Further Information on the Sidhe

My fantasy, "Sidhe Moves Through the Faire", takes its title from a traditional ballad, "She Moved Through the Fair." If you aren't familiar with the song, you can listen to Celtic Shores' version here. (There were some changes made to the plot of the song. :) )

All names are Celtic in origin, so here's a pronunciation guide (*best guess):

Name	Pronunciation	Meaning	Character
Aisling	A sling	dream, vision	female Fae heroine
Ailill	AL yil	elf	male Fae hero
Caoimhe	KEE va	beauty or grace	human heroine
Fergal	FER ul	manly or valorous	human hero
Darragh	*DAR row	oak	elder brother of twins
Eoghan	OH in	born of the yew	twins’ father
Ailidh	*AL i	kind	twins’ mother
Cian	KEE in	ancient	twins’ uncle
Seamus	SHAY muss	derived from Jacob	Fergal’s grandfather
Tadhg	TYG	poet	magistrate
Laoise	LEE sha	radiant girl	magistrate’s wife
Rioghan	REE awn	little king	magistrate’s son
Ruarc	ROO ark	hero, champion	tower guard captain
Sorcha	SUR a ka	bright, radiant	one of the hatchlings
Tanai	TAHN ee	slender, subtle	one of the hatchlings
Easnadh	AS na	musical sound	youngest hatchling

Sidhe - Sidhe (pronounced 'shee') literally means "people of the (fairy) hills". It is the Gaelic name for the fairies in both Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. Usually these fairies are attracted to those who are beautiful as well as wealthy.

White Lady - all Celtic countries; goddess of death and destruction. Called the Dryad of Death and Queen of the Dead, this goddess was a Crone aspect of the Goddess.

The Dagda - Ireland; god of the arts, knowledge, magic, music, prophecy, prosperity, regeneration. Known as the "Good God" and "Lord of the Heavens," he was one of the high kings of the Tuatha De Danann and had four great palaces under hollow hills. Of his children, the most important are Brigit, Angus, Midir, Ogma and Bodb the Red. His magical cauldron had an inexhaustible supply of food and his oak harp made the seasons change.

The Dagda is portrayed as possessing both super- human strength and appetite. His attributes are a cauldron with an inexhaustible supply of food, a magical harp with which he summons the seasons, and an enormous club, with one end of which he could kill nine men, but with the other restore them to life. He also possessed two marvellous swine---one always roasting, the other always growing---and ever-laden fruit trees.

One of his epithets is Ollathir, which means "All-father". He is identified with the Welsh Gwydion and the Gallic Sucellos.

Morrigan - Ireland, Wales, Britain; a shapeshifting war goddess of lust, magic, prophecy, revenge, war. Known as Great Queen, Supreme War Goddess, Queen of Phantoms, and Specter Queen, she kept company with Fea (hateful), Badb (fury), and Macha (battle). Variants: Morrigu, Morrighan, Morgan.

Seelie Court - The Court of the kind and benign fairy host, usually seen around twilight in long solemn processions. These fairies help the poor with gifts of corn and bread. The opposite of the Seelie Court ("Blessed Court") is the evil Unseelie Court.

Unseelie Court - The evil counterpart of the Seelie Court is always unfavorable towards mankind. The part which flies through the sky at night is called the 'Horde'. Mortals unfortunate enough to cross the Horde's path are taken along for a hell-ride. These poor victims are beaten and pinched and forced to participate in the bizarre nocturnal activities of these creatures. The Unseelie Court ("Unholy Court") solely consists of those of the fairy-like beings which are the most ugly and evil. Unlike the selective, restrictive Seelie Court, the Unseelie Court welcomes anyone and everything with even a drop of ancestral fey blood. Fey can and do breed with anything, creating odd, mixed creatures. Most species consider the offspring grotesque monsters. The mutant creatures gravitate towards the Unseelie Court, which welcomes them and gives them an environment where peculiar physiologies and abilities are the norm.

The Unseelie Court is a more hospitable place for non-fey as well. Court nobles eagerly provide patronage for creatures who are extremely strong, dexterous, clever, beautiful, or talented. Obtaining the sponsorship of a court noble is not without its rewards, nor without its dangers. For instance, a gifted bard whose playing impresses a fey nobleman might be invited to his castle as a guest. Once there, the bard will be feted and asked to play every night -- and never be permitted to leave.

Ruling over all these oddities is the Queen of Air and Darkness: a fey of unsurpassed beauty and grace. The Queen of Air and Darkness has no current consort and no surviving children. The court is rife with gossip and political maneuvering as each noble curries the queen's favor in the hopes of being named the royal heir.

