The fairies ring, also known as the fairy circle , elf circle , elf ring or pixie ring , is a fungus ring or arc that occurs naturally. The rings can grow up to more than 10 meters (33Ã, ft) in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and searches for food underground. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or deserts. Fairy rings can be detected by sporocarps in rings or bows, as well as by necrotic zones (dead grass), or dark green grass circles. The mycelium fungus is present in a ring or a bow underneath.
The fairy ring is the subject of many folklore and myths around the world - particularly in Western Europe. Although they are often seen as dangerous or dangerous places, they can sometimes be attributed to good fortune.
Video Fairy ring
Events
The mycelium of the fungus that grows in the soil absorbs nutrients through the secretion of the enzyme from the tip of the hyphae (the yarn that forms the mycelium). It breaks larger molecules in the ground into smaller molecules which are then absorbed through the hypha walls near their growing tip. The mycelium will move out of the center, and when the nutrients in the center runs out, the center dies, thus forming a living ring, from which the fairy ring appears.
There are two theories about the processes involved in creating fairy rings. One states that the fairy ring is started by spores of sporocarpus. The presence of fungus underground can also cause wilting or various colors or growth of grass above. The second theory, presented in the investigation of Japanese scientists on the species Tricholoma matsutake, shows that fairy rings can be formed by connecting their neighbors with oval genets of this fungus. If they make a bow or a ring, they continue to grow around the center of this object.
Maps Fairy ring
Necrotic or rapid growth zone
One of the manifestations of fairy ring growth is the necrotic zone - an area where grass or other living plants have withered or died. This zone is caused by mycelia which, during a very dry year, coats the grass roots and other herbs in the meadow. After some time they are removed by biotic factors from the soil, where the zone stage at the soil surface becomes visible. Patterns other than the base ring or arc are also possible: circles, double arcs, crescent-shaped bows, and other complicated formations are also formed by this process. The fungus can deplete the soil from available nutrients such as nitrogen, causing the plants that grow inside the circle to become stress causing the color changes of the plant. Some fungi also produce chemicals that act like a hormone called gibberellin, which affects plant growth, causing rapid rapid growth.
Long-term observation of fairy rings at Shillingstone Hill in Dorset, England, further suggests that cycles depend on the presence of rabbits continuously. Calcareous soils at higher altitudes in the districts of Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England are used to support many fairy grass rings. The grass of rabbit plants is very short in the open area and produces nitrogen-rich impurities. Fungi need more soil nitrogen than grass. A ring can range from just some of the spores from which the mycelium develops; the fruiting bodies of fungi only appear later, when sufficient mycelium mass has been generated to support them. The next generation of fungus only grows outward, as the parent generation has spent its local nitrogen level. Meanwhile, rabbits maintain grass, but do not eat mushrooms, allowing them to grow through their competition to the tower, relative, on the grass. By the time the mushroom circle reaches about 6 meters (20 feet) in diameter, the rabbit droppings have replenished the nitrogen level near the center of the circle, and the secondary ring may begin to grow within the first.
The soil analysis contains the mycelium of the blewit wood ( Clitocybe nuda ) of fairy rings under Norwegian pine trees ( Picea abies ) and Scottish pine ( Pinus sylvestris in southeastern Sweden produces fourteen halogenated low molecular weight organic compounds, three of which are chrominated and others chlorinated.It is unclear whether this is a metabolite or a pollutant.Compounds are not known to be metabolites of terrestrial fungi.
Type
There are two types of commonly recognized fairy ring fungus. What is found in the forest is called tethered , because they are formed by mycorrhizal fungi that live symbiotically with trees. Fairy fairy rings are called free , because they are not connected to other organisms. This fungus is saprotrophic. The effect on the grass depends on the type of fungus that grows; when Calvatia cyathiformis grows in the grass will grow more; However, Leucopaxillus giganteus will cause the grass to wither.
