The Survival of Irish Folklore | Do Irish People Believe in Fairies?
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
- How has Irish Folklore survived until today? Ireland's rich cultural heritage is shaped by ancient tales of mythical creatures and superstitions. Celtic myths and legends are still a big part of Irish culture and have been passed down through the ages.You’ve likely read stories inspired by them; leprechauns guarding pots of gold, banshees that wander the countryside, and fairies that dwell in the woods
Many of the stories of fairies that people still read today are built on the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann (“People of the Goddess Danu”), or Aos Sí, the mythical beings who are said to have populated the Emerald Isle before the Celts. In Irish folk tales, these fairies (aka forest folk or wee folk) aren’t good or evil, but are said to cause mischief and chaos when angry.
In Ireland, Irish fairy culture, superstition and folklore has survived far longer than it has in the UK. In1999, a fairy bush diverted a motorway in Latoon, county Clare, after planners had initially planned to tear it up. We met up with Eddie Lenin, a Seanchaí (a traditional Gaelic storyteller) and Irish folklorist, to find out how Irish fairytales have remained such a big part of Irish culture until today.
In this video, I’ll explore the significance of Irish folklore and its enduring impact on the country's culture. How did the mystical world of fairies and the folk beliefs that continue to resonate in Ireland survive until today?
Tales from the Heart of Ireland | Irish Folklore Traditions and Heritage
Irish Folklore and superstition is still part of the fabric of Ireland, albeit to a lesser extent than the previous century. The Emerald Isle is a land of contrast, a modern, outward-looking nation, but Ireland's cultural heritage still feels the pull of ancient folklore.
The Timeless Nature of Irish Folklore | How Irish Folklore Survived until Today
#irishfolklore #celticmythology #irishculture #fairytales #fairies
00:00-01:44 - Irish Fairies: the Aos Sí
01:45-03:20 - Welcome to Ireland
03:21-08:02 - Irish Fairies Explained
08:03-12:04 - How Did Irish Folklore Survive?
12:05-14:42 - The Fairy Bush that Diverted a Motorway
14:43-17:09 - Irish Folklore Still Impacts Irish Society
I'm a young lad who lives in a rural part of Ireland. There's no shortage of fairy bushes and forts around me and stories to go with them. Strange lights at night, people going missing and reappearing a week later like nothing happened, general misfortune and so. There was a motorway being constructed in Galway a few years back, a fairy tree stood in a field and they were going to cut it down. Before they could, a massive rainstorm came and flooded the construction site, which caused a fair amount of damage and set back the construction a bit. The tree was left alone as a result.
I'm not open at all with my beliefs in fairies because folk my age will mock me for it (which I've gotten relentlessly), but I enjoyed the video.
Happy to see someone with similar views c: glad i'm not the only one
Hold fast to those beliefs, you're not wrong...make sure any woman you take up with does too. I think it's important to pass these beliefs to our children...even if parts of our beliefs and traditions we keep within the walls of the family home. 🍺⚡🍺
@@at0micwerew0lf Aren't that for sure, better than nothing.
About five years ago, my uncle (a digger driver) was asked to knock down a fairy tree by one of his neighbours who wanted to put up a new cow shed. He was very hesitant, but eventually agreed when the neighbour tripled the price. As soon as the arm of the digger touched the base of the tree, a high branch crashed down and shattered the windscreen, doing serious damage to it and narrowly missing him. He was so freaked out by it he hasn't stepped foot on the neighbours land since. Said bad luck followed him for months. The neighbour moved the cattle shed and the tree still stands there.
I'd do the same if I was a fairy or not! 😠
Eddie Lenihan is a legend.
He's quite a character! It was great to meet him
My primary school's head mistress made sure to teach us all about Welsh mythology, thankfully much of it is still intact thanks to the fact our bards wrote it down, though obviously much has been lost to time. I remember playing with the other kids in the forest, we'd gone further than any of us had been before, and we felt like true explorers, we found a small but old willow tree in the middle of the forest, it was a jaw dropping sight, most of the forest was covered in brambles and nettles but this willow tree was the only thing growing in this tiny clearing.
It was a giant circle of moss about 5 ish diameters across with this beautiful small willow in the centre, after being taught all those stories in school about the tylwyth teg, y mab darogan and even dragons battling beneath mountains, we were sure we had found something magical, it probably didn't help we'd all recently watched Lord of the Rings which had just come out at the cinema.
We kept exploring deeper into the forest, and we came across another clearing, again the brambles were gone and replaced with a field of blue bell flowers this time around.
