MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Ireland is a country with uncountable tales of myths and legends. As Ireland has an ancient society that comes from centuries back in time, the Druids and Celtics believed in the power of magic, and these beliefs are spread in form of legends again and again until our days. From leprechaun, fairies, and warriors; there is plenty myths and legends we can talk about.
The Leprechaun is perhaps the most known of all Irish legends. This legend exists from medieval times. A Leprechaun is a type of fairy in the Irish folklore. They usually have the image of an old man; they use a red or green coat, a hat and a beard. They are never a female. They spend all their time making shoes, and storing their golden coins at the end of the rainbow. If they are ever surprised by a human, a leprechaun has to give his coins or concede three wishes for him to be released. The legend says that when the Danes invaded Ireland, the leprechauns hid the treasure from people. They were given the task to guard the treasure. But, unfortunately for them, a rainbow always points the location of this treasure, so they must move it constantly.
Fairies are also known in the Irish legends. They like to take human form. They like to be beautiful, and also impossible to resist. This, so they can attract people. Most fairies love to bring misfortune and bad luck to those who are near them.
Finn MacCool is also known for to be a mythological warrior; he appears in several Irish legends. A popular legend of him is one that says there was a salmon that knew all of the world's knowledge, and Finn decided to eat the fish in order to have that knowledge. But when he was cooking it, he burnt his thumb. He moved his finger to his mouth because of the pain and that is how he learned the knowledge of the salmon. From that day, every time he sucked his thumb, he had the knowledge he wanted.
The Shamrock has had an important meaning in most of Irish historic cultures. The Druids believed the Shamrock was a sacred plant that could protect from the evil. The Celtic believed it had mystical properties because of its three heart-shaped leaves. For them, the number three was a sacred number. Christians also believed in its special meaning, saying it represented the Holy Trinity. A four-leaf clover has always been considered a symbol of good luck in Irish culture. According to legend, the leaves of a four-leaf clover represent hope, faith, and love, and God added another leaf for luck.
A person that has been made legend is St. Patrick. He was not made saint until centuries after his death and was not Irish. He was born in England in a wealthy family; he was kidnapped when he was a child, and sold as a slave in Ireland. In slavery, he converted to Christianity, once free, he taught Christianity in Ireland. He was made famous, when monks began telling a story about how he took out all the snakes out from Ireland. Something he never did because there were never any snakes there.
Another story that exists in Ireland is the story of the Children of Lir. Lir was the Lord of the sea. He had a wife and four children. When his wife died, he married her sister, Aoife. Aoife was jealous of Lir's children and wanted them out of sight. She took them to a lake and did a spell on them, turning them into swans. They could get out of that spell only when they heard a Christian bell. Nine hundred years later, they could hear that sound with the help of St. Patrick.
The Dagda's Harp is another Irish myth. Dagda was a high priest that had a beautiful harp. During a war, a rival took it away into an abandoned castle. Dadga follow them into the castle and called for the harp. The harp came to Dadga and he touched the chords. He played the Music of Tears and everyone started to cry. He played the Music of Mirth and the warriors laughed. At last, he player the Music of Sleep, everyone but Dadga fell asleep, allowing him to escape unharmed.
An Irish legend also talks about Chagelings. This legend says that female fairies usually give birth to deformed children, and as they prefer beautiful babies, they steal human babies leaving a changeling instead. The Changeling looked like a human baby but it was only happy when terrible things happened in the house. This legend has endured for centuries. They have been named in a play of William Shakespeare, “A midsummer's night dream”, and also in “Gone with the wind”, where Scarlett O'Hara believed that Rhett Butler's illegitimate child was one of them.
Other types of fairies are the Pookas. They prefer creating destruction in the human world. They usually appear in rural villages near the cost. They like to cause destruction to farms, by tearing apart fences and mess up with the animals, this, in a good day. On a bad day, they would stand outside a farm and called people by their names, if anyone comes out, he would drag them away. As they like to mess with animals, they were blamed for many ship disappearances in Ireland.
A very special legend is about the Banshee, she always carries the prophecy of death. Banshee is another name for an Irish Fairly Woman. She has been seen in many forms, like an old woman dressed in old clothes or as a beautiful young woman or girl, or even as a wash woman, washing bloody clothing. When she was seen, she screamed a horrible cry, and brought death to anyone who heard it. Someone who believed in this was King James I of Scotland, who thought he was pursued by a Banshee. And after a short period, he died at the Earl of Atholl. The original legend did not talk about a Banshee taking human lives, but mourning the death of a human family member.
Mermaids are another legend that comes from centuries back. They are saw is coastal areas and thought to be a bad prophecy, telling about storms or rough seas. There are many stories that talk about their interaction with humans. In terms of appearance, their upper body was of a beautiful woman with long hair, and the lower part of their body from the waist down, it was of a fish. In many stories they are seen sitting in a rock, combing their hair, singing or seeing themselves in hand mirrors. Those who came near them ended drowned, brought to their world, or eaten in the depths of the sea. In some tales, mermaids are benevolent, and have the ability to give magical powers, but with a high price to pay. There are also stories about hybrid children with fairy powers. There are also stories about mermaids living in deep pools or rivers, not only in the sea. Historically, there has been a belief in part fish and part human creatures for thousands of years. The first references to these creatures are in the form of the God Oannes, who was the lord of the waters worshiped at the beginning of civilisation in ancient Babylon.
The legend of the Selkie is very similar to the one of the mermaid. But instead, Selkies are brown seals in the day and human in the night. This legend comes from the numerous seals that live in the Irish coast. Those sailors, who caught a Selkie at night in human form, married them. And, for the rest of their lives, they would be patient wives, but always with nostalgia of the sea. If these Selkies were ever released by their captors, they would return to the sea but would guard their human families from there.
A mythical creature of the Irish culture is the Dobhar-chu or water hound that is a lake creature of Irish Folklore. It is said that it is covered in short white fur with a dark cross on its back and it is described as being like a dog or a sea otter. In an 1896 article for “Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland”, Miss Walkington described a Dobhar-chu from Bundoran, as being “half wolf-dog, half-fish”. There are known stories of people that had been attacked and killed by a Dobhar-chu. Like the attack on Mough Mask and a more famous encounter in Lough Glenade, where Dobhar-chu were supposed to live. This creature is also known as King of all the Lakes or Father of all the Otters.
Another mythical creature is the Fachan, Fachin or Peg Leg Jack, that is also known in Scottish Folklore. The appearance of a Fachan it is said to be so terrible that it causes heart attacks. A Fachan has one eye, one leg, an arm coming out of his chest and fur with black feathers. These creatures had been suggested to be an imperfect memory of Celtic Seers, who when doing their spells would stand in one leg, close one eye and extend one arm.
There are plenty of myths and legends born in Ireland as we can see. With only the few that were named here, we can say Ireland is full of these tales and beliefs that come from ancient times and that has been documented and also transmitted orally throughout the centuries. Some stay the same as before, others, have change with time and influences from other cultures and of course, time. But most of them stay as Irish culture tales. Even though, many of them are known all over the world, with other names but with the same story. That is how we know many stories are connected worldwide and how much our folklore has practically the same roots as other cultures.
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