The involved species
There are about 60 species of fungus that can grow in a fairy ring pattern. The best known is the edible Scotch hood ( Marasmius oreades ), commonly known as the fairy ring champignon.
One of the largest rings ever found is near Belfort in France. Formed by Infundibulicybe geotropa , it is estimated to be about 600 meters (2,000 feet) in diameter and over 700 years old. In the South Downs in southern England, Calocybe gambosa has formed a large fairy ring that also appears several hundred years old.
List of species
Cultural reference
Oral tradition and folklore
Many folklore surrounds the fairy ring. Their names in European languages ​​often allude to supernatural origins; they are known as the ronds de sorciers in France, and the Hexenringe ("witch ring") in German. In the German tradition, fairy rings are considered to mark the wizard's dance location on Walpurgis Night, and Dutch superstitions claim that the circle shows where the Devil arranges his milk to shake. In Tyrol, folklore links a fairy ring with a fiery flying dragon tail; once a dragon creates such a circle, there is nothing but an umbrella mushroom that can grow there for seven years. European superstitions regularly warn against entering the fairy ring. French tradition reports that fairy rings are guarded by large eyed toads that condemn those who break the circle. In other parts of Europe, entering the fairy ring will result in loss of eyes. The fairy ring is associated with a small spirit in the Philippines.
Western Europeans, including Britain, Scandinavia and Celtic, tradition claim that fairy rings are the result of fairies or fairies dancing. Such an idea is at least until the mediation period; The English term Central elferingewort ("elf-ring"), meaning "daisy ring caused by elves' danced" dates to the 12th century. In his book of History of the Goths (1628), Olaus Magnus makes this connection, saying that fairy rings are burned to the ground by the dance of the elves. British storyteller Thomas Keightley notes that in Scandinavia at the beginning of the 20th century, the conviction persists that the elfdans ring emerge from the dance of elves. Keightley warned that when entering the elfdans might allow smugglers to see the elves - although this is not guaranteed - it would also make intruders subdued on their illusions.
The stories of the folk of the British Isles contain a wealth of fairy tales, including the idea of ​​where the fairy rings take their name: the phenomenon of the result of a fairy dance. In nineteenth-century Wales, where the ring is known as Cylch y Tylwyth Teg, fairies are almost always described as dancing in groups when encountered, and in Scotland and Wales at the end of the 20th century, the story of the ring fairies are still common; some Welsh even claim to have joined the fairy dance. Victorian folklorists consider fairies and magicians as related, partly based on the idea that the two are believed to be dancing in a circle. These revels are mainly related to the moonlit nights, the rings are only visible to humans the next morning. Local variants add more details. An early twentieth-century Irish tradition says that fairies enjoy dancing around the hawthorn tree so that fairy rings often focus on one. One of Balquhidder's residents, Scotland, says that the fairies sit on mushrooms and use them as dinnertables, and a Welsh woman claims that fairies use mushrooms as umbrellas and umbrellas. Olaus Magnus at Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus writes that the fairy fairy's brightness does not come from the fairies dances, which hurt him with their feet, but from Puck, which refresh the grass. A Devon legend says that black chickens and cocks sometimes appear at dusk in the big fairy rings on the edge of Dartmoor. A Welsh and Manx variant in the 1960s eliminated the dance of the image and claimed that a fairy ring popped up over an underground fairy village. This association has been associated with a particular site. For example, "The Pixies' Church" is a rock formation in Dartmoor surrounded by fairy rings, and the cobblestone circle of Cader Idris in north Wales, is believed to be a popular spot for fairy dances. Guernsey Fairy Ring is also a popular spot for fairie dancing and is known for having a nasty fairy who lives there.
