From leprechauns to banshees, Ireland’s mystical creatures hold a special place in the country’s identity and physical landscape
The Emerald Isle boasts a huge and eclectic array of mystical creatures that have come to define Ireland’s long and magical history. The country’s folklore is rich and complex, with stories of fairies and leprechauns having been circulated and passed down through generations in the oral tradition. This means many of the tales that make up Irish legends have different versions that vary and differ from place to place and through time. These stories, however, are held close to the hearts of the Irish people, and traversing Ireland’s broad and varied landscape highlights just how ingrained these folkloric traditions have become in their identity.
Tuatha Dé Danann and the Aos Sí
The creature that appears most frequently and is most ingrained in Irish folklore and history is the fairy. Referred to in Irish as the Aos Sí, fairies have a long and illustrious history on the island, with their story beginning way back in ancient times when the Tuatha Dé Danann, a tribe of people said to have supernatural powers, were supposedly some of the original dwellers of Ireland. They lived an existence of battling other rival groups of the island, including the Fomorians, but always managed to end up on top. However, when the Milesians arrived on the shores of the country, they attacked the community and the Tuatha Dé Danann were forced underground. Living in mounds, known in Ireland as Sidhe, the Tuatha Dé Danann used their magic to become the Aos Sí: fairies or, as many Irish people call them, the “wee folk” or “little folk”.
Elements of the story of the Aos Sí can be found all over Ireland, with natural and man-made sites of significance attributed to the fairy folk in some way, remaining a consistent feature of the landscape. Sidhe mounds, where the fairies are said to live since their defeat at the hands of the Milesians, were, and still are, viewed as the homes of fairies, and as a result are sometimes considered to be entrances to the Otherworld – where the ancient beings of Irish mythology, such as the Celtic deities, live alongside the Aos Sí. As a result, Sidhe mounds are sacred places in Ireland that people aim to protect. Away from their folkloric explanations, many of the Sidhe mounds that populate Ireland’s scenery actually served as burial mounds or tombs for the ancient civilisations of Ireland. The fact that many tombs have been discovered within Sidhe mounds has only added to their mystery over the years.
Other landmarks of significance that are tied to fairy lore include the plethora of stone circles across Ireland. Structures that date from a wide period of Ireland’s bygone past, f
