Irish culture-related post

Dia daoibh! Conas atá tú?

Despite its rather little appearance on the world map, Ireland seems to have a pretty intense history. In the face of the fact that since Stone Age and throughout the history apparently everyone reached out for Ireland and somehow conquered it and lost it and regained it again and so on so forth, it is astounding how this little island kept alive its very own culture. Something that I am especially interested in -concerning cultural items- is mythology. Today I would like to introduce you to a little creature (or shall I say being?), called the leprechaun. According to Irish mythology it is a type of male faerie that is said to have inhabited the island of Ireland long before the arrival of the Celts.

How does it look like?

First of all it is pretty small; dwarf-like I would say. It wears a frock coat and a tri-cornered hat, sometimes depicted with a shamrock. The lore of its real appearance differ however, in that some say that he wears emerald green clothes whereas others claim they have seen him in red clothes. The generally more accepted version is that of the emerald green though. Besides, it is often associated with a crock (some sort of pot), where it hides his gold. To humans it mostly appears as a little old man. 

Where does it live?

It is alleged to live in so called ‘faerie forts’ or ‘faerie rings’ which are sites of ancient earthworks. This counts apparently for many mythological creatures of Ireland. Anyway, we can’t draw a straight line here as well, sometimes they are said to dwell near springs and green hills and some even believe they have seen one or the other in their cellar. They are usually cobblers or shoemakers for profession, but they only work for other faeries.

How does it behave?

The leprechaun is generally acknowledged as being mischievous and ill-natured.  Many tales have him outwitting us humans with his cunning mind, by making use of our greed for gold (his gold). This implies that they are not only capable of human speech but also very well spoken indeed. What’s more, the leprechaun is very tight-fisted indeed, although they shall be enormously rich with many of these crocks of gold buried throughout Ireland.

Other tales evolve around a human finding a leprechaun’s crock of gold (often said to be buried at the end of a rainbow), which may lead him to offer three wishes in exchange for his treasure. His promises of gold always prove misleading, though, as the Leprechaun always uses clever tricks in his granting of wishes, often resulting in the embarrassment or injury of the one expecting a splendid reward for the return. 

The Leprechauns favorite pastimes are said to be music, dancing, hunting wolves and drinking Irish whiskey. It is reported that once a leprechaun begins dancing to a human's song, he can’t stop until the song ceases. Thus it may occur that in their exhaustion they offer you great wealth if you just stop the music. However, you should always have an eye on that little creature especially when he made such a promise, because if you capture him with your gaze he can’t escape but as soon as you turn your eyes away from him he will vanish within a second.

In 1993 they made a horror comedy movie about a Leprechaun called Leprechaun.  In case you might want to see the film, I will add the video of the trailer right here below.

I wish you further on great joy while learning Irish culture, but for now good bye and have a nice day!

Slán go fóill