Also called Fauni, Faunus (their god).
The tale
Fauns were the wild spirits of Italian woods and fields, goat-legged and horned, linked to the old god Faunus who guarded flocks and herds. Romans believed their voices could be heard in the rustle of leaves, and in the old stories Faunus gave oracles in dreams to people who slept on sheepskins in sacred groves. Horace writes of the December festival, when villagers danced in the meadows and offered a young goat and wine so Faunus would pass kindly over their fields. Over time fauns and Greek satyrs became hard to tell apart.
When they are met
- 5 December (the rural Faunalia)
- 15 February (Lupercalia)
- woodland walks in spring
Staying on their good side
- wine or milk
- music on pipes
- a flower garland
- a quiet ear for the voices of the woods
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Spend a quiet hour in a wood and listen closely to its sounds.
- Play or listen to pipe or flute music outdoors.
- Read Horace's ode to Faunus (Odes 3.18) in early December.
- Leave a little milk or wine at the edge of a field or garden.
What their tales teach
- protection of animals
- connection to the countryside
- inspiration
- prophetic dreams
Symbols
- goat legs and small horns
- reed pipes
- woodland groves
- a kid goat
- wine
From Roman poets such as Virgil, Horace and Ovid; the gentle Mr Tumnus of Narnia is a 20th-century invention.
More Roman folklore
- Genius Loci The guardian spirit of a place
- Lemures The hungry ghosts of May
- Striges The screech-owls of the night
- The Sibyl of Cumae The prophetess of the hundred-mouthed cave
- The Versipellis The werewolf by the tombs
- Larvae Malevolent ghosts of the restless dead
- Mania Mother of the dead and nursery bogey
- Lamia (in Roman sources) Child-devouring witch of Roman tales