It’s a hot August day in Eugene, Oregon. The sky is blue, the sun is bright, and there is a hint of magic in the air. Crows call overhead in the lush green trees, their harsh voices adding to the cacophony coming from the swirling crowds. Sylphs in diaphanous beribboned gowns dance with pixies in striped stockings and sparkling wings of every hue. Wooly-legged, bare-chested fauns compare horns with dark sprites wearing lacy black corsets and wicked leather boots. On-stage, a Green Man in vivid leafy rags introduces the next performer while a roving jester juggles fragile glass balls; a satyr on ten foot tall stilts navigates deftly among the dancers as a rainbow-clad goddess makes her way through the audience. Tiny babies dressed as bumblebees and lady-bugs nap contentedly on patchwork quilts and blankets. Their mothers braid ribbons and yarn into each other’s hair and chat with passersby who stop to admire their adorable infants.

Welcome to Faerieworlds, one of the largest and most popular festivals dedicated to the celebration of all the lands of Faerie.

The Fair Folk, the Good Neighbors, the Little People: nearly every society in the world has believed in some form of faerie creature at some time in its history. Ireland’s great clans were forewarned of death in the family by the wailing of the cloaked bean sidhe. Persians believed in the peri, winged spirits descended from fallen angels who had to serve penance on Earth to gain access to Paradise. In Germany, miners looked out for kobolds, ugly little mine spirits who delighted in creating mischief and preventing the men from doing their work, and Lorelei, a Siren-like creature who lured passing sailors to their deaths in the Rhine River. From Japanese yosei to the Danish tomten, faeries of all kinds have created both trouble and delight for millennia.

William Shakespeare wrote of the faerie king Oberon and queen Titania as well as their servant Puck (also known as Robin Goodfellow) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other well-known faeries from literature continue to inspire today; Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen was a faerie, as was Cinderella’s godmother (in most versions of the tale.) And who doesn’t know Tinkerbell, Peter Pan’s faithful — if temperamental — sidekick?

Faerie culture is built upon a very old base, but in the here and now, faerie believers and devotees have created a thriving network of myth and magic that takes faerie lore into the new millennium.

The Fae reappeared in contemporary culture with great gusto in 1978 when fantasy illustrator Brian Froud collaborated with author Alan Lee on an enchanting volume simply entitled Faeries. Through lovingly rendered artwork and fantastical prose, Froud and Lee reimagined the realms of Faerie for new audiences and shaped the current view of what the creatures of Faerie look like. Froud’s interpretations of the Fae continued with design work on the Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal and the deliciously dark and romantic Labyrinth, in which David Bowie played the sexiest goblin king ever. Indeed, Bowie’s performance in the film still shapes the image of the male Fae in the minds of many modern day faerie aficionados. Froud is unquestionably the best-known and most revered faerie artist of the day, an Arthur Rack-ham for our time. His visions, along with those of beloved artist Amy Brown, are very much the basis of much of present-day faerie culture. Writers such as Holly Black, Emma Bull, Devon Monk, Marie Brennan, and Charles De Lint continue to evoke the Fae in novels for both adult and young adult readers, and the popularity of the urban fantasy genre in literature has contributed heavily to the current culture of faerie fandom. Make no mistake, there is a thriving faerie culture alive and well in the 21^st century!

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind”

So what is faerie culture, precisely? In a nutshell, it’s as varied as the realm of Faerie itself. It may be considered religious or secular. It may be portrayed as serious or silly. It may be “dark” or “light” though most faerie folk treat it as neutrally aligned. At any faerie gathering or festival you may encounter wicked Goth faeries and happy sparkling wood faeries, literary faeries and practitioners of the Faery Wicca faith. There are steampunk faeries and Otherkin who believe that they are Fae creatures in human shape. Other Fae beings are represented as well, from fauns to dryads to goddesses. Tolkienish elves share space with anime-inspired cosplay faeries. Characters from traditional fairy tales walk into the real world and dance side by side with characters inspired by illustrators Selina Fenech, Amy Brown, and Jessica Galbreth. Goblins out of Holly Black’s Spiderwick Chronicles mingle with wizards who strongly resemble escapees from Hogwarts. There are no rules in this wonderland, only possibilities.

“I don’t believe in faeries, but I love the people who do.”

The Faerie culture is one of inclusiveness, in the end it doesn’t actually require a pair of wings or a complicated costume, but rather an appreciation of the magical and the mysterious. Most faerie buffs maintain a reverence for Nature and all of its wonders, and a belief that the unseen around us is worth celebrating. There is room within Faerie society for the entire spectrum of gender and sexuality, and an exploration of everything along that spectrum.

