In Croatian folklore, there are plenty of wondrous stories about fairies. Their presence to the people was elusive and mysterious, yet so close. Every blooming meadow, a timid flicker of a leaf, or the wild play of waves on the open sea revealed a secret of the fairy world.
Fairies are most commonly described in folk tradition as young girls of sublime beauty that cannot be compared to anything earthly. Anyone who has ever seen a fairy would be overcome with an indescribable longing for her beauty. They say that some have eyes that sparkle with rays of light. They wear a pure white silk dress, and their body is slender like a fir tree and light like a bird because they have wings that can sometimes be golden. Their golden hair, especially, is beautiful—it falls like a waterfall all the way down to the ground when let loose. It is said that their hair holds the secret of their power and life. If a fairy loses a single strand of hair, she loses her fairy power and becomes mortal. Because of this, fairies were especially careful with their beautiful hair, and sometimes one could see them cutting By the roadside, fairies comb their hair. When passing through dense forests, their long golden hair would often get tangled in some bush. If someone happened to come by and untangled it, without pulling out a single strand, the fairy would then help them for the rest of their life, in good times and bad.
It is often mentioned how beautiful and harmonious the fairy’s voice is, that whoever hears the fairy sing is filled with such joy that they can no longer listen to the voice of a human. Some say that fairy songs are somewhat similar to lively dances, but that no one can understand their words. Only a few people, those who have become friends with fairies, sometimes understand what they are singing. According to another legend, their singing is similar to the buzzing of bees. It is also mentioned that fairies often play the flute or the bagpipes in the forests.
Sometimes, fairies could be seen under an old oak tree, laughing at the people who passed by and marveling at them. Fairies were also known to dance their lively dances in the moonlight, until they grew tired. It is said that they can also dance in a circle. In the meadow, young girls danced to represent the young Moon. In Slavonia, it is said that mushrooms grow in places where fairies dance. This fairy mushroom is called a vilovnjača by the people and it is believed to grow in the fairy circle. Humans were not allowed to step onto fairy playgrounds because the fairies would immediately harm them. Only a few honorable people could enter their circle, either by accident or when the fairies themselves invited them. Such people could learn everything from the fairies, and although they only shared a small portion of their knowledge, those people would become very wise and skilled.
Sister Fairies
Faries will not harm anyone unless someone offends them, like stepping on their circle or dinner, or intentionally or unintentionally stealing a bouquet of flowers from them. It is a well-known belief that fairies weave beautiful bouquets and wreaths from various flowers and that each flower has a different meaning. Fairies will also punish anyone who reveals the secrets of the fairy world or tries to harm them in any other way.
However, humans This can bring him closer to the fairies and become their friend, or as they say, become brothers or sisters with the fairies. Then his fairy sister will help him in every trouble. It is told among the people that every hero and honorable person has their own fairy sister.
But not only humans have their fairy sisters, but animals that fairies are especially fond of also have them. So in songs, you can find fairies talking to deer or birds, especially eagles.
A fairy can become a sister with anyone who does something good for her or accidentally meets her somewhere and greets her nicely and calls her sister. Since then, everything goes well for the person and happiness follows him everywhere. That’s why it is customary to mock a person who claims to have seen a fairy but did not treat her with respect and honor by saying: “Luck was looking for you, but you were too foolish to find it.” Fairies have a special fondness for young girls, whom they like to adorn and give gifts of their beauty. A poem from the Croatian coast talks about this:
Early in the morning, a little girl wakes up
And faithfully prays to Danica:
“Oh D Dear sister,
Pass me your light,
So that I may illuminate my youth.
There was a little girl
With a white fairy as her sister,
Who skillfully painted,
Smoothed with a golden quill,
And adorned her white neck with pearls.
Then the fairy exclaimed
From her slender white throat:
Oh, beautiful beauty
Of this young girl!
In the Croatian coastal region, girls used to leave gifts for fairies in secluded places, on rocks and in caves: various fruits, flowers, silk ribbons… After placing their offerings, they would quietly and devotedly say to them: Take, fairy, what pleases you. Often, in folk songs, there is also a bet between the fairy and the girl on who will wake up earlier. The girl wins this bet because she is awakened by a swallow and can wake up before the fairy.
Fairy seers
Every fairy is a wise prophetess and healer who can surpass any human with her wisdom and skills, but also bestow some treasure upon them. Fairies are often mentioned as prophets and messengers who appear to heroes and prophesy to them or deliver messages. somewhere evil awaits them. The prophetic fairy preserves the truth while dispelling lies and deceit. She is knowledgeable in various secrets, prophecies, and wisdom. One Kajkavian story tells of a fish being pulled out from the depths of the sea, containing a fairy box filled with various wonders. Fairies can bestow their wisdom upon humans, and such individuals are called “vilenici”. Some believe that vilenici are born directly from fairies and are secretly placed under women. Those born from fairies are distinguished by their great wisdom, while in all other aspects they are no different from ordinary people. Therefore, a wise person was said to have been born of fairies. As it has always been believed that there is a thin line between madness and genius, a crazed person was often referred to as “povilio”. Fairies especially love children and sometimes they can even take them away. They then take care of the child, feeding them honey and various sweets, and when they release them as adults, they are intelligent and happy.