Many people's beliefs generally paint fairy rings as dangerous places, should be avoided. Sikes traces the stories of people who enter without permission to the forbidden territory and are punished for it to the stories of Psyche and Eros. Inside, Psyche is forbidden to see her lover, and when she does, her palace disappears and she is left alone. Superstition calls the circle of the holy elf and warns against breaking it so that the disputing person (like a farmer with a plow) infuriates the fairy and is cursed. In Irish legend recorded by Wilde, a farmer built a barn on a fairy ring despite protests from his neighbors. He was beaten uneasily one night, and a local "fairy doctor" broke the curse. The farmer said that he dreamed that he had to destroy the barn. Even collecting dew from grass or flowers from fairy rings can bring bad luck. Destroying the fairy ring was unlucky and futile; Superstition says it will only grow back.
A traditional Scottish poem sums up the dangers of such places:
Many legends focus on humans who enter the fairy ring - and its consequences. One superstition is that anyone who enters the empty fairy ring will die at a young age. The 20th century tradition of Somerset calls the fairy a "kitchen trap" and says that a murderer or thief who walks in the ring will be hanged. Most often, someone who breaks the fairy perimeter becomes invisible to the outsider and may find it impossible to leave the circle. Often, fairies force mortal beings to dance to the point of exhaustion, death, or madness. In the Welsh fairy tale, fairies are actively trying to lure people into their circles to dance with them. A tale from the Cambrian Mountains of Wales, currently in the 19th century, describes the encounter of a creature with a fairy ring:
... he saw Tylwyth Teg, in appearance like a small soldier, dancing in a ring. He went to the place of debauchery, and immediately approached the ring where, in a gay male and female company, they tipped him with harp music. He had never seen such good-looking people before, nor was he so cheerful. They beckoned him with a laughing face to join them as they leaned back almost falling, spinning around in circles with hands hand in hand. Those who dance never veer from the perfect circle; but some climb on top of old cromlech, and others chase each other with shocking speed and greatest excitement. The others rode the smallest, most beautiful white horses... All this in silence, for the shepherd could not hear the harp, even though he saw them. But now he is getting closer to the circle, and finally ventured to put his feet in the magic ring. As soon as he does this, his ears are fascinated with the most melodious music he has ever heard.
Entering the ring on May Night or Halloween night is very dangerous. A source near Afon fach Blaen y Cae, a tributary of Dwyfach, tells of a shepherd who inadvertently disrupts the circle of busyness in which the fairies prepare to dance; they arrested her and arrested her, and she even married one of them. In a variant of Scotland recorded by Edwin Sidney Hartland in 1891, the ring was replaced by an old cave or factory.
Freedom from fairy rings often requires external intervention. A tactic from the early 20th century Wales was to cast wild marjoram and thyme into a circle and confuse the fairies; others ask the savior to touch the victim with iron. Other stories require that the enchanted victim is only deprived by someone outside, although this can be difficult: A farmer in a tale from the Llangollen area should tie a rope around him and ask four people to pull him from the circle. when he went to save his daughter. Other folk methods depend on the Christian faith to break the charm: a tree from a rowan tree (considered the wood where the cross of Jesus Christ was built) can break the curse, as well as a simple phrase like "what, in the Name of Heaven", as in the 19th century story of Carmarthenshire. A common element for this recovery is that a savior must wait a year and a day from the moment the victim enters the ring.
Humans who have danced with fairies are seldom safe after being saved from their charms. Often, they find that what appears, but plunges into a fairy tale, is much longer in the mortal world, perhaps weeks or years. People rescued from fairy rings may not have memories of their encounters with sprites, as in the Anglesea story recorded in 1891. In most stories, unsaved smugglers face a grim fate. For example, in the legend of Carmarthenshire, recorded by Sikes, a man was saved from a fairy ring only to crumble into dust. In a story from Mathavarn, Parish of Llanwrin, the fairy-tale survivors will leave when he eats his first meal. Another vulnerability seems to be iron; in a tale from the Aberystwyth region, a touch of metal causes a saved woman to disappear.
