In the middle of the recent heatwave my family and I went to a nearby river to cool off. We ended up spending the whole day there; trying to take photos of dragonflies (impossible), making wooden dens (hot), creating stone pools in the river (cool), and making up stories about the animals and magical creatures that live in that bit of the river.  

Well it turns out that in the plethora of ‘international days of’ there is an International Fairy Day, an amusing counterpoint to most earnest and well-meaning ‘days of’. Fairy Day’s aim is to encourage a reconnection with myths and cultural traditions and encourage a childlike reconnection with nature – basically what my teenagers and I had accidently spent the day doing to escape the heat.  

In a world that has become increasingly digital and concentration is forever disrupted by notifications, anything that encourages a playful reconnection with nature must be a good thing – but what should we be doing to celebrate our fairy friends in the 21st century? 

While many (all?) cultures have mythical spirit-like creatures, what we understand as fairies originate in disparate stories in European mythology.  

As fairies originate from a time when nature and mother earth was threatening rather than threatened, it seems these forest dwelling creatures were to be avoided wherever possible. Certainly, they should not be offended as they could be the cause of any number of illnesses and afflictions. While the original intention of this was likely to keep humans out of danger, should we now be using them as a way of protecting and enhancing nature? 

The Victorians took these stories of fairies and somewhat trivialised them, turning them into the children’s stories that we’re familiar with. Conversely in many indigenous cultures these stories are often still related to their origin story and contain within them a code for harmonious living with nature. One of the most graphic examples of this are the myths recounted by Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass.  

Wall Kimmerer highlights how the origin story of Skywoman Falling emphasises the mutual interdependence, and gift-giving relationship between humans and the natural world. Likewise The Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash) highlights the need for reciprocity and cooperation and the stories about the monstrous Windigo stress the dangers of greed and excess.  

So while International Fairy Day may just be a bit of fun, the power of stories that connect us to nature and teach us about our role in the natural world should not be underestimated. Really, we need to be protecting nature as if it were full of mischievous easy to annoy fairies, especially as dragonflies ARE fairies, if only we could get a decent photo to prove it.