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Irish Folklore - Blog Posts

10 months ago

UnderTale AU

So I've been getting into folklore, irish folklore and I thought about undertale and made the connection in my head

The dogs/dog like enemies are wolfwalkers

And I was thinking of torial and Astrale and the king (I can't spell his name) being the Tuatha de danann or fairies

Maybe undyne being a selkie

Pucà somewhere, I'll think about it some more

I'll think more about it


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5 years ago

"Hey, pretty girl, ready to go?" I asked as I rubbed my Púca's ears.

She neighed.

I told her before leaving, "Alright, I'll go and you come find me when you're ready, okay?"

I was just leaving when I felt a light hand on my shoulder. Behind me there was a young lady with black hair, a black dress with red accents, but the thing that stood out the most about her were her brilliant red eyes and horse ears that stuck up out of her hair.

"How do I look?" she asked before giving me a slow twirl.

I took her hands in mine, once she stopped, and kissed her cheek, murmuring, "Beautiful, as always." I unclipped my cloak. "You will need to hide your ears, though." I held my cloak out to her.

"Won't you get cold?" she asked, concern lighting her brilliant eyes. How did I get so lucky to get such a caring Púca such as her?

I smiled, "No, I'll be fine."

Hey eyes flickered between my eyes and the cloak before gingerly taking my offered article of clothing.

When she finally had it adjusted with her ears flat against her head, she asked, "Is this good?"

"You look human." I held my arm out to her. "Ready to go?"

My Púca was literally bouncing as she took my arm. She was beaming and just as giddy as a little kid. I looked forward and guided her out into the bustling streets full of people dressed up as monsters and heroes.


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5 years ago

"Hey, pretty girl," I murmured to the Púca I adopted when she was a small filly.

She grunted a quiet greeting before she came up to me. She grabbed a bit of the fabric on my shoulder and gave it a gentle tug.

"How long has it been since I last saw you?"

She whinnied but let go of my shoulder.

"Since yesterday?" I gave a fake frustrated sigh, "That's too long!" I hugged her around her neck. Her fur was coarser than that of other horses and ponies I've met but I wouldn't change anything about her. The other ones are nice but they aren't her.

She nudged me enough to take a small step back, reminding me why I originally came down to visit her.

"Do you want a snack?" I asked her. "Snack?"

She nuzzled me a bit harder.

"Which hand is the snack in?" She was always a smart girl.

She stood there for a moment before nudging my right shoulder. I rolled the apple to my right hand and held it out to her.

"Smart girl," I murmured as she ate the apple. I rubbed her ears just the way she likes it. "I'm going to talk to my big, fat, mean brother to see if I can't bring you into the court so I can give you all the love and rubs you want." I couldn't stop a soft chuckle. "He isn't big, fat, or mean."

The Púca I've known since she was a filly nickered in agreement. She's met my brother and likes him well enough but still doesn't like how he keeps her from me.

"You be nice to him the next time you see him, okay?" I murmured against her forehead.


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11 months ago
A Sketch Of A Nearby Barrow. There Is A Children’s Graveyard Associated With It (the Small Stones You

A sketch of a nearby barrow. There is a children’s graveyard associated with it (the small stones you see); since stillborn or unbaptized children could not be buried on hallowed ground, in a proper cemetery, people in Ireland in 18-19 centuries buried their stillborn and unbaptized babies themselves. Such improvised unofficial graveyards were normally located in church ruins, on ring forts or on barrows, that is, in spaces that were vernacularly considered sacred / liminal.

This one has a very peaceful vibe in life. I like to think that whoever lies there looks after these children ‘entrusted’ to them.


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1 year ago
Celtober 2023 Day 3: Seduction

Celtober 2023 Day 3: Seduction

Morrígan seduces a hero with a bloody and terrible death (hence aided written on the ogham stone in the background), he's duly enthralled, and his fate is sealed.


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3 years ago
Away with the Fairies: Irish Folklore and Fin-De-Siècle Motherhood in Katharine Tynan’s Ballads and Lyrics (1891) - Irish Women's Writing (1
Irish Women's Writing (1880-1920) Network
Sadbh Kellett, University of St. Andrews  The Irish writer Katharine Tynan was remarkable in her personal and literary embodiment of the ‘Ne

A blogpost I wrote last year on such an underrated Irish writer!


