Tylwyth teg
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Tylwyth teg is a common Welsh name for fairies, which means "the fair folk." Sometimes called "bendith y mamau" which means "a mother's blessing" and is a euphemism for these fairies in Glamorganshire. Their king is said to be Gwyn ap Nudd. They are associated with the lake, Llyn y Fan Fach in south Wales.
Calling fairies by a favorable name "fair folk" or "mother's blessing" was hoped to avert kidnapping in which the faeries would typically leave a sickly changeling child in the place of the healthy child they had stolen.
These fairies were described as fair-haired and as loving golden hair. They were said to covet mortal children with blond or fair hair. They are usually portrayed as benevolent but capable of mischief. They are neither entirely good or completely evil, unlike the Seelie and Unseelie. In their benevolent capacity, they might, for example, reward a woman who kept a tidy house with gifts of silver.
The Tylwyth Teg are said to fear iron and unbaptized children could supposedly be protected from them by placing a a poker over their cradle.
The Fair Family of Wales also known as Bendith Y Mamau (the Mother’s Blessing), a euphemism used to avert kidnappings and other mischief. The Fair Family included the Jili Ffrwtan who were Y Tylwyth Teg female fairies who are proud and amorous
Gwlad y Tylwyth Teg is a Welsh name for fairy-land and their kind is Gwyn ap Nudd, the British God of the Dead.
The Tywyth teg had Fairy paths upon which it was death for a mortal to walk.
[edit] References
- MacKillop, James (1998). Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 368. ISBN 0192801201.
- Wentz, W. Y. (1998). The Fairy-faith in Celtic Lands. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 524. ISBN 019072518.
- Evans, Hugh (1938). Y Tylwyth Teg. Liverpool: Gwasg Y Brython, 98.
