Ani : Púca are shape-shifting troublemakers.

Legends say that the púca can change into horses, goats,
cats, donkeys, bulls, dogs, foxes, wolves, always with black fur. Horses bearing sleek coats, wild manes
and flaming eyes are the most common animal shape of these mischievous fairies.

Sometimes the púca can serve as a protective entity, helping farmers with the crops, offering presents,
or intervening ahead of a terrible accident to prevent harm, though stories of kindly púca are much
overshadowed by those of mischief, bad luck, or even doom.Then again, there are some stories darker
still, calling the creatures blood-thirsty and accusing the púca of being evil creatures that hunted and
killed humans.

There are a lot of superstitions and customs about Pookas that are still observed in Ireland. These
superstitions vary depending on which region you happen to find yourself in.

The drunken horse ride home

When a Pooka is in horse form he tends to have fun by inviting a rider to jump on his back. This usually
happens when the rider has had a little too much to drink and is making his weary way home from the
pub. Thus starts the wildest trip the rider will ever know for the Pooka loves to terrify the rider with its
great prowess jumping over hedges and rocks and making death-defying leaps. Come the grey dawn
the rider is thrown off the horse’s back and left trembling but none the worse from the night’s events to
find his own way home.

A conversation with a Pooka

Another thing the Pooka love, as with all of us Irish people, is to chat and will happily stop and ‘shoot the
breeze with you, sometimes giving great advice and making exceptional prophecies.

In some rural areas, you will see houses that will have a bench on the right side of the door and the gate
post on the right will be smooth whereas on the left there will be a rockery or some sort of
uncomfortable mound. This is because a good Pooka will always sit on the right and the more
mischievous sprite will favor the left.

They tend to use the same opening gambit to introduce themselves it will be something like, “You are
new here I think. Many years ago I used to live in this house..” One of his favorite topics is how the
family lost its fortune or was swindled out of their money and lands.

The odd thing about a conversation with a Pooka is that you may have sat and chatted to him for an
hour but suddenly he disappears. Without saying goodbye, they never say goodbye, you will be left
wondering if the past hour was real. They’ll never leave any sign they were there.

The Pookas Share

Mainly associated with Samhain (31st Oct) and November 1st is considered Pookas Day. This
coincides with the harvest and the traditional customs that when the harvest is being brought in the
reaper must leave a few stalks behind. This is called the Pookas share and must be left to appease the
Pooka because we for one would not like to incur his wrath.

It is said that when we see the rain falling on a sunny day, which it does a lot in Ireland, the Púca will
definitely make an appearance that night.Also, berries that have been killed by a frosty overnight should
never be eaten as it is the Pooka’s spit that is on them and that would render them poisonous.

November is the month of Pooka. In Ireland of past, at Halloween, many children went out “with Pooka”,
but others stayed indoors, fearful of stories they had heard of what Pooka did to children. In popular
culture, other iconic mystical creatures are incarnated from Pooka. For example, the bogeyman is
derived from Pooka. Also, Easter Bunny, which is pagan in origin.

Pooka in modern popular culture

The Pooka in all its shapes and forms has made it into many books and films one of the most famous
is Harvey the six-foot white rabbit from the play by Mary Chase immortalized in a film by Jimmy Stewart.
Or the infamous scene in Darby O’Gill and the Little People when the Pooka scares Darby into falling
down the well and he first meets King Brian of the leprechauns.

More modern films have Pookas appearing in animal form as well for example in the 2001 film Donnie
Darko, a Pooka in rabbit form encourages Donnie to do malicious acts which have positive and negative
results on the people around him.

________What is a selkie? Also called the seal people or the mermaid – a selkie is a legend that tells of
people who are half fish, and half-human. In the water, they are seals, but on land, they shed their skin
and turn into a human. And for some reason, they are irresistible to ordinary humans, who fall in love
with the seal people.

Selkies are often sighted by those living in coastal areas. To come ashore, selkies must first shed their
skin or tail. And if you manage to find that skin and hide it away, the seal person cannot return to the
sea. Irish folklore is full of tales of men and women (usually men) finding a selkie skin and hiding it, then
marrying the selkie woman.

The Story of an Irish Selkie

There are many famous stories that revolve around selkies in Ireland. One particular one is that of
Thady Rua O’Dowd, a clan chieftain who was tasked with finding himself a bride. Apparently, choosing
a wife was more difficult than he realised, and he could not makeup his mind.

Out on the beach, Thady stumbled upon a beautiful maiden. Though unclothed, she had a magical coat
next to her. Of course all in Ireland knew of the selkies. He quickly snatched up her selkie cloak to hide
away, confessing his love to her. Without her fishtail, the selkie Eve had no choice but to marry him.
Together, they ruled the lands and raised their seven children but Eve always wanted to go back to the
sea.

