Leprechauns: Irish Fairy-folk
by Leprechauns are one of the most used symbols of the Irish. They seem to be everywhere on St. Patrick’s Day.
When many people think of Ireland, leprechauns come to their minds. Rightly or wrongly, they are a symbol of the Irish. This does not please a lot of Irish citizens but to the rest of the world, leprechauns are as Irish as Guinness beer.
Leprechauns show up on everything from Halloween costumes, to breakfast cereal, to St. Patrick’s Day cards. When people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day they sometimes decorate their walls with pictures of leprechauns.
There are some exceptions to the rule, but leprechauns are usually pictured as old men wearing green coats, green knee-length trousers, a white shirt, white knee stockings, a black buckled belt, a tall buckled green hat, and buckled black shoes. Leprechauns may also carry a pipe, they usually have a beard and they are as short as a young child.
Leprechauns are classified as elves and they spend their time making shoes for the other elves. You hear the tapping hammers whenever a leprechaun is around. Leprechauns are also described as tricksters who are not totally good or totally evil. They can probably be compared to Puck in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; their goal seems to be to harass humans but not to cause them any real harm.
Every leprechaun has his own pot of gold, which is said to appear at the end of a rainbow. If a human catches a leprechaun, the fairy must give him his pot of gold. However, the human cannot look away for an instant of the leprechaun will disappear along with his gold.
Leprechauns are discussed in length by William Butler Yeats in his book Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. They are also the subject of countless stories elsewhere.
Image from Wikipedia
Leprechauns belong to the Tuatha De Denann, the ancient Celtic gods who eventually became the fairy-folk of Ireland. There are countless tales and stories of the Tuatha De Denann going back for centuries, including The Children of Lir in which children were changed into swans and lived 900 years spanning the battle for Irish independence.Irish literature is overflowing with tales of fairy-folk including banshees, changelings and the pooka. Leprechauns are just one example of the wonderful fairy-folk.
If you ever manage to catch a leprechaun, don’t take your eyes off of him for a second. If you do, he will disappear and take his pot of gold with him. Good luck with your hunting.
Liked it
