Irish Folklore

Ireland is an old country… a very old country. It is a place simply brimming with myths and legends. Famous for its oral stories, Ireland has so many stories that have been passed down through each generation, with various versions of each.

These stories are often linked to landscapes – either a specific spot like the Giant’s Causeway, or else many places like Diarmuid and Grainne and their various caves.

From giants to selkies, from tragic lovers to witches, from magical bulls to humans turned to swans, join us on this series to learn the unique myths and legends of Ireland.

Once upon a time, there was a magical emerald land called Ireland. In the northern stretches of this land, there lived an Irish giant called Fionn McCool (or in Irish, Fionn Mac Cumhaill).

Fionn McCool is one of Ireland’s most prominent mythological characters, and yes he is who’s credited with building the Giant's Causeway. It was built as a result of a proposed fistfight with a Scottish giant that never actually happened because Fionn and his wife tricked him instead. It ended with Fionn’s wife cleverly disguising her husband as a baby.

Tales of tragic lovers exist in many cultures – most famously, Shakespeare’s doomed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Ireland has its own pair of tragic and doomed loved, Diarmuid and Grainne.

The story goes that Diarmuid stole his chieftain Fionn McCool’s intended bride, Grainne, after the couple fell in love. Their love was so strong that Diarmuid and Grainne decided to escape together and went on the run indefinitely.

Legend has it that Diarmuid and Grainne never slept in the same place twice and across Ireland, there are dozens – perhaps hundreds – of “Diarmuid and Grainne beds” – caves, nooks, rocks, dolmans, Neolithic tombs, boulders, glacial erratics, and other standout geological formations where the couple supposedly spent a night while on the run.

The selkie – also called the seal people, or the mermaid – is a marine legend that tells of people who are half-fish, and half-human.

In the water, they are seals, but on land, they can shed their skin and take on human form. They inhabit the shores of Ireland and Scotland. And for some reason, they are irresistible to ordinary humans, who are apt to fall in love with the seal people.

The mighty Lir was once a great king of Ireland. With his first wife, he had four lovely children. But after her untimely death, King Lir remarried a new queen, and like any proper fairytale, the stepmother did not have her new children’s best interests at heart. And unfortunately for them, his new wife grew increasingly jealous of Lir’s attention to his children, and that she dabbled in magic.

Essentially, the myth of the Children of Lir is the story of the jealous stepmother. The evil queen took her revenge upon the four children for taking up so much of King Lir’s time and love by turning them into four white swans.

As swans, the evil queen cursed the four children of Lir to wander Ireland as swans for 900 years.

October is often lauded as the creepiest month of the year. Ireland takes it one step further as the originator of Halloween. According to Ireland’s Celtic calendar, October 31st marks the end of autumn, meaning the first of November is the start of winter. On the eve between these two seasons, the ‘curtain’ between our world and the world of the spirits is at its thinnest. This means that for one night only, certain determined spirits have the ability to cross the threshold into our world.

Ireland is also the originator of one of the world’s most famous monster stories. Aside from Frankenstein, Dublin-born Bram Stooker’s Dracula is the most famous monster tale of all time. Certainly, Dracula is the most famous vampire, giving rise to a vampire horror subgenre that is still immensely popular today. There are a number of myths and legends in Ireland that may have spawned such a myth – because Stoker never actually stepped foot in Transylvania. Instead, it was Ireland’s dark past and vampiric monsters that inspired his iconic tale.

In the 1600s, a fierce and formidable Pirate Queen known as Grace O’Malley ruled the west coast of Ireland.

For 3o years, Grace ruled over Clew Bay and Galway Bay, demanding tribute from passing ships. She built castles and forts, robbed the passing ships, and collected enemies along Ireland’s rugged western shores – and even lied to the Queen face to face. Read more about this great Irish legend.

Meet the great hero Cuchulain, born as the boy Setanta and later known as the Hound of Ulster, who became one of Ireland’s most legendary and fearsome warriors.

The colourful life and times of the mighty Cú Chulainn (pronounced ‘Coo Hull-in’) have long been relayed throughout many tales, and sites across Ireland are associated with the epic hero. Read more about this powerful warrior and his many deeds below.

The daughter of the High King of Ireland, Queen Maeve is renowned as a warrior queen of great strength, resilience, and ruthlessness. With a name said to mean “intoxicating,” she wielded enormous power and sway during her reign.

Known for her “pillow talk” with her husband Aillil, they argued about who held the most wealth. After listing out everything they each owned, it seemed they were equal…except for a single large bull which Aillil possessed. Competitive to the core, Maeve was determined not to be beaten, leading to the infamous Cattle Raid of Cooley.

One of Ireland’s darker folklore creatures, the Púca are shape-shifting fairy troublemakers. Legends say that the púca can change into horses, goats, cats, donkeys, bulls, dogs, foxes, wolves, and hares, though always with jet-black fur. Horses bearing sleek coats, wild manes and flaming eyes are the most common animal shape of these mischievous fairies. When in human form, these fairies still bear animalistic characteristics.

Though stories about the púca are vague and varied, one common similarity is the púca’s love of mischief. They are particularly associated with Halloween night (an ancient Irish pagan holiday known as Samhain 

Niamh is a formidable and daring figure. She is probably the most renowned female character from Tír na nÓg, a magical island off the west coast of Ireland. Hailing from the mythological Tuatha De Danaan tribe, this group was revered as divine, ethereal beings inhabiting a realm beyond our own.

The Tuatha De Danaan hold a central role as the chief deities in pre-Christian Ireland. Niamh’s presence symbolizes the divine feminine, reflecting the ancient Celtic belief in the sanctity of both genders as sacred and divine entities.

A Banshee  a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening.  name is connected to the mythologically important tumuli or "mounds" that dot the Irish countryside, which are known as síde in Old Irish.