Tag Archives: folklore

Irish History #24

Posted by bourbonhound on

10. The Banshee

The Banshee was a woman who carried with her an omen of death. Sometimes you saw the Banshee as an old woman dressed in rags, sometimes you saw her as a young and beautiful girl and sometimes you saw her as a wash woman, ringing out bloody clothing. Whenever she was seen, she let out a horrible cry and legend has it this cry brought death to any family that heard it. King James I of Scotland thought he was approached by a Banshee. Shortly after, he died at the Earl of Atholl.

9. Pookas

The Pookas are a certain type of fairy- one bent on creating havoc in the mortal world. The Pooka appeared at night across rural Ireland and the seaboard. On a good day, the Pooka would cause destruction on a farm- tearing down fences and disrupting the animals. On a bad day, the Pooka would stand outside the farmhouse and call the people outside by name. If anyone came out, the Pooka would carry them away. The Pookas also loved to mess with the ships pulling away from Ireland, and were blamed for many shipwrecks along the rocky coast.

8. Changelings

As legend has it, female fairies often give birth to deformed children. Since the fairies prefer visually pleasing babies, they would go into the mortal world and swap with a healthy human baby, leaving behind a changeling. While the changeling looked like a human baby, it carried none of the same emotional characteristics. The changeling was only happy when misfortune or grief happened in the house. The changeling legend has lasted for centuries. William Shakespeare talks of a changeling in his play, “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.” Three hundred years later, Scarlett O’Hara believed Rhett Butler’s illegitimate child was a changeling in “Gone with the Wind.”

7. Dagda’s Harp

In Irish mythology, the Dagda was a high priest who had a large and beautiful harp. During a war, a rival tribe stole Dagda’s harp and took it to an abandoned castle. Dagda followed the tribe and called to the harp. The harp came to Dagda and he struck the chords. The harp let out the Music of Tears and everyone in the castle began to cry. Dagda struck the chords again and the harp played the Music of Mirth and all the warriors began to laugh. Then, Dagda struck the chords a final time and the harp let out the Music of Sleep. Everyone but Dagda fell into a deep sleep, allowing him to escape with his magical harp unharmed.

6. The Children of Lir

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The story of the Children of Lir comes from the Irish Mythological Cycle. Lir was the lord of the sea. He had a wife and four children. When Lir’s wife died, he married his wife’s sister, Aoife. Aoife was jealous of Lir’s children and wanted to be rid of them. One day Aoife took the children to a lake. While they were swimming she performed a spell on them and turned them into swans. Under the spell the children were to remain swans until they heard the sound of a Christian bell. The swans swam from lake, to river to stream for years waiting for the sound of that bell, but it wasn’t until St. Patrick came to Ireland that the children could be free of the curse- 900 years later.

5. St. Patrick

To most people, St. Patrick is the man who brought a day of good times and green beer to pubs across the world. In reality, St. Patrick wasn’t made a saint until centuries after his death and he wasn’t even Irish. St. Patrick was born in Britain to a wealthy family. During his childhood, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland. During his years in slavery he converted to Christianity and once freed he did spend the rest of his life teaching the Irish about the Christian religion, but he was soon forgotten after his death. It wasn’t until many years later that monks began telling the tale of St. Patrick forcing all the snakes out of Ireland. Something he never could have done as there never were any snakes in Ireland.

4. The Shamrock

The three green leaves of the Shamrock is more than the unofficial symbol of Ireland and one of the marshmallows in Lucky Charms. The Shamrock has held meaning to most of Ireland’s historic cultures. The Druids believed the Shamrock was a sacred plant that could ward off evil. The Celtics believed the Shamrock had mystical properties due to the plant’s three heart-shaped leaves. The Celtics believed three was a sacred number. Some Christians also believed the Shamrock had special meaning- the three leaves representing the Holy Trinity.

3. Finn MacCool

Finn MacCool is a mythological warrior that appears in several Irish legends. One popular story tells of a salmon that knew all of the world’s knowledge. Finn decided to eat the Salmon to gain the knowledge. As he was cooking the fish, juice squirted out and burned Finn’s thumb. Finn stuck his thumb in his mouth to stop the pain and instantly learned the knowledge the salmon carried. From then on, anytime Finn sucked his thumb he gained whatever knowledge he was seeking.

2. Faeries

Faeries exist in some form in mythology all over the world but hold a special importance to the Irish. The fairy society in Ireland is thought to be very much alive, and far from Peter Pan’s Tinker Bell. An Irish fairy can take any form she wishes, but will usually choose a human form. They are said to be beautiful, powerful and hard to resist, which is unfortunate because most fairies in Ireland love to bring misfortune and bad luck to the mortals who come near them.

