dontlickdatoad:

Growing up in a superstitious, very religious Catholic family that retained strong ties to “the old country” meant being raised with a weird mixture of beliefs.

My maternal grandmother in particular would pray to Saint Anthony whenever she couldn’t find something, often enlisting the help of my cousins and I to recite the prayer/chant because, “God listens to children first.” But having parents from Ireland and Scotland, she also would regularly leave out gifts of bread or milk to her “house brownie.”

• For anyone not aware, a brownie (also known as a brùnaidh or gruagach depending on where the folklore is coming from) is a type of fae known to live in or around a house and help with chores. They would be insulted if you offered them payment for their help directly but enjoyed small gifts like fresh milk or bread left out for them in a corner. Some stories say that if you gave them clothes they would leave for good (often out of anger over the insult).

Now, I have never been able to find a story where a brownie helped it’s housemate find a lost item but my grandmother would always leave out a bit of cream if she needed to find something. She never answered directly when I asked her why, instead just telling me that it was “for the best” before heading off to cook or clean, her mission to find the lost item over. I don’t know if she thought the brownie had borrowed it, was playing a prank, or if she believed that the helpful soul had seen the lost object laying around and hating clutter, had put it away somewhere she hadn’t thought to look. I have a feeling it was the last one because once she had done a thorough search, said her prayers, and left out her cream she stopped worrying about it. And sure enough- poof! As she would be going about her business, there the lost object would be, out in plain sight.

I’m positive that there are non-magical reasons for why when she stopped freaking out while searching, she was able to think clearly and find her lost item. But I also have been in enough situations where we had most definitely looked in a certain spot and there had been nothing before but now there the lost book, pen, or knitting needle was.

And belief or no belief, I’ve grown up asking the house brownie for a bit of help when something is lost. Bread and honey are regularly left in a certain spot outside of my house. And even my partner, the least superstitious person I know, has gotten into the habit of saying, “I think the Brownie moved my *insert object here*” though he’s at least half joking.