Fairies are also mentioned as benevolent healers with the power to cure and restore. Merged with the life of nature, they possess and secrets. Folk songs say that fairies are knowledgeable about medicinal herbs and show them to people, which is why they are called healers and seers. In the purity of the morning, they search for fragrant, healthy herbs on dewy mountains. It is worth mentioning that folk names of different plants have been attributed to fairies, such as fairy garlic (Muscari omosum), fairy broom (Asparagus officinalis), or fairy hair (Cuscuta epithmum). It is said that the plant called fairy thistle (Carlina acaulis) has a strong power against lies. According to Marin Držić, fairies also possess miraculous power when they dance over waters and springs on the night before St. John’s Day. Anyone who falls under their power during that time can rejuvenate and renew themselves, like a snake shedding its skin.
Warrior fairies
Fairies are skilled in various arts. They forge swords that can cut through iron and the toughest stone; they build swift ships that humans have never sailed on; they construct cities that the world has never seen; they bestow magnificent horses that have no equal on earth, and can lift They command the winds, storms, rain, and hail, especially when they are in pursuit of someone.
Often, fairies are depicted as watching over warriors in difficult and fateful moments. Before battle, the fairy shouts from the mountain and predicts destiny. Sometimes she advises the heroes or guides them in the decisive moment of how to overcome the enemy with which weapon. She prepares weapons for the heroes and even forges sharp swords. These warrior fairies, as they are also called, will never betray their beloved heroes, but when their inevitable end approaches, they will announce it to them and accompany them in death. However, the fairies themselves are strong and brave warriors. They would fly to the battlefield on their swift horses and fearlessly lead the way. With their battle cries, they would inspire the army to true zeal and enthusiasm.
TYPES OF FAIRIES
Fairies, as described by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, reside in three realms or elements: in the air, on the land, and in the water. They dwell on distant stars, in clouds, on high mountain peaks, in dreadful abysses, and in the deepest sea. Almost every place is home to fairies. Some fairies are white and good, others are black and evil, and some are neither good nor evil, but rather as their current whims carry them. A fairy can transform into anything, but that rarely happens; more often a fairy of one element can take on the characteristics of another element.
Air fairies reside in the stars and clouds. According to the legend from the region around Varaždinske Toplice, the constellation Vlašići (Pleiades) is actually made up of fairies who, long ago, before the existence of humans, lived on Earth, singing and dancing in circles (similar to the Croatian tradition of seven girls, known as “vilarice,” who used to go around from Jurjevo to Ivanje). Since the world has changed, these fairies have left the Earth and settled among the stars, where they still dance their circles every night.
Air fairies always dwell in the air, where they dance on the clouds or play with lightning, observing the world from there. They build their beautiful cities on the clouds.
The city was built by a white villa,
Neither in the sky nor on the earth,
But on a branch of clouds;
The city has three doors:
One door entirely made of gold,
The second door made of pearls,
The third door made of scarlet.
Aerial fairies gather and disperse clouds, they lead them and control them. Thus, it is possible that the etymology of the word “villa” comes from “viti” because a villa wraps around clouds. However, the cloud villa is not only present in the timid whiteness of clouds, but it is often described in stormy weather as well. In stories about rainmakers, it is said that they, along with fairies, control the clouds in storms, hail, or thunder. Similarly, in a Slavonian story, there are mentions of wind and ice fairies: the wind fairies unleash the wind and storm, the ice fairies mix the ice, and a terrible storm and ice come out of the clouds. In folk songs, fairies are often connected to winds or thunder and lightning in storm clouds.
Aerial fairies sometimes fly down to the ground to warn people of the evil that threatens them. They often protect people from evil fairies and teach them
With different knowledge and skills.
Earthly nymphs
Earthly nymphs reside in green meadows, wooded mountains, and high peaks. It is sometimes mentioned that they have donkey, horse, or goat legs. According to one legend, earthly nymphs are born from a plant whose root resembles a red onion bulb, and it grows and blooms in meadows. In the early morning, when it is dew-covered, this plant releases a sap from which young nymphs are born. Little nymphs are born in the purity and beauty of dawn:
And the nymph from above,
I was born from the mountain,
wrapped in a green leaf,
morning dew was falling,
the nymph nursed me,
the mountain wind blew,
the nymph was whispering to me:
– those were my nannies.
