Fairies? Yes. Fairies.
Why that?
Well, it’s that writer brain acting up again. I know, it can be a nuisance, popping up at the most inappropriate times hahaha.
But I really thought about them. What are they? From where do they come? And, you probably wonder, what does this have to do with naturism? Well, hang in there, dear reader. We’ll get to that.
So. What are fairies?
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. Myths and stories about fairies do not have a single origin, but are rather a collection of folk beliefs from disparate sources. Wikipedia
I was immediately drawn to the words ‘supernatural’ (a manifestation or event attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature) and ‘preternatural’ (beyond what is normal or natural).
Okay. Nature is definitely a part of it. And I think you may get where I am going here. Suppose fairies were real and not thought up by humans. What would they look like? Hint: the one above is clearly according to ‘the rules’. She wears a dress. A very human dress, which is idiotic for a non-human creature. For me all living creatures come from nature, so fairies would come from nature too. A part of nature science doesn’t understand.
Natural fairies
Wouldn’t this fairy be much more ‘natural’?
I would like to think so. Just like humans, dogs, horses and other creatures from nature, they would start off naked. Would they need clothes like humans do? Perhaps. But since they are considered super- or preternatural, they might be beyond such things (and yes, I do envy them for that, even when this is all hypothetical).
Humans started covering their body for warmth, but humans are not supernatural, no matter how many of us think we are. So why would fairies need that same kind of covering?
Unfortunately, fairies are thought up by dressed humans, which is why most of them are depicted like dressed humans.
Still, my writer’s mind insists on naked ones. Since they are from nature. And that’s where you also often find naturists.
Read the original Peter Pan. Fairies, mermaids and Peter himself all seem to disdain clothes. The Lost Boys wear animal skin clothing as a sign of their subordinaton to Peter.
It just makes so much more sense!
tell that to the prudish moralists in control of society at every level who, irrespective or religion, wouldn’t be happier than when everyone is covered head to toe in shapeless cloth sacks.
They may voice their opposition to the Taliban, but that’s mostly because they’re jealous of them.
Disney has a lot to answer for.
Further to your discussion of ‘natural’ fairies.
Why would a fairy be essentially a human (perhaps a miniature one) with wings (usually obviously inefficient if not outright ineffective.)? Fairies are always described as being not-human, i.e. they are not of our species, nor probably primates, or even mammals yet so many depictions of them, including the ones in your article, are of these insect winged humans. Why do female fairies invariably have very human mammary appendages? Not even our nearest evolutionary relatives possess much in that regard beyond the practical necessities for mammalian infant feeding.
My own view of a natural fairy would more closely resemble an intelligent, sentient, possibly magical winged grasshopper of any size from the diminutive to almost human – and absolutely nude. Let’s face it, who needs clothing when you have an exoskeleton! For flight, clothing would be a heavy, drag creating nuisance. Clothing is, as you noted, a human invention our ancestors devised to stay warm during the ice ages. Possibly fairies, being intelligent, could have done the same for the same reason, although I suspect that they may have simply flown to warmer regions as the glaciers advanced rather than encumbered themselves with gross animal skins etc. In either case, they would have even more reason to ditch the clothing as the ice retreated than our ancestors did and so would, in post-ice-age times, again been nude. And still not humans with wings.
All valid points, absolutely. But my starting point wasn’t to ‘reinvent’ or ‘re-imagine’ fairies in such a radical manner. I was wondering about the clothes aspect.