Smithsonian Associates – The Fairies of Winter: From Nisser to Huldufolk
If you ask most people what a fairy is, they would describe a small, sweet, human-shaped being with butterfly wings who occasionally sparkles and grants wishes. If you ask folklorists, however, they’ll tell you that the tiny, sparkling version of fairies is a relatively new idea, and that, in fact, the fairies of older traditions are something much stranger and wilder. Among the most compelling are the fairies of the dark, cold winter.
Folklorists Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman explore winter fairies from different cultures, including the horse- and home-tending Scandinavian nisser, who love a good bowl of porridge; Cailleach Bheur from Scotland, who may be a personification of winter; and Yuki Onna of Japan, who will suck your breath away if she catches you alone on a mountain during a snowstorm. You also hear stories about the elusive Icelandic huldufolk, literally “the hidden people,” who sometimes sport hollowed-out backs like trees and cow tails. Cleto and Warman also illuminate how winter fairies show up in popular books and media, from Hans Christian Andersen to C.S. Lewis to the recent Emily Wilde book series by Heather Fawcett.
At their core, fairies are complex, disarming creatures who vividly reflect the people and cultures who tell stories about them.