Superstitious Ireland

'Fairies can be willful and capricious creatures, easily offended and quick to anger. They are often spiteful and jealous of mankind, which enjoys a special relationship with God which they cannot. Nevertheless, they can also be good-hearted and merry and many accounts assert the beauty of their music and their love of sport and revelry.’ (from A Field Guide to Irish Fairies by Bob Curran)

Everybody has heard of Leprechauns and fairies, but what about the Sheerie, the Pooka or the horrifying Grey Man? There’s more to these stories than just finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. The real tales and legends are often frightening, and overshadowing the cheerful picture of little winged fairies and Leprechauns with green coats and wide-brimmed hats in kids’ movies.

When I spent seven months in Ireland in 2010 as an au pair, I noticed that Irish people are still very much connected with the ancient legends and superstitions of their country.

At first glance, at least in the cities, Ireland seems to be every bit as modern as other nations in Europe. Everybody has mobile phones, cars, internet access and television sets. Nobody would think that such a modern society could still believe in fairies and other creatures that presumably wander the earth alongside us. But if you start scratching the surface and asking people about the folklore of Éire, the old Gaelic name for Ireland, they become extremely passionate and tell you everything about ancient heroes and the fairy people. 

The first experiences I had with fairy stories were with the two girls I was looking after. My host mum kept telling them stories about fairies to distract them when they were being cranky, to make them eat when they wouldn’t or as bedtime stories when they didn’t want to sleep. I was amazed by her story - telling skills and soon tried to copy it, because it worked so well with the kids.

My host mum also enthralled all of us with the stories of the great Fionn mac Cumhaill, who gained knowledge of the world every time he sucked his thumb. Fionn had studied under the druid Finnegas, who caught the salmon of knowledge. The young hero had to cook it and when a blister rose from the skin of the salmon, Fionn touched it and sucked his thumb. From then on he knew everything that was going to happen and also used this power in other stories. When I asked my host mum how she knew all the legends, she explained that she had learned about them in school. Although there is often no proof that these people really existed, the Irish believe in them as we believe in common history.

First, the stories were only transmitted orally, but later authors like Lady Wilde (Legends, Charms and Superstitions of Ireland) and William Butler Yeats (Irish Fairy and Folk Tales) collected stories to find out more about the fair folk and wrote them down. According to A Field Guide to Irish Fairies Yeats was given a warning by the Queen of Fairies through a Dublin medium: 

‘Be careful, and do not seek to know too much about us!’

Reading these books I realized that these tales were far different from kids TV-shows with nice little creatures swinging their wands. Despite the warning, Yeats and Wilde tell about the Sheerie, who leads travelers astray into bog-holes where they drown; the Pooka, who takes on the form of a dark horse with yellow eyes and swoops travelers up onto its back to throw them into muddy ditches; and the Grey Man, whose cloak smells musty and leaves a cold and clammy air behind him. 

Of course, nowadays the Irish do not believe in every single superstition that was once part of their everyday life. Nevertheless, my host mum told me that she is still afraid of the Banshee, who is also known as the death fairy. If you hear her cry, you or someone you love will soon be dead. My host mum’s uncle heard a wailing cry a few days before he died and since then she has been afraid of this creature.

Even though, we live in a highly modern society, we still seem to be fascinated with old folklore, and the Irish in particular keep their myths alive and very much in their hearts.