Folklore, Fantasy and the Fairy Hobmother

Folklore, Fantasy and the Fairy Hobmother

Growing up in Trinidad we have heard some very strange folklore about spirits, creatures and things that just scared you to pieces as a child.  I will never forget my grandfather telling us stories of different folklore characters.

 La Diablesse

 

As a child I remember hearing my grandmother talk about La Diablesse.  It was rumored that she was a devil woman.  She wears a long dress to conceal the fact that one of her feet is a cow’s hoof.  While she may appear young, she wears ancient attire from the Caribbean islands, including a splendid madras turban with a silk or cotton scarf, as well as embroidered and laced undergarments.  La Diablesse shows up at dances in towns and villages, her bewitching charm impresses the men and she soon asks one of them if he’d like to take her home. She puts him under her spell and lures him into the depths of the forests before suddenly vanishing.  Leaving the man in the woods lost, frightened and confused some people even go as far to say that those men just disappear or get killed by wild animals.  In order to protect yourself from her you would have to turn your clothes inside out so that way she couldn’t harm you.  Lots of women used this story to get their men to come home earlier instead of stay out late hours of the night.

She was just one of the many folklore stories we heard about, they include Douen, Soucouyant, Papa Bois, Ligahoo, and others were among the stories past down from generation to generation.  Which brings me to fantasy.  Since moving to Baltimore it seems like the things I know as folklore is called more fantasy here.  It’s becoming so popular that you can find movies and whole books written about fantasy creatures like vampires.

Vampires have come a very long way over the years.  They seem to be changing to rules with each new movie or show.  I remember it was simple at first.  Vampires slept all day and would hunt at night.  They lived on human or animal blood and had to be invited into your home before they could enter.  They were afraid of garlic, holy water, crosses and mirrors.  Now things have changed, for example my favorite vampire show “True Blood” totally changed the way I view vampires.  First garlic doesn’t work on them at all.  Plus these vampires can glamour you into pretty much anything thing.  True Blood shows vampires that are more organized and they have a hierarchy system – well at least they use to before this past season.  Just like in the Twilight Saga those vampires were out in daylight (granted it was cloudy outside) they didn’t seem to mind mirrors and garlic and they also didn’t seem to have issues with entering houses.  That brings me to the Fairy Hobmother.

I remember the first time I came across the name Fairy Hobmother, it was on Twitter and I was very interested when I read the post.  See the Fairy Hobmother visits different blogs and if he likes you work he contacts you.  I had visited post, after post of bloggers that the Fairy Hobmother had visited hoping that he would stop by my blog, but then I gave up and started to lose hope and when I woke up after a long, long weekend I got an email with the time “The Fairy Hobmother has Contacted You”  I was surprised and so happy to get the visit.  The best part is getting to give other bloggers the opportunity to get a visit from the Fairy Hobmother.  If you would like a visit then comment below and make sure you include your website.

When he’s not checking out blogs and making their owns smile a bit, he manages his fairy overloads of Appliances Online.  If you have a chance check out his site and share this post so he can continue his work.  I hope you learned something new from my folklore, fantasy and the Fairy Hobmother post.

Disclosure: This sponsored post is brought to you by the Fairy Hobmother.  Any and all opinions are my own and have not been influenced.