This time we were less scared, as the willow had freaked most of us out, but this small field of blue flowers was just so peaceful we were sure it was nothing evil and no gwyllgi or bwci bo was going to jump out and grab us.
We explored a little further and found this mound of earth, it was quite large about 6-7 meters in diameter, but it looked almost like a small crater or sinkhole, it was filled with turquoise water, at this point we turned back and went home to tell everyone what we had found.
We told everyone about the magical things we saw and how we were sure we'd found some kind of fountain of youth, thankfully our teachers warned us not to go near the water again as it was probably very polluted, they explained that the craters in the forest were actually just old shafts for the abandoned coal mine beneath our village and that we shouldn't go that deep into the forest again as the mine is very unstable and has caused a lot of sinkholes.
The saddest part about all this is the once magical forest that the kids in the village would explore is now gone, it was all cut down to build houses, even worse about 6 months into construction they abandoned the project because of the subsidence caused by the mine below, meaning the forest is gone for no reason whatsoever, and we're left with a half built housing estate next to our village that is basically just brownfield land now.
I am glad I got to learn about our mythology, living out in the countryside next to such a big forest it's almost like we got to experience our mythology first hand, it's such a shame that we can't preserve these things, and even when we push for green policies like "reforestation" what we actually get is logging companies planting rows and columns of pine trees. Walking through the forest as a kid it was like the whole place was alive, it wasn't just a bunch of trees it was a whole world unto itself, walking through these "reforested" places is like walking through a wasteland, all the trees are lined up neatly, the forest floor is barren of anything other than rotting leaves and pine needles, and even when you come across something like a red squirrel the poor thing has half it's face missing because they grey ones gave it leprosy and squirrel pox.
I don't know if you professionally produce videos as a primary job, but if not, you need to. Your videos are very well edited and produced. It's like I'm watching a documentary on a major television network or Netflix. Keep up the great content! ✌🏼
Thank you for the kind words! Producing these videos started out as a hobby on my first ever cycle tour. But it has since become my full-time job! So glad you're enjoying them, many more to come😁
i cant believe this isnt a netflix documentary so good
Only just saw this comment, thanks so much and glad you enjoyed it! 😁
Wonderful . It’s so good to know that the faeries and still respected. Thankyou🙏🕊️🐝🌲
Glad you enjoyed the video! It was amazing to see how in touch Ireland still is with it's folklore heritage
To know is nothing,to imagine is everything...
Love this video. Great cinematography and excellent narrative
Glad you enjoyed it!
Terrific episode...the cinematography, edit, storytelling, interview, historical footage and stills. Spot on. Hard to believe you're doing this from the back of a bicycle. Great work!
Thanks so much! Haha the bicycle is an extra challenge, but worth it to get off the beaten track and find stories to film 😁
This was incredible! Thank you for sharing
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 😊 Sorry for the late response, only just saw this comment!
wonderful documentary i love it
Thank you!
These videos are incredible
Thanks so much, glad you're enjoying them!
That one photograph of the soldier at 10:18 is so horrifying, you can tell just by his eyes that something inside him has broken.
I as a 25 year old rural irish man do allow for them and respect them, as it doesn't put me out and may keep me safe, same as my attitude to God. I must say the commercial "fairy door" for kids trend worries me, they're playing with fire.
I also know of at least 3 people who died shortly after desecrating fairy monuments, one of a massive stroke AND heart attack, and the other 2 by farm accidents
Thank you for sharing this. Several people we met on our journey through Ireland expressed similar feelings, and were cautious about disturbing fairy sites. We noticed a lot of those fairy doors at the side of the road and wondered how new that phenomenon was.
As an Irish person I completely agree. They're not to be messed with. my uncle (a digger driver) was asked to knock down a fairy tree by one of his neighbours who wanted to put up a new cow shed. He was very hesitant, but eventually agreed when the neighbour tripled the price. As soon as the arm of the digger touched the base of the tree, a high branch crashed down and shattered the windscreen, doing serious damage to it and narrowly missing him. He was so freaked out by it he hasn't stepped foot on the neighbours land since. Said bad luck followed him for months. The neighbour moved the cattle shed and the tree still stands there.
Eddie Lenihan is a national treasure however his take on why ireland held onto its folklore and UK didn't doesn't really make any sense.While there was no conscription thousands of irishmen died in the WW1 and there was emigration and the huge population haemorhage of the great famine.I think industrialisation and urbanisation makes much more sense as an explanation.