Who are these folk who bedeck themselves in fanciful finery and come out to frolic and play? They might be your next door neighbor or your boss, your family doctor or your grandmother. Computer programmers, attorneys, baristas, artists, ministers or firefighters: there’s no “average” Faerie enthusiast. Those who make up the culture do not usually conform to one particular fandom.

For example, unlike conventions where attendees are devotees of a particular television show or manga series, those who spend time at Faerie events may have completely differing views the reality of Faerie. Some members of the Faerie tribe truly believe in the Other World, while others are simply in it for the camaraderie.

Raven, a believer who attends many events, says “It’s all about confronting the Mystery. Whatever is Light or Dark within you, you can explore it. A lot of people are happier doing that through alternate personalities, and that’s why many of us dress up as the things we believe in. We believe that if you call on the Faeries, They will come into your life and teach you about magic and your own inner being.”

Another frequent attendee of faerie festivals says, “I don’t believe in Faeries, but I love the people who do.” “Joy” believes that “the people who do this kind of thing are some of the coolest people you’ll ever meet. Black, white, gay, straight, when you’re in a fantasy costume and dancing and being crazy, everybody is at the same level. It’s just friendly fun and everyone is happy.”

Raven and Joy are in good company. Every year, tens of thousands of lovers of all things Fae gather across the globe at Faerieworlds, FaerieCon, Spoutwood Fairie Festival and the Magical Faerie Festival in Canterbury to name but a few.

Across the fields colorful tents compete for the attention of delighted wanderers, vendors selling everything necessary to transform festival goers into whatever form of Fae being they wish to portray. Elaborate masks of leather, wood, clay or paper maché change ordinary faces into ravens, foxes, Green Men, wolves and myriad magical creatures. Wings are popular as well; shimmering blue dragonfly wings, marvelous glittering butterfly wings, feathery white angel wings, sinister black bat wings, even scaly and intensely-detailed metallic dragon wings may be found among the craftsmen’s stalls. Crystal wands and painted mirrors share space with an indescribably vast mix of jewelry of every kind; brightly colored rainbows of silk and velvet scarves and gowns catch the eye at every turn. Whimsical dolls and stuffed unicorns, fine art and faerie photography, sculpted horns and antlers, yarn-and-ribbon “faerie hair,” herbal soaps and lotions, even vials of environmentally-friendly iridescent fairy dust can be found. Faerie items have no limit but the artisan’s imagination, and most Faerie crafters have few limits.

“I am that merry wanderer of the night”

Many members of the contemporary Faerie movement are also Pagans. Many Wiccan faerie folk practice forms of witchcraft centered around working with the Fae and elemental spirits. (See sidebar opposite).

These practitioners may dress up and participate in faerie events as a way of practicing their craft and a way of honoring the spirits with which they work in ritual. Faerie festivities often include a Circle or other ritual invocation of the Fae, especially those tailored toward the beings known to frequent the location of the event. Faerie events are deeply pagan by nature, focused as they are on the magical realm, and energy workings abound.

Perhaps more important even than costume, bling, and ritual itself is the place of music in the faerie world. Traditionally, musicians have been beloved of the Fae, and modern faerie culture reflects tradition. There are unnumbered quirky and often brilliant bands making music specifically for magically-oriented audiences. Faerie music can be, by turns, ethereal and mystical or wild and intoxicating. Fans attend concerts costumed in wings, horns, and rainbow colored faerie garb — any concert can become a faerie gathering.

It’s getting dark outside, and people are glowing — literally. A pair of fire dancers spins flaming poi, leaving eerie streaks in the air. Overhead, the stars begin to wink as Gaia Consort, a pagan folk band well known from Faerieworlds past, takes the stage.

Come tomorrow,
Come the dawn,
Will you dance in their circle
And wake up a hundred years gone?

If you hear them call will you go?
Find the voice
If it’s twilight calling
Oh would you go if you could?
Deep in some night touch the face
Is that twilight calling?
Follow the light in the wood…

Revelers mellowed after a long day of celebration under a blazing sun sway peacefully in time to the music. Though some may not be willing to admit it, many eyes search the trees and bushes surrounding the concert space, hoping for a glimpse of a pixie, sprite or phouka come to take in the unearthly melody.

Faerie culture is full of sparkle and color, magic and trickery, and it continues to grow and expand as more and more people discover the fun and excitement of being a part of the extraordinary unseen world. Anyone who can step outside of the mundane world and believe in Faeries can join. Will you be one of them?

MARIA NUTICK

Mia Nutick lives lives in Portland, Oregon in Portland, Oregon with her partner and a group of cats and dogs known as the Furry Horde. Her nonfiction has appeared in appeared in Green Man Review, Faerie Magazine, and Realms of Fantasy Magazine. She likes faeries.

Photos curtisy of Faerie World