BOOK
Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by William Butler Yeats.
A fantastic collection of Irish folk tales and descriptions of the Irish Fairies. This book is a great starting point for anyone looking to find out more about Irish folklore.
BOOK
A brilliant introduction to Fairy Lore, Bob Curran gives the reader delightful insights into the Irish Fairies, their temperaments and characteristics.
BOOK
The Truth About Leprechauns by Bob Curran will give you a deeper understanding of Ireland’s most famous Fairy.
BOOK/ONLINE TEXT
Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde.
This is a fantastic exploration into Irish Fairy Lore and superstitions, and what’s better, it’s available for free online on the website Sacred Texts.
BOOK
A great, easy to navigate list of superstitions, old wives’ tales and folk beliefs of Ireland. The book has a very useful index when searching for folklore related to specific topics.
BOOK
One of my favourite books in a nature folklore series from by Niall Mac Coitir. It will give you a much deeper appreciation for Ireland’s forests and our connection with the natural world.
BOOK
Another fabulous book from Niall Mac Coitir, giving an enlightening look at the folklore, legends and history of animals in Ireland.
BOOK
An incredible collection of stories detailing the encounters with the Irish Fairies or ‘The Other Crowd’, collected and compiled by storyteller Eddie Lenihan.
DIGITAL ARCHIVE/WEBSITE
The National Museum of Ireland has a brilliant website featuring their folklife collection, my favourite of which is the Religion and Calendar Customs collection. It’s a great way to learn more about Samhain, Lúnasa and the many other important customs in the Irish calendar.
DIGITAL ARCHIVE/WEBSITE
The School’s Collection is a fantastic collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s. Now digitized and transcribed, approximately 740,000 pages (288,000 pages in the pupils’ original exercise books; 451,000 pages in bound volumes) of folklore and local tradition were compiled by pupils from 5,000 primary schools in the Irish Free State between 1937 and 1939.
Simply type a word such as ‘Banshee’ or ‘Fairy Forts’ into the search bar and peruse the results.
ARTICLE
‘Folklore and Fairies and the Question of National Identity’ explores the peculiar relationship of the Irish people with Fairylore, and the horrifying consequences it had for Bridget Cleary in the year 1895.
Bridget was killed by her husband in an exorcism-style burning, as he believed her to be a Changeling Fairy.
BOOK
An in depth account of the story of Bridget Cleary, who was murdered in 1985 by her husband and others, believing her to be a Fairy. An incredibly dark, fascinating exploration into the stronghold this folklore had on the Irish in the nineteenth century.
VIDEO
Jim Sweeney from Ardagh, County Longford has a Fairy Tree on his land. Legend has it that when the tree falls, the last of the Sweeneys will die. As Jim is the last of the Sweeneys, he is doing everything in his power to keep it alive.
From the RTE Archives 1983.
VIDEO
The case of Bridget Cleary is discussed on the Irish TV Show ‘The Late Late Show’ in 1983. Bridget Cleary was killed by her husband who believed she was a witch or possessed by a fairy changeling.
“He didn’t think he had killed his wife, he thought he’d got rid of a fairy.”
VIDEO
The Banshee; The Irish Death Messenger is a book by folklorist and professor Patricia Lysaght. In this Late Late Show clip from 1986, she discusses her book and the folklore beliefs surrounding the Banshee.
BOOK
Patricia Lysaght’s ‘The Banshee; The Irish Death Messenger’ is a brilliant study of the folklore beliefs surrounding the Banshee, the harbinger of death.
VIDEO
From the YouTube series ‘Ronan Kelly’s Ireland’, we meet Galway farmer Pat Noone. Pat gives Ronan a tour around his farm, which contains numerous sacred spots and habitats of the Fairies.
PODCAST/VIDEO
Renowned Irish storyteller Eddie Lenihan shares his wisdom and knowledge of the Irish Fairyworld in this brilliant podcast from St. Mary’s Adult Education Centre.
ARTICLE
Plans to build a road over the now infamous Latoon Fairy Bush caused quite a furore back in the year 1999. This New York Times article of the same year explains the protestations of storyteller Eddie Lenihan and the local community, who believe that no good will come of destroying the Fairies’ habitat.
BOOK
First published in 1974 and written by folklorist Kevin Danaher, ‘The Year in Ireland’ explores Ireland’s seasonal festivals and customs from New Year through Christmas, such as St Brighid’s cross-making, marriage divinations, and the unique celebration of Lunasa, offering a rich insight into Irish folk tradition.
BOOK
This was one of the first books I read when I started out as a storyteller. It’s full of classic Irish stories collected by folklorist Thomas Crofton Croker. From 1812 to 1816, he travelled southern Ireland, collecting stories, learning about the supernatural and Otherworldly creatures.
ARTICLE
In this Irish Times Article ‘Fairy forts: Why these ‘sacred places’ deserve our respect’; Manchán Magan explores the Fairy Forts of Ireland and their place in Irish culture today.
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