Fairy Rings
The fairy ring is also known as a fairy circle, elf circle, pixie circle, and so on and so forth. It is a naturally occurring ring of either mushrooms, darker green grass, or dead grass and can grow to be over ten meters in diameter. A fairy ring is typically a gateway into the realm of the fairies, or a gathering place where they dance and celebrate. In one instance, there are fairy rings located in South Downs in England made up of St. George mushrooms that researchers believe could be several hundreds of years old.
In German tradition, fairy rings were called “hexenringe”, because they were believed to be the gathering place of witches on Walpurgis Night. The witches would gather, and dance all night, leaving behind the ring to mark where they been. In the region of Tyrol, located in what is now Central Europe, folklore believed that fairy rings had to deal with magical flying dragons; when a dragon had created such a circle, only toadstools would be able to grow there for seven years. The Dutch believed that fairy rings were the places where the devil had set down his milk churn.
Entering a fairy ring, according to European folklore was extremely bad luck. They were guarded by huge toads that would curse anyone who entered the circle. Other superstitions were that, if one entered a fairy ring, soon they would lose one of their eyes. Other stories warned young girls against touching the dew inside a fairy ring; if it got on your skin, it would develop into skin problems. Almost all European folklore has a warning against entering a fairy ring because the fairies could kidnap you as soon as you stepped into one. Or the fairies might wait until you were in bed asleep, and slip a changeling into your place. Many tales also tell of people who have stepped inside fairy rings and were never seen again, or of others, who have gone inside one only to be driven insane by the music of the elves that they could hear once inside. Several other legends say that stepping into a fairy ring would allow one to see fairies and elves, but would also make the person prone to their deceptive illusions as well.