The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (1911)

by W. Y. Evans-Wentz

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This collection of reports of elfin creatures in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany ranks among the most scholarly works ever published on the subject. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries begins with the author's account of firsthand testimony from living sources, classified under individual countries and introduced by leading authorities on anthropology and folklore. The next section concerns the recorded traditions of Celtic literature and mythology, followed by an examination of a variety of theories and their religious aspects. The book concludes with a remarkably rational case for the reality of fairy life. Narrated with an engaging sense of wonder, this volume offers a valuable resource for students of anthropology and Celtic lore, as well as hours of delightful reading for fairy enthusiasts. Unabridged republication of the classic 1911 edition.… (more)

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A voluminous cataloging of oral Celtic folklore at the turn of the century. Contains information on the fairy/deva evolution to some extent but is mainly about beings that would belong to the Elana/Faery race, and in some cases, darker beings from lower planes. Folklore, superstition and spiritual truths are often blended together in mysterious ways and the reader of books such as this one should not take the accounts literally. It can be like detective work. Looking at the clues to find the spiritual truths. What are the allusions and metaphysical meanings? In a sense, it is similar to ferreting out the spiritual truths in fairy tales and religions. (

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FriendsoftheTrees | Feb 12, 2021 |

A dense and scholarly account of the beliefs in the supernatural in Celtic language speaking regions of the world. This book is the pinnacle to which other books of a similar theme aspire. (

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Mootastic1 | Jan 15, 2016 |

Fascinating subject, delightfully earnest and academic, but man, is the prose tortured in places. Still, probably the most detailed collection of eyewitness testimony and likely the most serious academic study ever done on fairies. (

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erebor | Jan 9, 2016 |

Available to read legally for free at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34853

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EMaree | Feb 11, 2014 |

A good comprehensive study first published in 1911.

chg1 | Nov 5, 2008 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
W. Y. Evans-Wentz	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Æ	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
McKenna, Terence	Introduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Raine, Kathleen	Foreword	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Library of the Mystic Arts

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Canonical title

The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries

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Original publication date

1911

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Epigraph

'It remains forever true that the proper study of mankind is man; and even early man is not beneath contempt,especially when he proves to have had within him the makings of a great race, with its highest notions of duty and right, and all else that is noblest in the human soul.
-The Right Hon. Sir John Reys

'There, neither turmoil or silence...
'Though fair in sight of Erin's plains,hardly will they seem so after you have known the Great Plain...
'A wonder of a land the land of which I speak; no youth there grows to old age...
'We behold and are not beheld.'
-The God Midir, in Tochmarc Etaine

Dedication

THIS BOOK depends chiefly upon the oral and written testimony so freely contributed by its many Celtic authors,-the peasant and the scholar, the priest and the scientist, the poet and the business man, the seer and the non-seer,- and in honour of them I DEDICATE it to TWO OF THEIR BRETHREN IN IRELAND: A.E., whose unwavering loyalty to the fairy-faith has inspired much of what I have herein written, whose friendly guidance in my study of Irish mysticism I most gratefully acknowledge;
and WILLIAM BUTLER YEATES who brought to me at my own alma mater in California the first message from Fairyland, and who afterwards in his own country led me through the haunts of of Fairy Kings and Queens.
-OXFORD- NOVEMBER, 1911

First words

There is probably no other place in Celtic lands more congenial, or more inspiring for the writing down of one's deeper intuitions about the Fairy-Faith, than Carnac, under the shadow of the pagan tumulus and mount of the sacred fire, now dedicated by triumphant Christianity to the Archangel Michael.

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Wikipedia in English (7)

Black dog (ghost)

Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism

Corpse road

Fairy Investigation Society

Fairy path

List of love and lust deities

Tylwyth Teg

▾Book descriptions

This collection of reports of elfin creatures in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany ranks among the most scholarly works ever published on the subject. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries begins with the author's account of firsthand testimony from living sources, classified under individual countries and introduced by leading authorities on anthropology and folklore. The next section concerns the recorded traditions of Celtic literature and mythology, followed by an examination of a variety of theories and their religious aspects. The book concludes with a remarkably rational case for the reality of fairy life. Narrated with an engaging sense of wonder, this volume offers a valuable resource for students of anthropology and Celtic lore, as well as hours of delightful reading for fairy enthusiasts. Unabridged republication of the classic 1911 edition.

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