Leprechauns: The Myth of the Mischievous

My Personal Story

I grew up half Irish, which meant my mom’s side of the family was big and loud. There was never a moment you spent with us on holiday gatherings, weddings, or reunions that were not bursting with loud crowds.

Although here in America it is very different compared to it is in the home country of Ireland. In Ireland they have a five day festival in Dublin, it is considered one of the best and most crowded festivals for Saint Patrick’s day. It mainly centered around the little, greedy men who wander their streets.

These creatures are called leprechauns, they are an Irish mythological creature. Most often in Ireland little kids will try to set traps to catch them, but they always seem to get away before they have the chance to see them.

History

Leprechauns come from the pre-Christian Irish Folklore and also Celtic mythology. These small men are considered as an Irish fairy or elf.

However, in Celtic Mythology, fairies are not like the ones you may see in a Disney movie where they are sweet, kind, and caring. Rather instead, Irish fairies are lustful, killing, and mischievous. They use human greed or stupidity against humans to deceive them in any way possible. This paints a picture about how leprechauns are not sweet and friendly creatures.

A lot of myths are created to be able to explain things that don’t make sense, to create wisdom, and to celebrate through their cultures with engaging stories. Leprechauns explained a lot of mischievous unexplainable phenomenons going on around them. It would explain the minor mischievous actions going on around them like missing items around the house or any minor strange activity. This was a light way of rationalizing these actions with these small men.

Evolution

Most people picture a small green man as a leprechaun but in the past they were always presented as red. There was no reason for changing the color of the leprechaun besides just an evolution.

Not only did their appearance change but so did their personalities. Before, they used to be very gloomy, sad, ugly, sour-tempered, characters. Now they are represented very differently, now they are pictured as middle aged, chirpy, ginger men.

Personality

Their personality is quite simple in the sense that their main derivative is their pot of gold. This pot of gold holds a lot of significance in their life and myth because of how they are craftsmen and the money they make off of what they put into their pot of gold. Although it makes it hard to beilive because since a majority of them are craftsmen no one is sure their way of currency and if they create things for other Celtic mythological charicters or not.

What makes people question this myth is that there is scientifically no end of the rainbow, which makes it impossible for the point of gold to be there if it does not exist. This goes against the myth and makes it harder to believe since it is scientifically proven that this could not be possible.

They are also very well known for being really hard to capture and that they will use themselves against you and that they will use human nature and greediness against you. Said leprechauns are very, and unless you are an expert on them, you are easily outwitted by them.

Most kids over the world celebrate by putting out leprechaun traps. Normally the parents will set off the trap but then make it seem like he escaped.

Conclusion

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