Changelings

Figure 1: A faery stealing a human child to exchange with one of their own, known as a Changeling (Source: Google Images)

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you know that from time to time a blog post comes up that explores cultural notions of phenomenon that are not easily explained without modern medical and/or scientific knowledge of the world.  We see this in how the Tiwi explained pregnancy and how various ancient groups viewed genetic defects.  Each of these examples justified specific cultural practices among their respective groups.  I bring this point up now because today’s blog post will explore European folklore concerning Changelings, a topic that may be quite jarring to some readers.  While exploring this topic I encourage you to take a culturally relativistic approach when considering this folklore and the cultural phenomenon associated with it.  Changelings will be explored first through defining what they are, the customs and traditions surrounding them, and the social purpose of the folklore and associated customs and traditions. 

Changelings (Figure 1) are mythical creatures derived from European folklore.  The folklore existed for centuries, with the origins dating to the Medieval Period before diminishing in the 19^th century.  According to the folklore changelings were fairies (or other supernatural creature) that stole healthy human children and replaced them with sickly changeling children.  The purpose of this exchange was to strengthen the reproductive success of the changeling population by introducing human children to their breeding population.  As European societies changed and began adopting Christianity as the dominant faith the Changeling myth morphed to accommodate the new belief system.  As result human children were believed to be the spawn of Satan or other demonic union, which caused the parents and others around the child to believe the accused Changeling child was without a soul.

These are important distinctions to note because of what specific characteristics among human children designated them as being identified as Changelings.  Not just any child could be accused of being a Changeling.  Typically, this was an accusation reserved for extremely sick children or those with physical or mental disabilities.  Due to the nature of the myth (in that healthy human children were stolen) it is most likely that children who fell gravely ill or who, as they grew out of infancy, began exhibiting symptoms related to some sort of mental defect were the ones most often identified as being Changelings. 

These accusations were not freely given, and they were not without scrutiny.  If a parent felt that their child had been taken and exchanged with a Changeling the parent would seek confirmation from a higher authority, typically a religious or medical professional.  A series of tests would be suggested to determine if the child was indeed a Changeling.  Unfortunately for the child these tests were often painful and what we, in modern society, would deem abusive.  Children would be beaten, burned, drowned, starved, or otherwise abused in another manner.  The rational behind these actions was that the Changeling’s parents would rescue their child and return the human child in exchange for ending the abuse.  

Figure 2: Young Irish boys dressed as girls so as to avoid being kidnapped (Source: Irish Folk Tours)

This justification was provided to parents across Europe as a means of hope for a beneficial outcome (being that their healthy child would return) if they undertook such abusive but necessary testing.  Unfortunately, most of the children did not survive such testing.  This leads to the purpose of the Changeling folklore: to provide a means of guilt displacement for families who could not care for their “Changeling” children.  Because Changelings were individuals who were very sick or those with mental defects there were two possible outcomes for them: in the case of very sick children they would ultimately die, which led to grief-stricken parents who would have difficulties overcoming the loss.  The second outcome was a child with mental defects growing up throughout childhood and into adulthood and forever being a financial and physical burden to their parents.  When this folklore existed every member of the family had to contribute to their own and the family’s well-being.  There was little room and time for individuals who could not take care of themselves.  Therefore, the Changeling myth may have provided parents with an acceptable option for ridding themselves of children that they could not financially or otherwise take care of.  (Keep in mind, mental and medical institutions that exist today to aid these mentally disabled individuals did not exist during the periods in which Changelings were identified.)

The Changeling folklore did not just cause terrible cultural actions.  It also had some positive effects on social interactions.  Because no one wanted their child to be stolen by supernatural entities (be it fairies or demons) great care and attention was given to newborns.  It was believed that a child was most vulnerable during the first six weeks of its life, meaning a mother was often assisted during this time in caring for her newborn infant.  This provided the infant with the psychological and physical care that is so important at these early stages of development.  These acts also freed up the mother to properly recover from childbirth, which was and remains an incredibly physically and emotionally traumatic event.  (Note, we, in Western societies, have moved away from proper care of mothers during this critical period, although we are beginning to move back toward providing minimal care to mothers.) 

There was, however, one “odd” cultural phenomenon that resulted from the Changeling myth.  According to the folklore male children were most likely to be stolen, so young boys were often dressed as girls until reaching puberty (Figure 2).  This cross-dressing tradition was meant to confuse supernatural entities who sought to steal and exchange human male children for sickly Changeling offspring.  This tradition was quite commonplace throughout the United Kingdom.

The Changeling folklore is one that while horrific by our modern standards provided a socially acceptable means for justifying death and loss among European groups.  When viewed from this lens one can understand how this folklore aided families in coping with their grief upon the loss of a child (no matter how that loss happened).  Instead of believing that their child had died they instead believed that their child was living a happy and carefree life among the faeries.  As Christianity took hold the loss of the child was seen as the banishment of a demonic spirit and the soul of the unborn child was in Heaven with God.  Both rationalizations provided grieving parents with hope and the ability to move on, which was needed during these periods since infant and child death was commonplace.  Therefore, try not to be too judgmental of the actions of those of the past.  They did what they needed to survive, which is no different than the actions taken by many among us today.

References

Ashliman, D. (1997). Changelings: An Essay. Retrieved from University of Pittsburgh: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/changeling.html

Ashliman, D. (2018, October 16). Changeling Legends from the British Isles. Retrieved from University of Pittsburgh: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/britchange.html

Asma, S. T. (2009). On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Goodey, C., & Stainton, T. (2001). Intellectual Disability and the Myth of the Changeling Myth. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 37, 223-240.

Hooykaas, J. (1960). The changeling in Balinese folklore and religion. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 116, 424-436.

Leask, J., Leask, A., & Silove, N. (2005). Evidence for autism in folkore? Archives of Disease in Childhood, 90, 271.

NRushton. (2016, December 27). Swapping Babies: The Disturbing Faerie Changeling Phenomenon. Retrieved from Ancient Origins: https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/swapping-babies-disturbing-faerie-changeling-phenomenon-007261