklorists. Then, simultaneously, by night, I was preparing The Fairy Census: 2014-2017 a collection of modern fairy sightings. These had been collected through an internet questionnaire via radio, magazines, newspapers and, crucially, social media. Five hundred men, women and children had sent their experiences in and I was desperately trying to collate the data so that the two books could be launched simultaneously. Magical Folk at Amazon and ‘all reputable booksellers’ and The Fairy Census free online.

The problem was not that I had to slog away at two different books: I could have just about dealt with that. The problem was that the two books were about the same thing – fairies – and yet so very, very different. In Magical Folk our authors took fragments of folklore and fairy beliefs from a given region, seasoned with the most popular local fairy stories. In The Fairy Census respondents talked, instead, about the weirdest, most intimate moments that they had lived: they often confessed that they had told no one or practically no one about what had happened to them. I turned one way, it was a jolly morris dance with accordions and cymbals: I turned the other way it was a painfully energetic salsa where everyone was nude. It was an uneasy experience. I’m glad it is over. It goes without saying that the contrast between the two books made me think a lot about how told folklore and lived folklore differ.

http://folklorethursday.com/folklife/lived-folklore-fairy-census/#sthash.1HrcuRvS.vxAXqGOu.dpbs

 

The Fairy Census 2014-2017. It's a 403 page PDF: http://www.fairyist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/The-Fairy-Census-2014-2017-1.pdf

 

 

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I don't know what is more amazing to me: that people still think they see fairies, or that someone cares enough to compile it. Nevertheless, the Fairy Census was interesting to read.

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Is that a guy in a fake beard?

If it is, I'm so offended.

No one should be fae or a wizard with a fake beard. It's like a mortal sin or something.

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On 19/01/2018 at 8:15 PM, ChaosRose said:

Is that a guy in a fake beard?

If it is, I'm so offended.

No one should be fae or a wizard with a fake beard. It's like a mortal sin or something.

Nope the beard is real but the guy is a fake.:lol:

jmccr8 

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6 minutes ago, jmccr8 said:

Nope the beard is real but the guy is a fake.:lol:

jmccr8 

That is so not a real beard.

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