I have been reading 'Spells' by Aprilynne Pike this week, which is all about Fairies. The books have a different take on fairies, but i thought i would share some information with you. Most is taken from Wikipedia, but many sites seem to say the same.
In traditional views:
A fairy (also faery,
faerie, fay, fae; or wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk, etc.) is
a type of mythical being or legendary
creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical,
supernatural or preternatural.
Fairies resemble
various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term fairy offers many definitions.
Sometimes the term describes any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the
term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature.
Fairies
are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Although
in modern culture they are often depicted as young, sometimes winged, humanoids
of small stature, they originally were depicted much differently: tall,
radiant, angelic beings or short, wizened trolls being some of the commonly
mentioned. Diminutive fairies of one kind or another have been recorded for
centuries, but occur alongside the human-sized beings; these have been depicted
as ranging in size from very tiny up to the size of a human child. Even
with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed
rather than constant
Much of
the folklore about fairies revolves around protection from their malice, by
such means as cold iron (iron is like poison to fairies, and they will not go
near it) or charms of rowan and herbs, or avoiding offense by shunning
locations known to be theirs. In particular, folklore describes how
to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and
abducting older people as well.
In Aprilynne Pike's fiction, the faeries are plant like folk that sprout wings that look like flowers once a year. They live off sunlight, but can eat and depending on when the are born they have different powers and status in society. Pike has moved away from the 'traditional' views and come up with a whole new concept, that sounds just as believable if not more magical.
To finish i thought i would share some designs of Wings i have found on the web that i like.
These are from a member on Deviantart. All copyright goes to 'customfairywings'
To check out the original post and more designs click here
I love the desing of these wings and the flowers that seem to float on and around them. Truly spectacular
I found this one on Google. I love the leaf shape and the way it looks like the flower and petals are growing. Very Autumn/Fall feel.
Love the colours and size of these wings, aren't tehy pretty. More traditional fairy but sweet.
These are from a costume website which can be looked at here
Hope you found this interesting. :D