One of their children spotted Thady checking on the cloak, and told his mother of the “bag of gold.”
When Thady was away from home, Eve checked the spot her child told her about – and found her
fishtail. With the return of fishtail, Eve could not resist the temptation of the sea.And so she left to go
back to the ocean with her children. But she could not take them all, and turned five of them into rocks,
swimming off into the waves with the remaining children under each arm.

Maneh: Leprechauns are key figures in Irish mythology and if you find one of the little people of Ireland,
then according to folklore, you may find his pot of gold. The name Leprechaun is thought to have a
number of origins, from the Irish Gaelic for shoemaker leath bhrógan to the Irish for pigmy, leipreachán.
The word derives ultimately from Old Irish luchorpan, “little body.” Leprechaun, in Irish folklore, fairy in
the form of a tiny old man often with a cocked hat and leather apron. Solitary by nature, he is said to live
in remote places and to make shoes and brogues. The sound of his hammering betrays his presence.
He possesses a hidden crock of gold; if captured and threatened with bodily violence, he might, if his
captor keeps his eyes on him, reveal its hiding place. But usually the captor is tricked into glancing
away, and the fairy vanishes.

In one tale, a young farmer captures a Leprechaun and forces him to hand over his gold. The
Leprechaun says that the gold is hidden beneath a tree in the woods and shows him which one it is.
The farmer ties his red scarf around the tree and after making the Leprechaun promise not to remove
the scarf he heads to his farm to get a shovel. But when the farmer returns he finds that the Leprechaun
has tied a red scarf around every tree in the woods.

The Pot of Gold

This is the most common of all Leprechaun myths which says that they find gold coins buried in the
earth and store them all in a pot which is hidden at the end of a rainbow. The fact that a rainbow doesn’t
have a fixed spot or a real end should be discounted for the sake of the story!Quite why Leprechauns
even need gold is another matter entirely since they can’t actually spend it. Some researchers suggest
that this gold is used as a means of tricking humans and given the Leprechauns’ propensity for trickery,
this is entirely possible.In most Irish folklore tales featuring the Leprechaun, he is depicted as a rogue
who will deceive whenever he can. In rare cases where humans catch Leprechauns in tales, they are
easily outsmarted by the magical creature that often uses a person’s greed against him.

Popular Culture

The image of Leprechauns has been updated and now the legend serves as something of a tourist
attraction which lures a huge amount of American tourists in particular to Ireland. The Leprechaun has
really captured the imagination of Americans and features as Notre Dame’s mascot and the symbol of
Lucky Charms cereal. Of course, not everything related to Leprechauns is fun or particularly tasteful as
can be seen in the awful Leprechaun movies starring Warwick Davis.Warwick Davis has starred in all
SIX Leprechaun horror movies.It is fair to say that many Irish people are irritated by the ethnic
stereotypes perpetuated by Leprechauns but there is a tale of morality that can be taken from the fable
of the Leprechaun. The fact that they often trick people who seek the pot of gold can be taken as a
warning to people not to be invested in ‘get rich quick’ schemes.Additionally, you should not look to take
what isn’t yours nor should you interfere with things beyond your understanding. Ultimately, tales of the
Leprechaun are not to be taken seriously and should only serve to amuse and delight us.

______:Irish fairies, often referred to as the Aos Sí, are a supernatural race in Irish mythology and
folklore. The ancient Celts believed in the Tuatha Dé Danann, myths associated with divine beings, and
they traced the origins of Irish fairies back to them.According to legends, the Tuatha Dé Danann arrived
in Ireland before the arrival of humans and possessed powers. As Christianity spread in Ireland, the
Tuatha Dé Danann slowly transformed into the fairy folk we know today.

The fairy realm, also known as the Otherworld, is a mystical dimension which exists alongside our own
world. It is about a land with breathtaking beauty, where various magical creatures, including fairies,
inhabit in enchanting splendor.In Irish folklore, certain places called “fairy trees” or “fairy forts” are the
entrance to the magical world of fairies. People believe these mystical places bring bad luck. There are
some types of fairies in Irish folklore:

Banshee: The Banshee is a famous figure in Irish folklore associated with death. People believe she is
a fairy woman who speaks of the death of a family member. People often describe her as a pale-
skinned woman with red hair,wearing a beautiful white gown. Furthermore, those who hear her cries
consider it as a warning.

Changelings: Changelings are fairies that replace human children with their own kind of fairy.
Sometimes, these creatures resemble unhealthy or disfigured kids, making people think that fairies took
their own children. People believe that changelings have special powers and can identify them by their
unusual behavior or physical traits.