In legend and lore, pixies are mischievous little green fairies, with pointy ears, wear greenish outfits & pointy hats. Some pixies are brown & some have wings.  They apparently are quite the pranksters when they get bored or just want to have some fun with humans.

Pretty much pixie isn’t really mentioned much in lore as having wings, however in ‘A Complete Guide To Faeries & Magical Beings’ by Cassandra Eason the Cornish pixies are listed as dark and having wings. The book also says there are two kinds of pixies: land dwellers and then ones that live between the high and low tide marks at the sea.  She refers to these sea dwellers as *Buccas.

~I think pixies and most any of the nature folks probably would switch their clothing colors to match the seasons to help them be able to be further camouflaged from human eyes.

A few of the pranking games the pixies play:
Steal horses and ride wildly across the night.
Steal things from humans.
Throw things at humans.
Rapping on windows and walls.
Throwing small stones at walls.
~The most notorious pranking is being ‘Pixie-led’ where the pixies change aspects of the environment to confuse travelers (sometimes in familiar terrain).   Being ‘Pixy-led’ isn’t necessarily confined to confusing travelers, a person can be pixy-led in other aspects of life as well.

It’s thought, you can keep down some of pixie pranking and by leaving them gifts such as cake, honey, milk or other such foods.  The pixies will sometimes appreciate these small gifts as a sign of respect and help with tidying up the house or helping around the farm.

Objects made from Iron are suppose to repel Pixies (and other species of fae & nature folks).  It’s generally thought it’s because contact with the iron harms them.   As iron is a natural element in nature, their dislike for iron might be because of the destructive implements that we humans make from it like plows to tear up the land, axes to chop down trees, guns, knives, war machines, and so on. (Of course the fae and nature folks could have some specific allergy to it like superman & cryptonite.)

What I think Pixie Dust Is:

‘A Complete Guide To Faeries & Magical Beings’ by Cassandra Eason :
The Pixie’s were a tiny people who were masters at metal working.  When invaders came to the land, they forced the Pixie’s into the woodlands, marshes and outlying areas.  They were famed for their work in gold, silver and bronze. They were always covered in metal dust and left sparkles everywhere they walked.

‘The Secret Lives of Elves & Faeries’ of the Rev. Robert Kirk by John Matthews:
The Fairy Smiths utilized gold, silver and bronze for ornaments, adornments, weapons and such.

~I now think that the legend of pixie dust could have derived from the gold, bronze and silver sparkles left over from metal work.
I think that Disney and other movie/tv producers putting the sparkles together with a flying magical being is what helped define some of the modern concepts of  pixies and faeries.

Further Pixie reference:
Pixie-New World Encyclopedia
A Complete Guide To Faeries & Magical Beings by Cassandra Eason
Faeries by Brian Froud & Alan Lee
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies by Anna Franklin
The Secret Lives Of Elves & Faeries: From the Private Journal Of The Rev. Robert Kirk by John Matthews

* Buccas as listed in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies by Anna Franklin refer to various fairies and spirits. There’s good and bad Buccas.

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