sabato 13 settembre 2014

Mitologia celtica: il "piccolo popolo" o "popolo fatato"



Sidhe (ʃiːə, approssimativamente scii) è la parola gaelica che indica il popolo fatato. Significa "Popolo delle Colline".[1]
Il Sidhe è anche l’oltretomba celtico, un mondo parallelo felice che può essere interpretato sia come mondo invisibile abitato dal "Buon Popolo" o "Piccolo Popolo", come spesso è chiamato (folletti, fate, elfi, gnomi, ecc.), o più semplicemente come l’immagine evocativa del mondo spirituale.

La leggenda

Daoine Sidhe (si pronuncia diine scii) è il nome assunto dai Tuatha De Danann (discendenti della Dea Danu) quando i Milesi (invasori dell'Irlanda) li respinsero sottoterra. Loro re era Finvarra, che da quel giorno regna nel suo palazzo sotto la collina fatata di Knockma. La loro abilità nel gioco degli scacchi è leggendaria e nessun essere umano è mai riuscito a batterli, lo stesso Re Finvarra ha tale titolo poiché è il più bravo giocatore di scacchi fra di loro. Finvarra è conosciuto anche come donnaiolo e spesso si reca sul piano terreno per rapire donne mortali.
Quando i Tuatha De Danann, antichi sovrani dell’Irlanda arcaica, si allontanarono dall’isola, non si sa bene dove si diressero: c’è chi afferma che la loro migrazione li portò dalle coste fino all’entroterra, in un posto chiamato Færie, con una conseguente integrazione culturale, e chi sostiene invece che tornarono nell’isola da cui arrivarono.
Ma le leggende li mistificano come un popolo fatato e semidivino dell’Annwyn (l’aldilà celtico) i cui membri, immortali e potenti maghi, partecipavano a eterni banchetti in luoghi fuori dallo spazio e dal tempo, collocati spesso all’interno degli antichi tumuli o in prossimità di dolmen o dei laghi, oppure danzavano sotto la luna, oppure ancora rapivano bambini.
La magia di questi luoghi sacri ne rievocano infatti lo spirito. Si narra che gli elfi siano tutto ciò che resta dei Tuatha de Danaan, guardiani dei laghi irlandesi e scozzesi.

Note

  1. ^ Froud-Lee, op. cit.

Bibliografia



Little people (mythology)


Little people have been part of the folklore of many cultures in human history, including Ireland, Greece, the Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, Flores Island, Indonesia, andNative Americans.

Native American "Little People" from Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children by Mabel Powers 1917

Native American folklore[edit]

The Native peoples of North America told legends of a race of "little people" who lived in the woods near sandy hills and sometimes near rocks located along large bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes. Often described as "hairy-faced dwarfs" in stories, petroglyphsillustrations show them with horns on their head and traveling in a group of 5 to 7 per canoe.[1]

How Morning Star Lost her Fish - from Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children by Mabel Powers 1917
Native legends often talk of the little people playing pranks on people such as singing and then hiding when an inquisitive person searches for the music. It is often said that the little people love children and would take them away from bad or abusive parents or if the child was without parents and left in the woods to fend for themselves.
Other legends say the little people if seen by an adult human would beg them not to say anything of their existence and would reward those who kept their word by helping them and their family out in times of need. From tribe to tribe there are variations of what the little people's mannerisms were like, and whether they were good or evil may be different. Many of the elders still have a belief in these beings, but younger generations tend not to believe in these stories.
One of the common beliefs is that the little people create distractions to cause mischief. They were believed to be gods by some. One North American Native tribe believed that they lived in nearby caves.[citation needed] The caves were never entered for fear of disturbing the little people.
The physical remains of tiny people have been reported found in various locations in the western United States, particularly Montana and Wyoming. Typically these are described as being found in caves with various details such as descriptions that they were "perfectly formed", dwarf-size, etc. Archeologist Lawrence L. Loendorf notes that "The burials, of course, are always sent to a local university or to the Smithsonian for analysis, only to have both the specimens and research results disappear."[2] Loendorf also suggests that the discovery of two mummies of anencephalic infants in the first half of the twentieth century with deformities that caused some people to believe they were adults has "contributed to public belief in the existence of a group of tiny prehistoric people.[3]
A graveyard unearthed in the 1830s in Coshocton County, Ohio was believed to contain skeletons belonging to a pygmy race. In fact, the graves (which were roughly three feet long) were "bone burials" containing disarticulated or bent bones packed together.[4]

Native American little people

The Native American little people were said to reside in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming. The Pryors are famous for their "fairy rings" and strange happenings. Some members of the Crow tribe consider the little people to be sacred ancestors and require leaving an offering for them upon entry to the area.[9]

Little people from Stories Iroquois Tell Their Children by Mabel Powers 1917

Types of little people in mythology

Types of little people in fictional mythologies

See also

References

  1. Jump up^ Furtman, Michael. 2000. Magic on the Rocks. Birch Portage Press.
  2. Jump up^ Loendorf, Lawrence L.; Nancy Medaris Stone (2006). Mountain Spirit: The Sheep Eater Indians of Yellowstone. University of Utah Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0874808681.
  3. Jump up^ Loendorf, Lawrence L.; Nancy Medaris Stone (2006). Mountain Spirit: The Sheep Eater Indians of Yellowstone. University of Utah Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0874808681.
  4. Jump up^ Squier, Ephraim George (1849, reprint 1984). Aboriginal Monuments of New York. Sourcebook Project. p. 130. ISBN 978-0915554157.
  5. Jump up^ Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children
  6. Jump up^ Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary
  7. Jump up^ Daniels and Stevens, Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, 1903, p. 1421.
  8. Jump up^ Frey, The World of the Crow Indians: As Driftwood Lodges, 1993, p. 68.
  9. Jump up^ Cheung, Theresa. 2006. The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World. Harper Element.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Daniels, Cora Linn and Stevens, C.M. Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World. Milwaukee, Wisc.: J. H. Tewdai & Sons, 1903.
  • Frey, Rodney. The World of the Crow Indians: As Driftwood Lodges. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
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2 commenti:

  1. Silvia Negretti15 settembre 2014 alle ore 13:52

    Sempre interessantissimi questi tuoi post! Sai davvero tantissime cose su argomenti sui quali non è facile trovare notizie, complimenti!
    Poi, lo sai, ho un debole per fate & co, quindi leggo sempre con molto entusiasmo qusti post! :D

    PS: Sabato è stato il compleanno di mio fratello e lui ha dato un festa in stile medievale in un locale a tema che si chiama "Avalon", dato che non avevo idea di come vestirmi sono corsa a spulciare tra i tuoi post per avere qualche ispirazione, in questo caso sono stati davvero la mia salvezza!^^

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. Richard Oakgreat15 settembre 2014 alle ore 14:05

      Grazie!!! Sono davvero felice che i miei post di argomento "celtico" e fatato ti abbiano fornito un'idea per la serata a tema medievale all' "Avalon": mai nome fu più indicato!!! :-D
      Dev'essere stata una serata spettacolare! ;-)

      Elimina

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