The Irish Fairy
by Alfred Perceval Graves
The Irish Fairy is a large area of study, from the Tuatha Dé Danaan and Aois Sí, to Irish mythology and fairy tales, to the puca and leprechauns. The intent of this article is not to describe the extent of the Irish Fairy, but rather to define the difference between the Irish Fairy and the fairy of Elizabethan and Germanic history.
To begin with, the primary difference is that of origin. The Irish Fairy has a very distinct beginning in Irish history, that being the landing of the Tuatha Dé Danaan on the West of Ireland around 1800 bc,, that is – 4000 – 4500 years ago. As mythology describes, the Tuatha Dé Danaan, or people of the Goddess Danu, ruled Eire, then called ´Eriu for only 200 years, 1897 BC to 1700 BC according to the ‘Annals of the Four Masters‘, but left in their wake both the creation of the fairy myth, and the beginnings of Irish mythology and the Irish Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses.
In contrast, the fairy of the British isles, Germanic and Nordic states were much more of a gradual evolution beginning in Ancient Greece, Persia and ultimately India., as detailed in my article ‘A Timeline of Fairies’, and an entirely different source or origin. Despite the overlap of the two in modern day perceptions, particularly in the British Isles, there exists two distinctly different traditions.
Cover image, Celtc Tales
Further, it is notable to distinguish the difference between the Irish Fairy, and the Celtic Fairy, something so intertwined as to be near indistinguishable, and yet they are not the same.
Perhaps the best way to understand this, is for one to close their eyes and imagine dropping back in time. Image the world back at the time of the birth of Christ, along with a number of other religions founded near this time – Buddhism (560 bce, before christ, before common era), Taoism (6th Century bce), Jainism (600 bce), Islam (630 bce). Next drop back another 1000 yrs, to the beginnings of Hinduism (1500 bce), and Zoroastrianism (1500 bce). Go back another 500 years and one arrives at the beginnings of Judaism (1800 – 2000 bce) – and the arrival of the Tuatha DéDanaan on the Irish shores, thousands of miles away from developing civilization. For a final perspective, the pyramids were built about (2500 bce).
Now in this context of time, consider the origins of the Celts. The Celtic tribes originated in Central Europe, particularly the area of modern-day Austria, Switzerland, and Germany around the dates of (800 to 500 bce), or in other words, 1000 years after the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danaan along the western shores of Ireland. As the Celts grew and expanded, their pagan, or natured based beliefs were part of and contributed to, the evolution and migration of fairies from further East. Meanwhile the Irish beliefs, also nature based but different, had already been around 1000 yrs or more, and with the earliest estimate of any Celtic influence in Ireland no earlier than 500 bce.
Now having visualized this backdrop of time, imagine the tribes that lived after the Tuatha Dé Danaan for 1000 or more years in isolation. These were small communities living in round stone or wooden enclosures close to the land and overall primitive conditions. It is also generally believed that the origins of the people living on ´Eriu were not descendants of the Tuatha dé Danaan, but rather the Milesians or Gaels from Southern Europe who displaced them. At this point in time, there a divergence happened, the Tuatha dé Danaan basically disappeared, but leaving a wake, an imprint, became fairies, while the Milesians ultimately became the Irish population.
These early people lived in primitive conditions, with little excess except for time, and with that time began sharing stories, amongst themselves, amongst neighboring settlements, and which gave birth to the deep tradition of storytelling and verbal transmission of cultural values, mores and such of Eire. Imagine yourself sitting around a low fire of peat, dung or wood, listening late into the night, to stories of old, stories told. In tale, in poem, in rhyme, in rhythm, and in the silences between where one’s imagination took flight. And as the stories grew, so did the myth of the Tuatha dé Danaan from the wake they left, described in all manners, as living underground, or bigger than life across the land and air as gods, kings, goddesses, warriors, heroes and maidens – or smaller lives as fairies and a thousand shapeshifting forms. Such is the beginnings of the Irish fairy.
In these early centuries and many after, the Irish fairy had nothing to do with modern conceptions of wings, young women, leprechauns and such. Rather the story of the Irish fairy evolved into an entire parallel world, one that overlapped this world, and where the two worlds blended into a shared reality. Fairies of that time were strange, and beautiful and dangerous beings of many shapes and forms. They lived in a different timespace, lived by different values, lived apart and mostly disinterested in humans. They travelled, had conflicts, held court, were noble, strong, indifferent, unyielding, troublesome, magical, manipulative, cheerful, grand and hideous. These were the fairies of ancient Eire. These are still the fairies of modern day Ireland, referred to as ‘The Other Crowd, The Fair or Wee Folk, The Gentle or Little People, or The People of the Hills or Shining Ones’.
So as the waves of Celtic and Christian influences washed over the age old tales and understandings of fairies in Ireland, the modern day myth of fairies evolved, cloaked in Celtic design and pagan ritual, and colored with Church judgement and interpretation. This is the Irish fairy of today, but underneath still lies the mythical origins of Irish fairies, recorded by storytelling in dark winter nights from generation to generation, a thousand or more years before any merging with outside tribes and cultures beyond ´Eriu. And these stories were shared among a people who feared their world, the vastness and mysteries of the natural world around them, the unknown – and the ‘Others’ they lived alongside. To them, fairies weren’t entertainment or fantasy, but rather as real as the sea and the night sky and winter rain and animal tribes all around them, beings who commanded respect, caution and wonderment.
And to this day, that deeply buried, almost forgotten past and origin of fairies still exists in the identity and soul of Ireland. Modern day culture with all its distraction and frenzy, is only a veneer on top of this ancient history, these ancient beginnings. Underneath still lies the belief in something more, something shared, not quite ‘there’ to the light of day, but not quite ‘not there’ to the depth of night, Such is the Irish fairy, deeply buried in the land, living ‘underground’, ancient, timeless.
Finally, for the classic read about the Tuatha dé Danaan, I have included several book covers of ‘GODS AND FIGHTING MEN: THE STORY OF THE TUATHA DE DANAAN AND OF THE FIANNA OF IRELAND.’ arranged and put into English by Lady Gregory (1905). There are numerous reprints of this collection of stories.
