2017/11/23 by Éva Pócs · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies #Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices #Cult #Ancient history #Geography #Archaeology #History
paper · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-58520-2_11
openalex publication_date 2017/11/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
This chapter analyzes fragments of data from the early modern period regarding fairy societies and material from Hungarian and Balkan folklore collections of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The chapter explores several interrelated phenomena: the rites and beliefs of magicians who gained their knowledge from fairies; societies of people in mutual contact with fairies; and troops of fairies who fight “soul battles” with witches. The chapter argues that contacts between humans and fairies form a special form of supernatural communication that belongs to the broad range of the most archaic layer of communication with the dead. The chapter also shows the various degrees of connection between a non-Christian spirit world and Christianity, and the variety of ways in which Christianization took place.