elven jewelry
Scandinavian mythology includes light-elves (Lioslfar) who dwell in the third space in heaven, dark-elves (Dcklfar), and black-elves (Svartalfar). The black-elves were skilled smiths, and the most skilled were reputed to be the sons of Ivaldi, the father of Idun.
The elves of Norse mythology have survived into folklore mainly as females. The lvor (Swedish, singular lva) were stunningly beautiful girls who lived in the forest with an elven king. They were long-lived and light-hearted in nature. They could be seen at night dancing over meadows. The circles they left were called lvdanser (elf dances) or lvringar (elf circles). If a human watched their dance, he would discover that even though only a few hours seemed to have passed, many years had passed in the real world. (This time phenomenon is retold in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings when the Fellowship of the Ring discovers that time seems to have run more slowly in elven Lothlrien. It also has a remote parallell in the Irish sdhe).
The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett feature extradimensional creatures called elves, that go back to the old myths of cradle-robbing fairies. The book Lords and Ladies is about an encounter with "the fair folk".Elves are mythical creatures of Germanic mythology that have survived in northern European folklore. Originally a race of minor gods of nature and fertility, they are often pictured as small, youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and other natural places, underground, or in wells and springs. They have been imagined to be long-lived or immortal and magical powers have been attributed to them. Something associated with elves or the qualities of elves is described by the adjectives elfin, elven, elfish, or elvish. Elves are staple characters in modern fantasy. They are also called:In the Nordic countries where elves have since become associated with Christmas, elves are clad all in red and have long beards and black boots. On Christmas Eve, one must give the elves a bowl of porridge to keep them from playing pranks. In Iceland, from December 12 until Christmas Eve, thirteen elves called the Yule lads visit homes, a lad each day for 13 days, and play tricks on the children, as well as leaving presents for them.Towards the end of the 20th century, a number of people have begun to describe themselves as elves, usually more of the Tolkien than the folkloric Santa type. Many of these people can be found in the Otherkin subculture.Buy celtic jewelry online in the largest celtic storePurchase gothic jewelry online in the largest gothic storeChristopher Paolini's Eragon also features elves of a Nordic persuasion.German folklore held that elves had a particular fondness for children and would appear to those about to die, rather like the Irish banshee. This aspect of the legend was immortalised by Goethe in his poem Der Erlknig, later set to music by Schubert.Before they became diminutive and whimsical, elves were probably akin to powerful pre-Christian forest spirits like the woodwose, the Green Man, and the drusi in the mythology of the Gauls beings to be respected and even feared. A trace of the former importance of elves in Germanic culture exists in names like Alfred (Old English lfrd, "elf-counsel") and Alvin (Old English lfwine, "elf-friend").What remained of the belief in elves in German folklore was that they were mischievous pranksters that could cause disease to cattle and people, and bring bad dreams to sleepers. The German word for nightmare, Albtraum, means "elf dream". The archaic form Albdruck means "elf pressure"; it was believed that nightmares are a result of an elf sitting on the dreamer's chest.In 1954, Poul Anderson introduced grim Norse-style elves in his fantasy novel The Broken Sword and made them full-sized.