IRISH MYTHOLOGY

by Irene Barreno (1º F)

INTRODUCTION

•Myths are stories which people invented to entertain children or old people.

•Mixture of religion and history. They used legends to explain lots of things.

•Now people are interested in this type of mythology as Irish people do not want it to be forgotten.

LEPRECHAUNSThey…•…are a type of goblin.•…repair shoes or make them.•…are very rich and have tonnes of gold.•…are supossed to give you their money if you see one of them, but if you stop watching them, they could scape.•…choose one of them once a year to protect the rainbow. They create the rainbow with a cauldron plenty of gold.

POOKAS

•These creatures are wicker than the leprechauns.

•They are not friends of farmers, because their activity is to destroy everything which they find in the lands.•Pookas used to appear with the form of a great and dark horse with yellow eyes.

•They can also appear like a big eagle, a troll, etc.

MERROWS

•They are a type of mermaids.•Most of them are girls.•Merrows used to live in the coasts.•They were the lovers of too many men in Ireland, but now merrows hate humans.•These creatures wear special clothes and legend says that if you get one of these clothes you will have the control of one merrow, but you can’t let her take it because she could scape from you.

AFANG

This monster…•…is an aquatic monster typical of this mythology.•…is a predecessor of Nessie.•…lives alone in dark, cold water.•…has been seen by many people in countries with celtic mythology.

OTHER LEGENDS AND CURIOSITIES

Brighid, the Godess of Celtic mythology: she is the only woman in this mythology. She is considered as the Godess of music, art, war, medicine, etc.

St. Patrick and the goblins: this man was the bishop who brought Christianity to Ireland, but he was not pagan wizards’ friend. So they sent him to the church some goblins, which annoyed and disturbed people who went to the church.

But one day, St. Patrick prayed in order to expel the goblins from his church, and they didn’t appear again.

Because of that, Irish people celebrate St. Patrick’s day in March, the 17th.