That's a fair point. My impression was that, as a proportion of the population, fewer Irish soldiers were killed in WWI than soldiers from in Britain. Do you think there is an argument, though, that a famine "fits" with superstition and folklore more than a world war does, in the sense that, historically, famines were often believed to be the result of supernatural causes (e.g. an angry god or spirit)? So despite the massive suffering that came about from the famine, I wonder if it would have had less of a dramatic effect on superstitions than the trauma of a world conflict with modern weaponry.
@@TieranFreedman Yes to an extent and as the sexual morals were a bit looser before the famine the famine is sometimes blamed for the brutal way unmarried mothers were treated.Generally most people in ireland don't blame the fairies or god punishing us for our sins,we blame colonialism to be blunt about it we say nature brought the blight that killed the potatoes but the English brought the famine,because there was plenty of food in the country.
@@TieranFreedmanThere were mannade reasons why the famine hit Ireland so badly. The blight that damaged potato crops had hit most of Europe but Ireland suffered particularly badly because of brutal colonial mismanagement and lassaiz faire free market policies. The man in charge of "famine relief", Charles Trevelyan, actually said the famine was a good way of controlling the Irish population. That said, the famine did have some affect on Irish folklore. One example is 'an fear gorta', the hungry man. A spirit of death related to the famine.
the answer is we don't however we don't want to risk being proven wrong.
Very good way of putting it
I've seen fairies but they are discreet creatures and I don't have a lot to say about them in a public forum. There are stories about fairies and Eddie is the best storyteller I know of, there are beliefs about fairies and then there are fairies themselves. Those of us who have met them don't tend to brag about it.
He was a very captivating storyteller, and had me on the edge of my seat for much of the interview. I found the relationship Ireland has to be really fascinating, and it was great learning about it from him.
@@TieranFreedman He is the best living Irish storyteller. I saw him live in London many years ago and to this day I don't know how he spun his web and captivated us all only to reveal a stunningly complex twist at the end. Eddie is a true master and he is so humble as well.
A psychopath/serial killer could be sitting next to you too and you wouldn't know it either, to be fair! 🤔 ALL creatures and plants, living or dead, animate and inanimate, should be respected! They recently did sewer pipe work on My building's property...They cut down two three to do it. The bigger one was My favourite. It had five or so trunks. I cried. My heart was broken. It was ALWAYS the first to leaf and the last to fall. R.I.P., Brother/Sister tree! 🥺😭💔😔 The Earth belongs to Itself! 🥰🤗💖
Boy Adam. The Wing Wang Woo Gang. #RED Vs #ORANGE
Something holy, something dirty, something red, iron/steel,
salt fire and they can’t cross running water. With weaknesses like this they should be pretty easy to get rid off and find out who they are at al time. Why would you ever be afraid of such weak creatures?
Never seen one.
How much of Celts are still in Irish?
Anyone raised speaking a native Celtic language is a Celt. The Irish Celtic language is Gaeilge. It declined a lot due to Anglicisation but most Irish people are raised speaking it to some degree. Ethnic Irish culture is a Gaelic culture which in turn is a Celtic culture. Most rural Irish people and some urban Irish are still Gaelic to some extent and therefore Celtic. Other versions of Gaelic culture also extend to Scotland where they call it Gáidhlig, and to the Isle of Man where they call it Gaelg. Then there are Brytonnic Celtic cultures such as Cymraeg in Wales, Kernowyon in Cornwall, and Brezhoneg in Brittany.
@@ansionnachbeagrioga5260 If that is true, it is amazing, but raising speaking Celt doesn't qualify as a Celtic tribes still living the Celtics ways since the Anglo Saxton invaded and is still on going from that points on. Also the Gaelic language is a mix, and it isn't the original, so there that. I'm speaking of original Celtics from, let say the late Roman era.
@@Huy-G-Le Celt is both a cultural and ethno-linguistic term. Being raised speaking a native Celtic language absolutely does qualify. And Gaelic languages absolutely are Celtic. The fact they've evolved doesn't matter as that's what languages do. The languages are still identifiable and can be traced directly back to Proto-Celtic. But we also still play Celtic sports like iománaíocht(hurling) and we celebrate Celtic festivals like Imbolc, Lughnasadh, Samhain, and Bealtaine. We are Celts. I am a Celt. My tribes are the Dál gCais and the Eóganachta. Celtic culture is not just something that existed in Roman times and then vanished. They survived in some place and continued to grow. And the same can be said for Rome. By the time the Eastern Roman Empire collapsed in the 15th century, the Roman Church had managed to recolonise Western Europe. Celtic culture in ancient times was actually a massive family of cultures spread across most of Europe from Ireland to the Balkans. They differed in many ways and the only thing that identifies them all as Celts is a common linguistic root to their languages, that being that all the languages they spoke had evolved from Proto-Celtic. Today most of these languages and cultures are dead and the only Proto-Celtic languages and identifiably Celtic cultures still left in the world are in Ireland, Britain, some small parts of France and maybe Spain and Newfoundland.