Earthly nymphs are usually divided into mountain and field nymphs. Mountain nymphs reside in mountains and high peaks, and they have their courts in caves and caverns. They engage in singing, playing instruments, dancing, divination, and healing, and when they are in a good mood, they converse with humans and animals. They can lure young heroes, shepherds, and l Sheep, even then, share joy and sorrow according to their own will. They love to hunt noble wild animals in the mountains and therefore often carry arrows. Stories mention their fierce races on deer and horses with unusually intertwined manes. Sometimes they engage in battle with each other, causing the whole mountain to thunder and the ground to tremble. Oh… Even some places, such as Vilčić, Vilindolac, Vilište, Vilenjak, and others, got their names because they were meeting places or residences of fairies.
Behind Strahinjščica, near Krapina, there is a cave that is said to have been inhabited by fairies in ancient times. According to the legend, Vulin, the sister of Čeh and Leh, sought refuge in this cave. The two brothers pursued Vulin because she had betrayed them to a Roman leader, her lover. The fairies quickly punished this ugly betrayal. When their brothers offered them a beautiful bull with gilded horns, among which was a child holding a gilded apple, the fairies handed over the infidel. The sister was walled up in the city gates of Krapina.
In the vicinity of Varaždin, in the cave of Vindija, it is said that good fairies used to live there, sewing dresses for women, weeding the neighboring fields, feeding people and livestock, and so on. Fairies also resided in nearby caves around Varaždinske Toplice. When these fairies returned from the fields, they would transform into snakes and crawl into the cave. From a small hole, because there was no other entrance. But as soon as they entered, they would become beautiful girls again and walk around their beautifully decorated halls. Sometimes they would make bigger doors in the cave and then they would receive honorable people and teach them everything. There is a story of how they received a peasant from Ljubeščica like that and taught him to heal, giving him a fairy book. In that book were recorded remedies for all earthly diseases.
Despite the fact that mountain fairies live on land, their appearance is often associated with water. As many fairy mountains, as there are, according to popular belief, there are also fairy springs known as fairy waters. Every fairy water is healing and healthy.
Field fairies live in fields and plains. It is said that in ancient times they would walk through pastures and meadows, and in certain places, on the threshing floor or at a crossroad, they had their playgrounds or they would sit and comb their golden hair. Field fairies were good and beneficial.
Water fairies
Water fairies
In our folklore, there are those who are half-fish, half-women and always reside in water, especially the sea (sea maidens, sea nymphs, water nymphs), and the beautiful girls who live in rivers, lakes, springs, and wells, but are also fond of leaving them (water spirits, spring nymphs, lake nymphs). Water fairies are tall and beautiful, with pale faces. These fairies are often attributed with malevolent traits. They lure handsome young men into the water and then pull them into an abyss from which no one returns. There is a particular danger for those who disturb the water of a lake where a fairy sleeps or quietly bathes. These fairies can harm them, poison them, bind them, blind their eyes, or even make them go blind. However, when morning breaks, the fairy healer will often restore their vision with the morning dew that the sinister water fairy stole. According to a Kajkavian tale, as soon as people and various animals have their eyes anointed with the morning dew, they immediately regain their sight, and only fairies know about this morning dew. Under the clear moonlight, water fairies emerge from the water, causing it to stir. In the vicinity of Varaždinske Toplice, it was believed that water nymphs were particularly dangerous when they bathe in water or sing by its side in the evening. If someone approaches them by boat or ship at that time, they will disappear without a trace. There is a spring near Stubica that no one wanted to go to in the evening to get water because the nymphs would come to bathe there at dusk.
Water nymphs can even raise a storm, whirlwind, hailstorm, or rain. When the storm stirs up the sea, nymphs appear in the sea foam, swiftly gliding over the water surface, and on the shore, they perform wild dances and utter curses. If someone approaches them by boat when they sing during a storm, they will overturn and sink the ship. When a ship breaks on the open sea, they can often be seen jumping from one wave to another, their feet treading the foamy water on the sea surface. The nymph is so connected to the storm that in one Čakavian song it says: “The storm was my cradle.”
VILINSKO DOBA
In some times In our parts, people talk about a time when fairies lived as if it were a golden age. Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski recorded a story told by the Kajkavian elders about this ancient fairy time: Believe me, sir! It is an old saying that those were the golden times. People were noble then; fields bore wheat and other food without human effort and sweat; everyone’s heart was together, one will, one law, one custom. Fairies helped people back then because they were good; they helped reap fields, mow grass, weed the fields, feed cattle, build houses, pay rent; they gathered sorrow everywhere. But since people betrayed their old virtues; since shepherds abandoned flutes, tambourines and songs, and instead took up whips and started cracking them while herding, inciting and cursing; since guns started to be fired and nations began to persecute each other; fairies disappeared from the Croatian fields and went to some foreign land. Only a few people, who had a particular fondness for fairies, sometimes see them dancing in the fields. They play either on a deserted cliff or a bare wall, sitting alone and crying, or lamenting in sorrowful letters. Compiler: Tatjana Prebeg.