Leprechauns, Fairies & The Irish Otherworld

Since we are in the month of all things Irish, I have a question for you.

Do you believe leprechauns and fairies really exist? 

I was brought up in a home where their existence was an accepted truth. From my earliest years, holidays spent in Ireland included long walks in nature, and invariably a leprechaun sighting, or a gift left by a leprechaun for us. Usually it was a feather, a special stick or stone, but sometimes it was the sighting of a rare bird or a double rainbow.

I’ve collected leprechaun stories from a wide variety of people. Some end with a blessing, others with a curse. Local friends took us to hidden fairy forts, stone circles, and ancient forests with shifting dimensional energies where the Sidhe (fairy folk) come and go to the Otherworld.

Who are these magical beings?

Long ago the island known as Ireland was ruled by a race of magical beings said to have arrived in a flying ship from cities to the north. They were the Tuatha de Danann, the tribe of the goddess Danu. They commanded supernatural powers, respected nature, and ruled in peace and harmony for a long time. Christian monks later wrote of them as kings and queens, but they were considered gods and goddesses by their people. When they were finally overpowered by invaders, they shape-shifted into the fairy folk, or Sidhe, and went to live underground. In fact, they accessed inter-dimensional portals into the Otherworld. They still live there today, and enjoy surprising humans from time to time. 

 

Do you have a leprechaun story to share?

 

I wrote To Kiss A Leprechaun as a tribute to these shining ones, and the magic and myth that makes Ireland such a special place.

To Kiss A Leprechaun

Think “Beauty & The Beast meets Sleeping Beauty”…



Lorcan, Prince of the Leprechauns, has been cursed by an ugly spell for centuries. Every year around St. Patrick’s Day he chooses a village girl to kiss. It brings prosperity and well being to the seaside village of Glen Kisswich. This year Aine Byrne is the lucky lady – not! She doesn’t want to kiss a guy who’s uglier than a toad, prince or not. Besides, she’s got a crush on another guy. What’s a girl to do? 

Only the kiss of Lorcan’s soul mate can lift the curse. What are the chances he’ll find his true love with a bloodline that blends human, fairy and mermaid? To make matters worse, somebody is determined to stop The Kiss from happening.

St. Pat's Day, what else?

How great I’m blogging on St. Patrick’s Day, one of the most happy of all our holidays. Naturally, loving research as I do, I had to go digging around to find out all about it, and found lots of fun stuff.

Of course we all know it started out at a religious holiday in the Roman Catholic Church, but has spread to Protestant churches also, particularly in Ireland. Named after St. Patrick, of course, who lived from 387-461 A.D. It became an official feast day in the 17th century, but had gradually become a secular celebration over most of the world. Did you know it’s celebrated in Argentina, Montserrat, South Korea and Japan, among many others?
Montserrat??? Yep, this tiny island is known as the Emerald Island of the Caribbean because of its founding by Irish refugees. It’s one of the few places in the world where it’s an official holiday.

Some interesting tidbits you might or might now know:

The three-leaved shamrock was used by St. Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish. His chasing the snakes from Ireland is pretty debatable, to say the least.

The biggest celebration is in Downpatrick, Ireland, where St. Patrick is rumored to be buried. Their festival lasts a week, with almost a hundred floats, bands and performers

The shortest parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, Cork. The parade goes all of 100 yards between the village’s two pubs.

The longest running parade in Canada takes place in Montreal, whose flag has a shamrock in one of its corners. Their first parade was in 1824.

In New York City, parades have been held since 1762.It also boasts the oldest civilian parade in the world. In a typical year the thousands of marchers include police, firefighters, military groups clubs and associations and there’s well over 2 million spectators.

The Chicago River is dyed green each year for St. Patrick’s Day. I’d love to see that, since the river runs through the heart of town. Found a beautiful picture of the green river on Wikipedia, though, if you want to see it.

The north White House fountain has been dyed green for the last two years. I’m writing this the day ahead of the holiday so check the papers for today. It probably will be again.Found lots of great cartoon pictures, but wasn't sure of the copyright on them. Just Google if you want to see some cute ones.

You'd better be wearing green today, if you don't want to get pinched! Or the leprechauns will get you. I think I'd take the leprechauns!