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5 months ago

Muire Imbolc! To all who celebrate, including myself! Spring is coming in swift as the new green pokes through the snow.

"Imbolc" By S.R. Harrell, 2025.

"Imbolc" By S.R. Harrell, 2025.


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3 months ago
Fun Fact:

Fun Fact:

Did you know that if you grew up in Ireland, you were at risk of being kidnapped by faeries?

In Irish legend, a parent's greatest fear was that their child would get abducted and replaced with a look-alike called a "changeling" (also known as an "auf", "oaf" or "swapling") and there were a few ways for them to tell when this happened. Because in the beginning, the changeling looked very similar to their child, but over time, they would develop undeniable physical differences. Sometimes that meant looking sickly and not growing to a normal size, their teeth could turn long and pointy, and occasionally they'd grow a beard at a remarkably young age. According to folklorists, oftentimes when a parent realized their child had been swapped, they would kill the imposter, leading to awkward conversations with significant others on the occasions that they suspected wrong.

But what happened to the kids who were spirited away? It depends on the legend, but sometimes they were delivered to the devil himself, forced to become servants to the faeries, they could be eaten by faeries or even lovingly raised by them.

Keep an eye on your baby...if that really is your baby...


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4 years ago

The Origins of Fairies

Fairies are magical creatures, and all manners of children are obsessed with just the mention of them. Not to mention the Disney-ified version of fairies like ‘‘Tinkerbell’’. But where or what was the was the origination of ‘fairies’? How did people come to call these magical spirits ‘fairies’? And where did the word ‘fairy’ come from, and how has the meaning change over the centuries?

The Origins Of Fairies

Well, the first question, what are the origins of fairies, or ‘fairyland’? Fairies are most widely mentioned in Gaelic literature, meaning Ireland, and are vastly integral to the people and culture. ‘Ireland is the country of Fairies. Fully to understand the Irish temperament, therefore it is necessary to know Ireland’s Fairy lore. Since the Fairies are mentioned first and most frequently in the literature written in the Irish languages of centuries ago, we must turn for information to the great mass of poems and stories from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. The Fairies of ancient Ireland belonged to a race known as ‘Tuath De Danaan’ came to Ireland, legend says from the ‘northern isles of the world, where they had been learning lore and magic and druidism and wizardry and cunning until they surpassed the sages of the arts of heathendom.’ ’’

The Origins Of Fairies

Why then, have the mention of fairies been connected to the feminine, and feminine ideals? Because beauty standards rely heavily on gender, and ‘fairies’ with their magical art forms, have become twisted and their original ‘conquering form’ forgotten, and what better way to reinforce this than by using children’s fairy tales, which emphasizing women’s beauty and passivity, which serve to legitimize the dominant gendered system. ‘‘Research since the early 1970s has shown that children’s literature contains explicit and implicit messages about dominant power structures in society, especially those concerning gender. Fairy tales written during the eighteenth and nineteenth were intended to teach girls and young women how to become domesticated, respectable, and attractive to a marriage partner and to teach boys and girls appropriated gendered values, and attitudes.’’

The Origins Of Fairies
The Origins Of Fairies

Finally, where did the word ‘fairie’ come from? ‘‘They were at first, as established up above, called the ‘De Dannans’, who came to conquer those who were already in possession of Ireland, but were overcome with the ‘Mileasans’, a mythical race said to be the ancestors of modern Irishmen, and settled in a seperate part of the island, retiring into the green hills, where they required a new name: People of the Fairy Mound, or Aes Side (Ace Shithe, or Shee). As clouds are shot through with lightning, so is early Irish literature with accounts of invaders who became the Fairy Folk. ‘In Ireland, the Fairies have never been forgotten’: Brian Merriman, the last Gaelic poet of prominence, speaks of them as the treasure of his country in time of trouble, and Patrick MacGill, the Donegal poet, expressed the same idea when, amid the terrors of the battlefield, he wrote, ‘If we forget the Fairies,

And tread upon the rings,

God will perchance forget us,

And think of other things.

When we forget you, Fairies,

Who guard our spirits’ light:

God will forget the morrow,

And Day forget the Night’’.

.


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