Some legends claim that the only safe way to investigate the fairy ring is to run around it nine times. It gives the ability to hear fairies dance and play under the ground. According to the Northumberland tradition of the 20th century, this must be done under a full moon, and runners must travel towards the sun; to go widdershins allow the fairies to put the runners under their control. To circle the ring, the tenth is something stupid and dangerous. Keightley notes a similar tradition from Northumberland in 1905: "Children are constantly running this number [nine times], but nothing will encourage them to run to ten." A story from the early 20th century England says that mortal beings can see sprites without fear if a friend puts his feet on the feet of someone who stepped outside the circle of circles. Other superstitions say that wearing an upside cap can confuse the fairies and prevent them from pulling the wearer into their rings.
Although they have a strong association with catastrophe, some legends paint a fairy circle as a place of fertility and luck. The belief of the Welsh people is that mountain sheep feeding the grass from the fairy rings thrives, and the plants sown from such a place will prove more abundant than those of ordinary soil. The people's convictions recorded in Athens Oracle claim that a house built on a fairy circle will bring prosperity to its inhabitants. Likewise, the legend of Pont y Wern says that in the 13th or 14th century, residents of the town of Corwrion watched the fairies dance in the ring around the sun worms every Sunday after the church at a place called Pen y Bonc. They even join the sprites in their revels. The legend persisted in the poem: "With fairies swiftly dancing round/worms at the Rising Ground." A Welsh tale recorded by Rhys in 1901 tells of a man who supposedly lived on Berwyn's side, above Cwm Pennant, in the early 19th century. The man destroyed the bird's nest in a tree surrounded by a fairy ring. In gratitude, the fairies give him half a crown every day but stop when he tells his friends, "because he has broken the rules of the just people by making their freedom known". Nevertheless, fairy tales are not without their curse, and stories often tell about sprites demanding their revenge.
Literature
The fairy ring has been featured in the work of European writers, playwrights, and artists since the 13th century. In his Arthurian romance Meraugis de Portlesguez , Raoul de Houdenc describes a scene clearly from the Celtic fairy-ring: The title character visited ChÃÆ' Â ¢ teau des Caroles and saw the female circle and the knight's dance. around the pine in the castle courtyard. Meraugis can not resist the strong desire to join, thus freeing the previous knights from the spell. Meraugis is powerless to leave the dance until, ten weeks later, another knight joins and frees him. The fairy circle is featured in works by some poets and Elizabethan playwrights. William Shakespeare alludes to them at Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene I ("And I serve the fairy queen,/To persuade his balls on the green" and "To dance our rings to the windshow") , and The Tempest , Act V, Scene I:
Contemporary Shakespeare Thomas Randolph speaks of fairy rings in his book Amyntas, or Impossible Dowry (1638), and Michael Drayton describes one at Nymphidia: The Court of Fairy :
Fairy image became very popular in the Victorian era. Thomas Hardy used the fairy ring as a symbol of love lost in Mayor Casterbridge (1886); the character of Michael Henchard passes through the fairy ring and remembers that he last saw his wife Susan there when he sold it to a sailor in a drunken rage. The Victorian poets who call the fairy rings in their work include Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Eliza Cook, Robert Stephen Hawker, Felicia Hemans, Gerald Massey, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. W. H. Cummings composed the Canteen's The Fairy Ring, and William Butler Yeats wrote it in The Land of Heart's Desire (1894). Art
The fairy circle has appeared in European artwork since at least the 18th century. For example, William Blake painted Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, depicting scenes from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, around 1785, and Daniel Maclise painting Faun and the Fairy around 1834. The picture of the fairy dancing in the circle became a favorite of painters in the Victorian era. On the one hand, artists are genuinely interested in the represented imaging culture, and on the other hand, fairies can be described as imitating bare and semi-naked without offending the Victorian customs, which make them a popular subject of art collectors. Examples of Victorian fairy paintings include Come to Yellow Sands (1842) by Richard Dadd and Reconciliation of Titania and Oberon (1847) by Joseph Noel Paton.
Note
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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