Here's one of the definitions Oxford has for Celt;
"a native of any of the modern nations or regions in which Celtic languages are (or were until recently) spoken; a person of Irish, Highland Scottish, Manx, Welsh, or Cornish descent."
And this is from Encyclopedia Britannica;
"Celt, also spelled Kelt, Latin Celta, plural Celtae, a member of an early Indo-European people who from the 2nd millennium bce to the 1st century bce spread over much of Europe. Linguistically they survive in the modern Celtic speakers of Ireland, Highland Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany."
@@ansionnachbeagrioga5260 well I certainly need time to take this in.
I don't believe in 'God' or Jesus or well any of the Bible Stories and all of that. I'm pretty secular .. except when it comes to fairies. There are simply places I Will Not GO and things I will not fuck around with and find out in the wild.
Interesting, we met several people who expressed similar feelings. Thank you for sharing. Which places specifically do you steer clear of?
Wise! There are two approaches to fairies beyond simply dismissing their existence. The most common is fear. Most who believe in fairies are usually also scared of them. There is some wisdom in being scared of them. The less common approach is respect. This is Eddie's approach and it is the choice of all well-informed mortals.
@@TieranFreedman groves, like natural groves that have this vibe about them. Then there are the fairy-rings with mushrooms. There are places in the woods I won't go at night/at dusk, either. For context I live in America along the east coast. There were places way up in the mountains too. Long story short I walked off the trail and got lost, kicking myself for being so foolish. The girl I was with at the time was worried about getting cold and being there all night and animals... I didn't want to be there after dark for different reasons. Heh. It's just.. a feeling. A vibe. You know? It's this primal feeling of this isn't somewhere you are supposed to be and shouldn't mess with, or shouldn't be after dark.
I had a grandma who would warn me of things when I was very young- who was Irish, and then there were the books I would look through as a teenage during my Druid/New Age era. Just.. hahaha *nervous laughter*. I would say it's a healthy dose of respect and fear.
I will also add, when I was 16-20s I had Gwynn ap Nudd as a patron god. There was something about him that I liked. So I read everything I could get my hands on about him and.. I think that was where I had a "oh shit" moment. And knew how much respect I needed to have for Them. Gwynn still is a part of my life, but man was that a wild time when I was younger.
@@patrickquinlan3056 Yeah it's fear and respect. When I'm hiking with my nephew I point things out to him to never mess with, and while I'll get a side eye from my secular father and Catholic step mom.. Uh, I'm looking out for his well being. This isn't make believe, lol.
I was once privie to a weasel funeral never again.
I'm intrigued, please elaborate...
Not faries...they are the jinn
Generally I keep away from comments but yours is just odd as Im taking that your not Irish like myself if you consider the fà jinn which is from a completely other culture.
Jus keep in mind there's entire folklore to nearly every specific place on earth, we just kept believing in the old ones.
@matthewmurren2210 I'm an Irish muslim. Jinn come in many shapes and sizes with many stories from different cultures across the world.
@@TrackerWho Well Islam isn't an Irish culture. In Éire we don't refer to the spirits as Jinn. Some call them Faeries or Fae though that's more of an English word brought over with the Anglicisation of Ireland. In native Irish language they're known as either Aos Sí, Tuatha Dé, or Púca.
First
Haha you win again Thomas!
@@TieranFreedman is it possible for the fairies in Irish folklore to disguise themselves as potatoes?
@@thomasthomas7222A fairy in Ireland would never take that kind of risk
Mate, he’s winding you up big time! For example he could not have heard about divorce in houses from the old people because it did not exist in those times!
Haha although it doesn't feel like it, 1996 (when divorce was legalised in Ireland) was 27 years ago, so I imagine he was referencing divorces since then.
Bloody hell. What have they been smoking?? I'm going to unsubscribe.
Farewell
Not smoking, but drinking potín of varying strength in rural homes late into the dark nights.
Hey, maybe you should smoke something yourself, something that might broaden the mind.
When I'd visit my family in Clare, when I was a lot younger I would go and explore the fairy forts
County Clare is beautiful! Hope to go back some day to make a video about a matchmaking festival I heard about near Doolin.
@@TieranFreedman I'm a big fan of Doolin, you definitely should, your contents fantastic
@@AssociationSoccer Thank you, glad you're enjoying it, much more to come! Hopefully I'll make it back eventually. We stayed with a lovely family there.