Bring the Magic of Faeries to your Garden

One of my aunts has been very interested in family genealogy for a while, tracing the family back for multiple generations in America and abroad.  She recently used a DNA testing service that measures ancestral history based on certain blood markers and received the results that she had a strong Scotch-Irish heritage. While this mirrored what I had always heard about my maternal grandmother, I had never given it much thought.  For some reason, talking to her this time, motivated me to look more deeply at who the "Scotch Irish" were - which is a fascinating story for another day. As usual, my Google searching led me on a tangent - this time into reading about the faerie history of Scotland and Ireland.  

Fairy Garden - Out 2 Lunch LLC

Although there have been faerie type legends across cultures, from Greek to Norse, to Roman, the Celtic and Gaelic stories seem to be the most predominant in our modern society.  Leprechauns, elves, goblins, among others, are a part of these faerie traditions.  For large parts of human history these stories were accepted as fact and were incorporated into many aspects of life.  Faerie legends often had their roots in ancient religions with a nature or animist base, but they did not die out when Christianity came to the British Isles.  In fact, often, the minor deities in these traditions were recast as faerie folk with the coming of Christianity.  During the 20th century, the faeries fell out of favor as science and reason rose to the forefront. 

In recent years however, faeries have seen a resurgence in popular American culture.  My daughters' preschool years were dominated by the fictional fairy Tinkerbell and her friends.  Although she was a sidekick character in the original works by Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie and the 1953 Disney Film, Tinkerbell became the lead in a series of animated films in over the last decade.  These films focused almost entirely on life in the faerie realm, and introduced countless children to this world.  My daughters had more fairy themed costumes and parties than I care to count! 

Fairy Door - Out 2 Lunch LLC

In addition, fairy festivals and fairy house contests have become popular across the country. Children and adults of all ages participate in these events each year; dressing up and creating tiny fairy homes.  Last summer, Christine and her children created a fairy garden in their yard - it was a great way to use some left over building materials, creating a visually interesting area and allowing the children to have their own garden space.  Pictures of their garden are throughout this article.  We also featured a fairy door tutorial in a prior blog post, found here, that can be attached to a tree as a hidden treasure. We hope you use our ideas as a springboard to follow your imagination, enjoy the spring weather and create some whimsy in your garden! 

Enjoy! 

Stacy