Hi my name is james. I'm trying to find info on the _actual_ history of leprechauns. I hope that doesn't sound trite to anyone, but i'm seriously interested. So far i'll i have found is people whos say: "leprechauns? dont they make cereal?"
If you have any _actual_ info on leprechauns, or any other mythological, or legendary creatures please post it, or e-mail me at bran@hotmail.com
-thanks in advance

sorry, the address is bran333@hotmail.com.
sorry it's a new address...

hello Bran .. no wonder people ask about the cereal .. *L* .. with a name like Bran ..sorry .. couldn't resist *hangs head*

I am sure you will get a flood of URL's .. there is a great deal out there .. i will check my bookmarks ..

http://www.loggia.com/myth/content2.html

http://www.tirnanog.com/

Thanks! And thanks alot for makin' fun of my name! It's really important to me!...

or not :)
thanks for the URLs

-james

your welcome ..

what ever happened to James???

The only legend I know is Colleen !! *bows gracefully to the wee bonnie babe. *S*

Searching I am for clarity of names and family
tree of the Tuatha De Danann, specificly, Is
Dagda son,lover or both to Danu? Is Morrigan
his wife? Or have I mixed 2 versions? thanks be!
Lonanae Tree.
I have not searched your site completely yet
so it may be here.

No, you haven't mixed two versions. In one, the Morrigan is Dagda's daughter, and in the other she's his daughter and lover.

I'll have to check on Danu and her relationship to the Dagda.

Shae, you amaze me!!! *smile*

Sorry, lacie, I hope it's not too painful;)

Lonanae, there is an excellent thesis on the Morrigan at:
http://www.loop.com/~musofire/diss/index.html

You will be able to see from it that she has a number of different names, even in the same early Irish text, and the genaeology of the Tuatha De varies from text to text. It really is very confusing. Danu is also called Anu and Danand and, at least in some texts, is the Morrigan's sister.

nahhh .. i can cope, Shae *L*

Glad to hear it, lacie. Maybe Banba is looking after you.

Hi- I am trying to find out if I can get a hold of some tapes with irish storytellers reciting ancient mythological tales. I really want to hear how the ancient names are pronounced. If you can help, please contact me. Thanks.

Druids,Holly,Mistletoe.Wrens and more.
http://www.irishclans.com/articles/christmasmemories.html

Hi! There is a book out there called "Faeries" by
Alan Lee and Brian Froud that I lost recently in a car accident. Inside, there is a picture of a person called Oisin...for the life of me, I cannot remember the rest of his name. Does anyone have a scanned version of the picture of Oisin from this book? I've actually been pining for it...it used to be my meditation picture, and I would love to get a print from the computer of it, if anyone has it. Thanks in advance!

Kali, Mistress of Something-not-found-yet

Hey my name is Sarah and I was wondering, how many dieties ARE there in Irish mythology? Email me back, puhleaze. Its very important!!! Thanx!

Sarah angel_baby_13_06@yahoo.com

If you count all of the members of the Fey, or even all of the members of Tuatha Dé Danann, that would be almost impossible to tell as there is no number given to their population. I think the answer to your question would depend completely on who you asked and when (What Century) you asked them. Sorry I could not be of more help.

Hi Sarah and Daryl

The Fey don't feature in Irish mythology, as far as I know. Miranda Green has done a reliable summary of Celtic deities in two books: "The Gods of the Celts," Bramley Books, 1986, ISBN 1-85833-731-3, and "Celtic Goddesses," British Museum Press, 1995, ISBN 0 7141 2303. Both are still in print and should be available from your local library through inter-library loan. You might have to wait a couple of weeks, though.

I might use that myself, Shae. When I use the term the Fey, I use it as the collective name for all of the Faeries. I am unaware of any ancient source that uses the term to refer to a specific group of deities.

You won't find any ancient Irish source that uses the term, Daryl, because it's a modern invention. I suppose "affectation" might be better than "invention." The whole concept of "Faerie" is no more than about 200 years old at most. It's based on Germanic/Scandinavian myths and has no relevance to or basis in Irish or Celtic myths.

What about Yeats'book on Irish Myhthology where he describes the various forms of the Faeries (although I think he uses the spelling Fairies) He classifies them as either Solitary Faeries or Trooping Faeries Banshee, Leprechauns and Clurechauns(sp?) belonging to the former group.

I realize that the spelling Faery as opposed to fairy is a relatively new thing much like the spelling magick as opposed to the spelling magic. These changes in spelling were to seperate the uses of those words by those who actually believe in the good folk from the mundane uses of the words.

Given that, I do not see how you could have a discussion of Irish mythology without some of the good folk running around.

Myth :
A myth is a traditional story whose author is unknown. It has its roots in the primitive folk-beliefs of cultures and uses the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain a culture's view of the universe and the nature of humanity.

I suppose it would depend on how far back you go before saying "Mythology stopped here. Traditional stuff since then is, well, not mythology but folklore."
Does a mythological story have to involve a god/ess?

We have modern 'urban myths', which in a way might meet the definition above, if one's definition of 'tradition' includes short time-scales. Do we think of such tales as being part of our mythology?

If you can't decide then file it under mythcellaneous.

If we took a straw poll, I expect that the answers would faery.
I could be mythtaken of course.

Fey or Fae? worth a look eh?
http://www.clannada.org/docs/glossary.html

Well ... all I know, is the Faeries at the bottom of my garden laugh at me!! while they delight in causing mischief in my life.

I am looking for any historical information about the mythological characters and staories and how they affected daily life in Ireland. If you find a web-site please e-mail me the link at Ameangirl@aol.com, and please title the e-mail, I rarely look at ones titled "no subject". Thanx a million!