1. Leprechauns

The leprechaun is likely the most widely known type of fairy living in Ireland. Leprechauns have been in existence in Irish legend since the medieval times. Traditionally, leprechauns are tall fairies and often appear to humans as an old man – much different from the modern view of a small, childlike fairy in a green suit. As legend holds, Leprechauns love to collect gold, which they store in a pot and hide at the end of a rainbow. If a human catches a leprechaun, the fairy must grant the human three-wishes before he can be released.

Read more: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-irish-myths-and-legends.php#ixzz2ObTui2km

Fuck You Mayans!

Posted by woodylong79 on

Well, it is now December 22 and the earth is still here. No major earthquakes. Dozens of tornadoes didn’t touch down. The ice caps didn’t melt and flood 75% of the human population. Yet dozens of worthless authors made millions of dollars “proving” the Mayans were right. The History Channel aired dozens of shows with “experts” proving how “accurate” the Mayans’ calendar was. What a crock of shit.

Nobody can predicate the end times. People have been trying to for years. Sadly so many humans buy into these false prophets time after time again. You know how I spent my last night on earth? I had a beer in one hand and the remote in the other watching NBA basketball. I had no worries. I knew like the Y2K and other end time dates that nothing would happen. Nothing did happen. What a shock.

If you bought into the 2012 end time myth, you’re a fucking idiot. So a group of people gave up on a calendar, big fucking deal. Maybe they got bored of writing. Maybe they found a better hobby like jacking off or doggy style. Who really gives a shit? Nobody was there so nobody knows why their calendar ended. I for one, could give two shits about their calendar. I’m alive today just like the other 99% of the human race is.

Morgan Freeman dead?

Posted by woodylong79 on

Full story here

The story that Freeman had died follows similar rumors “killing off” Bill Nye, Rihanna, Bill Cosby, Reese Witherspoon, Brad Pitt, Taylor Swift, Adele and dozens of other celebrities.

This isn’t even the first time Freeman has been thought (by some) to be dead. In 2010, one Twitter user reported that CNN declared Freeman dead, an event that never took place, according to Popeater.com. That rumor, like this one two years later, spread so quickly at least in part because of the lack of fact-checking users have on social media sites. Emotion simply takes over their mind.

In another hoax related to the actor, a Morgan Freeman impersonator recently read the highly sexual book, “50 Shades of Grey” in the actor’s signature, distinguished voice. You can watch that here, although the dialogue is highly NSFW

Irish History – Leprechauns

Posted by bourbonhound on


http://www.yourirish.com/folklore/the-leprechauns/

You may end up being the luckiest person alive if you ever manage to catch a Leprechaun but there again it could bring more than enough trouble for what its worth.

A Leprechaun is a smart, devious little thing and who’ll do anything to escape capture even if it means turning you into a frog.  They are the exception in the Faerie realm as they are the only Faerie that has a trade other than cattle trading. They are shoe-makers.

Who Are The Leprechauns of Ireland?

As part of Irish mythology and folklore the Leprechauns are part of our faerie folk, called by some as the “wee folk”. As a cousin of the clurichaun they are known to inhabited Ireland well before the arrival of the Celts.

Small enough for one to sit comfortable on your shoulder they are very smartly dressed in small suites with waist coats, hats and buckled shoes.

As mischievous and intelligent folk they are general harmless to the general population in Ireland, although they are known to play the odd trick on farmers and local population of villages and towns.

It is said that every Leprechaun has a pot of gold, hidden deep in the Irish countryside. To protect the leprechaun’s pot of gold the Irish fairies gave them magical powers to use if ever captured by a human or an animal. Such magic an Irish leprechaun would perform to escape capture would be to grant three wishes or to vanish into thin air!

Leprechauns are also very keen musicians who play tin whistles, the fiddle and even the Irish Harp and various other Irish traditional instruments. They are known to have wild music sessions at night which in Ireland are known as Ceili’s with hundreds of Irish leprechauns gathering to dance, sing and drink.

The leprechaun is fond of drinking Poteen, moonshine, but must not be mistaken by their Irish cousins the cluricauns who are drunken creatures who love to cause chaos around Ireland at night time, a headache for us humans.

William Butler Yeats once said,

because of their love of dancing they (the Fae) will constantly need shoes

He goes on to tell the story of a woman who had been spirited away by the Faeries and had been returned seven years later minus her toes. She had danced them off!!!

The famous 1959 movie Darby O’Gill and the little people show us a great example of who the Leprechauns are and how we vision them. We’ve found a great clip of this movie that you can watch below, click on the play button to start watching.

Catching a Leprechaun

Its no easy task to catch a leprechaun as they remain very well hidden from us humans. We’ve publish a quick guide on how to catch a leprechaun, worth reading if you ever have the chance to come to Ireland.