From banshees to vampires, Irish mythology is dominated by frightful faeries who comprise the mythology of both ancient and contemporary Ireland. Understanding Irish mythology begins with understanding the Celts and pre-Celts who inhabited the isolated island.
By the time the Celts (known as Milesians) arrived in Ireland between 500 and 300 BC from Central Europe, they found a diverse group of people who had been living there for at least 9,000 years. Anthropological evidence suggests human activity as early as 36,000 BC. Stone Age hunters, gatherers, farmers, and builders built Newgrange and other Neolithic temples in the Boyne Valley around 7,000 BC.
According to Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions), a medieval document that details the mythological history of Ireland, there were five waves of settlers that predated the Milesians: Cessair, Partholón, Nemed, Fir Bolg, and Tuatha Dé Danann.
The Tuatha Dé Danann were a supernatural race of kings, queens, druids, bards, warriors, heroes, healers, magicians, artists, and craftsmen. The Milesians conquered them, banishing them underground.
The Milesians absorbed the local lore into their polytheistic religion, which focused on the Sun, Earth, and natural phenomena. The Celts celebrated four seasonal festivals: Bealtaine (May 1), Lughnasadh (August 1), Samhain (November 1), and Imbolc (February 1). They were animists who believed that every part of the natural world had a spirit. They also believed in an afterlife—the Otherworld—a parallel universe where the gods dwelled.
Because the Milesians left Europe before Rome conquered it, and because Rome never invaded the land it called Hibernia, the Celtic language, culture, and mythology remained unadulterated in Ireland and Wales for centuries.
Faeries
According to most legends, faeries are the Tuatha Dé Danann, who were forced underground by the Milesians. Humiliated, they retaliated against anyone who infringed on their mounds. They became known as the aes sídhe, literally, “the people of the mounds.”
Unlike the pixie-like characters in other cultures who grant wishes and cast benevolent spells, Irish faeries are vengeful and often hideous.
As elementals—similar to stereotypical ghosts rising from graveyards—they belong to a realm not safe for human beings. When the veil between their realm and the physical world is thinnest, like at Samhain (Halloween), they are most active and dangerous.
The English word fairy derives from the Old French faierie, a derivation from Latin meaning “the fates.” Faerie, on the other hand, referred to women who knew the magic of words, artifacts, and herbs. The word may have been influenced by the Germanic fey, meaning “fated to die.”
Collectively, faeries are known as “The Fae,” a term that describes both their physical presence and their culture.
William Butler Yeats, who wrote Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry in 1888, divided the creatures into Trooping Fairies and Solitary Fairies. Trooping fairies, he said, live in communities and are known for singing and dancing. They may or may not be friendly to humans. Solitary fairies, who live on their own, are likely to be harmful.
Stunning and beneficent, or hideous and terrible, faeries walk among the living, exacting vengeance or providing protection—for a price. They are jealous of human abundance. Quick to anger, they drown humans, steal—and eat—babies, turn milk sour, and play deadly tricks on the unsuspecting. Faerie encounters may precipitate strange events, even madness and suicide. Many Irish superstitions evolved from appeasing the faeries.
The 2026 Celtic Corner will cover the dangerous faeries that dominate Irish Celtic mythology. These include:
| February | Banshee |
| March | Leprechauns, Clurichauns, and Far Darrig |
| April | Sea Monsters (Kelpies, the Merrow, and Caorthannach) |
| May | Dullahan |
| June | Gancanagh |
| July | Changelings |
| August | Balor |
| September | Pooka (Púca) |
| October | Vampires Dearg-due and Leanan Sidhe |
| November | Am Fear Liath Mòr (Big Grey Man) and the Sheerie |
| December | Questing Beast and Sluagh |
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