Eilian of Garth Darwen

The story of Eilian of Garth Darwen illustrates the power of faerie glamour very well. 

Eilian was a poor servant girl who worked long hard hours for a local midwife, 

when Eilian disappeared one day it was agreed by her mistress and the neighbours 

that the girl had gone off with the faeries. The girl was not seen for some time until 

one dark stormy night the midwife was called out by a stranger to attend his wife, 

who was about to give birth. She was taken to a richly furnished room inside a 

grand house where a young woman  lay on the bed. After a while the baby was 

delivered and the father handed a pot to the midwife and asked her to rub the 

ointment onto the baby's eyes; she did this but accidentally smeared some on to 

one of her own eyes. Instantly the wonderful room vanished and instead there 

was just a damp dark cave and lying on a bed of bracken was the servant girl Eilian. 

The midwife was paid for her services with a handful of gold coins but by the time 

she had reached home the coins had disappeared and dried leaves lay in her purse.

Several months passed before she saw the father again strolling through the 

local market. He was very surprised when the midwife greeted him and inquired 

after the mother and baby. He asked with which eye the midwife could see him and 

when she pointed to it, the eye instantly went blind.

25th Jan- The feast of the conversion of St Paul & Burns Night

If the day of St Paul prove clear
Then shall betide a happy year
If it chance to snow or rain
Then shall be dear all kinds of grain
But if high winds shall be aloft
Wars shall vex this realm full oft
And if thick mists make dark the sky
Both beast and fowls this year shall die

Erra Pater 1694

oh dear!!

It is also Burns Night. Born in 1759, the pride of Scotland has his birthday commemorated by holding Burns Suppers, whose centrepiece is the Haggis. This is his famous address to the aforementioned pud!

Fair fa' your honest sonsie face
Great chieftain o' the pudding race
Abune them a' ye tak your place
Painch, tripe, or thairm
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm

Faerie Glamour

The faeries art of concealing their true appearance is called glamour and is often

 used to conceal mortals, they can alter their own shape as well as the appearance 

of food, money and surroundings. So a splendid feast spread out on a beautiful table 

could be nothing more than nuts and berries laid out on a log.

The term glamour comes from the Scottish word glaumerie which means magic,

 traditionally this power was used to capture mortal partners for breeding. 

As mentioned before faeries are always trying to improve their own race by mingling 

it with human blood.

The use of faerie ointment on your eyes will reveal them in their true state but 

be careful, their wrath can be terrible!

'Faeries and Folklore of the British Isles'

The eve of St Agnes' Day

St Agnes was a thirteen year old christian maiden who preferred to be 

martyred rather to marry a pagan roman officer and so has become 

the patron of young girls and of bodily chastity. 

She is also popular with young lovers.

So this eve to dream of  your future partner fast all day and stay

 silent and on no account allow anybody to kiss you. 

At bedtime wear your best and cleanest nightwear, boil an egg, take out the yolk

 and fill the shell with salt then eat it, shell and all. The walk backwards to bed saying

'Fair St Agnes, play thy part

And send to me my own sweetheart

Not in his best or worst array

But in the clothes he wears every day'

During this night you see your intended in your dreams but you must 

tell no one or it will not come to pass.

Twelfth night- old style

17th of January is the original twelfth night according to the Julian calender.

This is the night to wassail your apple trees, to encourage them to bear a good 

crop in the coming year.

This ceremony is observed in many parts of the country, one such gathering is 

being held tonight at Stewley Orchard near Ilminster Somerset, the home of cider. 

This award winning orchard holds a wassail every year. The evening will include a 

display by Morris Dancers and the crowning of the Wassail Queen with a 

wreath of berries. She will start the ceremony in the orchard by dipping a piece 

of toasted bread into the cider and placing it in the fork of a tree as an 

offering to the tree spirits.

Wassail comes from the old English greeting 'waes hael' which means

'be healthy or your good health' this apparently predates the 

Norman conquest in 1066.

The main idea is to wake the slumbering apple trees and scare away evil 

spirits from the trees by making as much noise as possible.

 Blessings and prayers are said and quantities of hot spiced cider is drunk, 

anything left over in the wassailing bowl is poured over the roots of the 

oldest tree in the orchard.

'Old apple tree we wassail thee, and happily thou wilt

bear, for the Lord knows where we shall be, till apples another year'

Hail the new moon

Greet the first new moon of the new year at its appearance 

by going out in the evening and stand astride the bars of a 

gate or stile and look at the moon saying

'All hail to the moon, all hail to thee

I prithee good moon reveal to me

This night who my husband or wife must be'

After which go to bed and you will dream of your future partner.

And talking of marriage,

according to Henry Swinburne Treatise of spousals 1686

'The form of the wedding ring being circular, that is round and without end,

 imparteth thus much, that their love and affection should roundly flow 

from one to the other as in a circle and that continually and forever.'

The wedding ring is worn on the third finger of the left hand because it 

was believed that from thence ran a particular vein straight to the 

seat of love, the heart.

It must never be worn before the ceremony but thereafter should never 

be removed for long and never lent to anybody.

So your wedding ring wears

So your cares wear away

Faerie Markets

A faerie market takes place on the Blackdown Hills every week, many mortals have 

stumbled across the faerie gathering and have fared differently according to the 

respect that they show the faerie folk.

They gather dressed in bright colours on the side of the hill and mill around the 

many tents that are set up  around the field, inside they are piled high with various

 faerie goods and peddlers walk amongst the crowd with trays piled high with 

trinkets and ribbons. Musicians dance and pipe around the crowds as the faerie 

folk make their purchases.

There is one account where a man travelling home came across the fair, as he 

drew nearer the crowds faded from view and as he passed through the invisible 

throng he felt himself being pushed and pinched. 

The man began to feel extremely ill and hurried home as quickly as he could. 

By the time he had reached his home in Combe St Nicholas he was paralysed 

down one side , this affliction stayed with him for the rest of his life.

The market has been seen many times but most avoid it, one man however was 

more fortunate. He had always put out a plate of fresh water outside his home for 

the faeries and a dish of scalded cream. This served him well for one night he stumbled 

into the faerie market, seeing the wares on display he decided to buy a 

wooden  cider mug. This he bought and received  a handful of leaves for 

change, he politely said nothing and took the mug home. 

The next morning the mug was solid silver and the leaves had turned into lumps of gold.

Happy new year to you all

May you start the new year with

 a song in your heart and a spring to your step!

My steps will not be that springy as I have eaten too many mince pies!