Outsiders not of fey blood are rarely admitted to the Unseelie Court. Visitors must be prepared with unusual and powerful gifts for the Queen, or they might find themselves the quarry of a nightmarish hunt. Suitable gifts for the Queen include figurines of horrific power, gems of darkness, and cursed jewelry. (Details on the figurines of horrific power and gems of darkness will appear in a future fey column on the Wizards website.)

After a millennia of indiscriminate breeding, the physical appearance of the Unseelie Court mirrors the macabre. Twisted columns, trees forced into unnatural growth by royal gardeners, are scattered haphazardly through the hall. Curtains of shadows hide blood-soaked alcoves. Drawn back for times of celebration, the gaping crevasses reveal uninvited guests captured for the amusement of the court. Riotous blooms of nightshades and blood warts glow red in the evening, providing a maddening light to the misshapen court. The throne of the Unseelie Court is shaped like a great shadow dragon, a creature of midnight and darkness, like the queen herself. -- taken from http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/fey/20021213a,0

Aughisky (AGH-iski) is an Irish water fairy that appears in the shape of a horse and will carry a man quite safely inland, but if he smells the sea, he will carry his victim into the water and tear him to pieces and eat all but his liver. --taken from Brian Froud's FAERIES.

The Dagda's Harp: This story concerns the most ancient Irish Celtic gods, the first generation of the Tuatha dé Danaan who had to fight off the giant races of the Firbolgs and the Formorians. Their history is found in the Lebor Gabála, ‘The Book of Invasions’.

When the fairy race of the Tuatha dé Danann arrived in Ireland, they came like a mist across the waters, bringing with them magical gifts. These were the lia fail – the coronation stone, the spear of Lugh, the sword of Nuada, and the great cauldron of the Dagda, which was said to be able to restore life.

The Dagda himself was known as the Good God and he was chief of the gods at this time. Besides his cauldron, he had a harp which was battle-scarred and made of oak. It was covered in rich decorations including a double-headed fish which ran up and down the curved pillar and had jewels for its eyes. Although he had a harper, Uaithne, he could also play it himself.

The Dagda had this harp with him always – he even took it into battle. So it was, that after the second Battle of Mag Tuiread, or Moytura, the Dagda discovered that his harp, together with his harper, had been captured by the Formorians and taken with them in their flight. Angered beyond measure, he set out with his son Aengus Og to reclaim it.

Stealthily they approached the Formorian camp. Soon they could hear the sounds of the feasting hall in which Bres, the Formorian king, was dining. Approaching the doorway, they could just make out through the smoke and candle-flame the outline of the old harp hanging on the wall. Then the Dagda entered boldly and summoned his harp with this chant:

Come Daurdabla, apple-sweet murmurer
Come, Coir-cethair-chuir, four-angled frame of harmony,
Come summer, come winter,
Out of the mouths of harps and bags and pipes!

As with all of the arts, music has its Gods and Goddesses, who were the first to perform these functions. One of the oldest Gaelic Gods, The Dagda, plays each of the seasons into being with his harp. The name of his harp, or in some legends, his harper, is Uaithne, which means pillar or post, but again it has a poetic meaning - internal rhyme. He is the Green Man whose ecstatic dance is the bard's intoxication and madness - the lust of the heart and mind that culminates in the birth of song. When the Dagda's wife Boann was in labour he played three magical strains on Uaithne to help her in her birthing. He played Goltraighe, the weeping strain, for the pain she was suffering. He played Geantraighe, the laughter strain, for the joy of the new life she brought forth. Then he played the exhausted mother to sleep with Suantraighe, the sleeping strain.

Here, do we not have the "internal rhyme" of the cycle of seasons at play? For as the green and grey months rotate, their axis is constant - the eternal pain and joy of the Mother continually bringing forth new life and resting in the darkness of winter.

For the Gael, it is impossible to think about True Music without remembering the "True World" - the Greenworld, for each one is an expression of the other. The Goddess Brighid is the patroness of music, for Brighid of the Mantle of Green is also Brighid of the Harp. The Goddess who is in charge of music in the Land of Promise, one of the Otherworldly realms, is called Uaine, which literally means Green. Many harpers in legend have been taught their art by the Green Harper, another name for the Dagda. Brighid is his daughter - the Eternal Muse. His son is Oengus, the epitome of Desire and Longing...together, they are creation.

The Wild Hunt -- Stories of the Wild Hunt can be found in most of the legends of Northern Europe. From Norway to Orkney, there are many variations, but all of the versions have a great deal of similarity as well. Rather than try and distill the details here (when I should be writing the Chapter of the running) I offer some of the more interesting websites dealing with this myth. These range from treatises that were offered as scholarly papers to descriptions of role-playing scenarios...but all have interesting info on the Hunt: