Under an Irish Moon
Irish and Celtic myths and legends, Irish folklore and Irish fairy tales tales of Ireland
I see the moon and the moon sees me
Our Irish ancestors from olden times were fascinated with the sky and its inhabitants, how they moved, what they meant and where their celestial lives intersected with our own. The Tuatha Dé Danann loved the sun foremost but others built places aligned to the movements of the moon and stars, many of which predate the solar structures.
There is even evidence for a struggle that took place between the two belief systems as waves of invasions ebbed and flowed, drowning the sorrowing soil of Ireland with the blood of heroes, but despite being driven deep, we can still hear echoes of that long-gone time if we listen to the land closely enough.
Nature was seen to move in cycles, and it was thought that the rebirth of the new moon signalled the beginning of these little seasons. On the night of the new moon, if one were to borrow a piece of silver it would turn to two by the end of the month, and if a person was to turn the coins in their pockets on that same night, they would prosper greatly.
“Whatever you have in your hand when you see the new moon first, you will have plenty of that before the next new moon comes.”
The mystery of the changing moon was near to the heart of old druidry, and they even laid out their calendars in accordance with its shifting nature. Best known of these is the Coligny calendar, made up of bronze fragments which were once a single huge plate. Each year was divided into thirteen months.
Such was their reverence for the moon that they would rarely refer to it directly, instead using words like “gealach” which means brightness. This also hints at the uses to which they put hawthorn, or the sceach geal – moon thorn. “Gealach na gcoinnlíní” is the Harvest Moon, where coinnlíní is the Irish for a stubble field with stalks left after reaping. “Seán na Gealaí” is Jack of the Lantern, “corrán gealaí” is a crescent moon.
Those touched by the moon were considered le gealaí, or keeping company with the moon. Some believed that sleeping directly under the moonlight would lead to bad dreams and ill temper, or at worst, blindness, paralysis and other afflictions.
Lunar eclipses were times of importance to the ancient Gaels and were associated with the rabbit and the hare, both symbols of fertility. They may also have had a “festival of light” to welcome eclipses, which the druids could predict.
Long before the druids or even the working of metal was known in Ireland, the people of Ireland had great knowledge of the moon and stars, as can be seen in the great passage mound of Knowth which is only a short distance from Newgrange.
There is a wealth of lunar symbolism on the many engravings in Knowth, and the eighteen monuments around the central mound, are both far older than Knowth and echo the lunar cycle, which takes eighteen years to complete.
Some researchers believe that many of the kerbstones at Knowth functioned as calendars for counting and marking lunar cycles. At certain regular intervals in the ancient past, at least twice if not four or eight times during the eigheen year lunar cycle, the east and west chambers of Knowth were lit by both the sun and moon simultaneously.
If the light of the moon shone onto the back stone in one of these passages, it would light up what some believe to be one of the oldest maps of the lunar landscape in the world. Several other stones appear to depict phases of the moon, perhaps as a calendar of the future or a memorial of past events of importance.
At Dowth, there are one hundred and fifteen kerb stones, exactly half the number of lunar months in a “moon swing” cycle, the time it takes the moon to run through its extreme rising and setting points on the horizon and back again. The mythology surrounding the building of Dowth tells us that the men working to construct a mound so their king Bresail Bó-Dibad could reach the heavens abandoned their work halfway through when the sun fell into darkness, or an eclipse took place.
The ancient Greek Diodorus Siculus wrote of the '”Island of the Hyperboreans” in and around the first century BC
“there is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple which is adorned with many votive offerings and is spherical in shape... They say also that the moon, as viewed from this island, appears to be but a little distance from the Earth and to have upon it prominences, like those of the Earth, which are visible to the eye. The account is also given that the god visits the island every nineteen years.”
Since these ancient mounds were decorated with glimmering white quartz pieces, some have suggested they were meant to represent or reflect the moon.
The cairn in Carrowkeel in county Sligo also seems to have been built to observe the longer lunar cycles.
Some parts of the Beaghmore stone circles are astronomically linked with dawn and dusk on the solstices, but unusually, for the most part, the overall alignment is more closely connected to the phases of the moon. This forms part of a different and perhaps older tradition than the cross quarter celebrations.
Night time is truly magical amid the Beaghmore stones, due to the remoteness and altitude of the site, the sky is darker here than almost anywhere else in the country, and it was under silverine moonlight that rituals were conducted here of old. The purpose of these rites is not known today, but the seventh circle might give some hint, the one known as the Dragon's Teeth.
For within the eight hundred stones of this seventh circle, seven being a number associated with the lunar cycle, were discovered the remains of several children of great antiquity, and some visitors have reported hearing the voices of children, or even the touch of child's hand on their own as they made a hasty departure!
One of the highest figures among the ancestors the Gaels reverenced was Elatha, Ealadha or Elathan, a prince of the Fomorians and the father of Bres of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He was most associated with the moon since he visited Eriú by night in a silver boat.
Seeds planted and roof thatching begun when the moon was young would be smiled upon, and children born on this night were considered favoured. Animals were slaughtered during this time so that they would “swell in the boil”. Hair should also be cut when the moon was waxing to ensure subsequent growth, although other traditions held that hair should only be cut during the waning phases, so that it might be longer before needing your next haircut!
Contrariwise, the fading moon was thought to take disease and sores along with it.
Catching the first glimpse of a new moon through glass was to suffer bad luck for the coming month, and worse yet if you happened to see it over your left shoulder! Whereas seeing it over the right shoulder was fine, similar to walking deiseal or clockwise around ancient stones when seeking a blessing.
Should the moon pop out in front of you however you were due for a fall. There must have been some strange dances taking place on that night! Which might be why on a bright moonlit night the fairies were said to be out singing and dancing.
Here we can also see the admixture of old pagan beliefs with Christianity, in the veneration of the new moon for protection as long as it lived. A seventeenth century German writer wrote: “The wild Irish have this custom, that when the moon is new they squat upon their knees and pray to the moon that it may leave them vigorous and healthy.”
Petitioners would kneel before the moon, say a Pater Noster or Ave Maria, make the sign of the cross or other pious motion and then sing out:
“Oh Moon! May thou leave us safe, as thou hast found us!”
or alternatively
“God and the holy Virgin be about me!
I see the moon, and the moon sees me
God bless the moon, and God bless me!”
When the new moon first appeared, people would bless themselves and say “Go mbeí mis seo and tam seo arís” and wish for something, and it might just come true.
The eternal return of the moon was naturally something mysterious, there was a saying about the new moon: “On the first night nobody sees it, on the second night the birds see it, and on the third night everybody sees it.”
People used to say that the potatoes were not ripe to dig until the first harvest moon’s full. And if that came late, the potatoes would be poor eating. The harvest moon was said to gather the cabbage. While the moon was filling it was a good time for fishing but while it was going back you would hardly catch any fish at all.
The motions of the moon were used by the people of Ireland to predict their futures, if the new moon was on its back that was a sure sign of rain but if it stood upright that was a sign of fine weather. If the new moon was pale with a ring around it, “súil circe ré” or the moon of the hen’s eye, that was a sign of rain.
If you were working when you saw the new moon you would be at that work for a long time. If the new moon appeared early in the sky, rain would follow after, but if the new moon was red, the wind would chase hard on its heels.
It was often held that a full moon on Saturday was a sign of bad weather or some other local misfortune.
Young Irish women seeking a sign of their future husbands appealed to the new moon as well, kneeling down and taking a black-handled knife before lifting a sod of turf from under their right knee and from under the toe of their right foot, calling out the following cant:
“New moon, new moon,
Happy may I be
Whoever is my true love
This night may I see.”
And many a young Irish couple walked hand in hand under the waxing moon.
The moon over Galway bay is a beautiful thing, and can be found on the map below.
Further Folk and Faerie Tales of Ireland
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Our Irish ancestors from olden times were fascinated with the sky and its inhabitants, how they moved, what they meant and where their celestial lives intersected with our own. The Tuatha Dé Danann loved the sun foremost but others built places aligned to the movements of the moon and stars, many of which predate the solar structures. The ... [more]
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Throughout Ireland can be found many holy wells and blessed springs, most of which predate the arrival of Christianity on the island, but which were consecrated by the Church to the service of Christ. Within some of these wells and deepnesses, the old legends tell, swim sacred guardians and fish of strange repute! To this day the people of Irela ... [more]
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There was a farmer in County Kerry who had a nice little cottage for himself and his wife, but the thatched roof was in a terrible state of disrepair and unlikely to last another winter. Unlike the stone houses and cottages in the west, Kerry cottages were less sturdy, and so he knew he had to build himself another place to live. He searched thr ... [more]
Long ago in Ireland, at the dawn of the Christian age, Irish monasteries and schools were famed throughout Europe and the world for the depth of their knowledge and the quality of the education they gave to princes, lords and nobles who travelled from all parts to attend them. One of the most famous early Christian theologians who taught in thes ... [more]
The people of Ireland before the time of Saint Patrick had many strange customs, and some of these survive even to this very day, often mixed and combined with Christian rites and beliefs! One of those traditions was the sunwise walk. What this meant was, in order for good luck to attend an event, you had to walk around it sunwise or deiseal, pr ... [more]
We have a saying in Ireland, that it's the only place in the world where you can get all four seasons in the one day – well there's truth in that, but Irish weather can be even stranger than most people realise! So it is with the Gaoth Sidhe, which means “the fairy wind,” and is pronounced “gwee sheeha”. Oft ... [more]
One upon a time in Ireland, in the farthest west of County Clare, there lived a brave young chieftain whose name was O'Quinn. A kindly enough man was he, and fair to behold, of ruddy locks and clean limbs, and he made his Dún on a flat plain near to a clearwater spring, the purest in all of Ireland and perhaps all the world. He was co ... [more]
Cursing of various sorts has a history as long and rich as Ireland's own, stretching from the very earliest tales of the first settlers in Ireland all the way to the modern day. Whether a quick muttered malediction on someone who had crossed you or an elaborate, lengthy poem intended to satirise and ruin the legacy of a king, the mallacht, or c ... [more]
Much has been said but little written of the old Irish piseóg, the word of the curse. Now the same term is often used to refer to general traditions and superstitions in Ireland, things like if you're ever lost, turn your socks inside out to find your way home, or opening the back door if you hear a knock at the front door, to let the fa ... [more]
Dotted around Ireland in many places can be found bullán stones, meaning “bowls”, which are stones, large and small, with a depression or bowl in them, often filled with water. These are usually of great antiquity, stretching back before the time of St Patrick and before the time of Cú Chulainn and Fionn Mac Cumhaill, and ... [more]
There's a common misconception some might have about fairies, which is the idea that fairies are nice friendly little spirits, trailing pixie dust and turning pumpkins into luxury vehicles. As any of the old folk of Ireland could tell you, nothing could be further from the truth, for a fairy in wrath is more dangerous than a hive of wasps or a ... [more]
Sometimes when out and about travelling the lesser known byways of Ireland, you might come across a little stone arrowhead or piece of flint shaped by hands long gone, and people would tell you not to touch it for fear it might carry the tinneas sióg, the sickness of the fairy mounds! For it was that fairies, the sidhe, were known to hurl ... [more]
The sinister crone of the woods, the wishing thorn, there are as many tales told of the blackthorn trees of Ireland as there are spiky thorns on its branches. The people who came before, whose blood still runs in some, planted them around their tombs and sacred places and bound the lunantisidhe, or moon fairies to protect them, save only on the ful ... [more]
Once upon a time there was a poor woman with three daughters, and one day the eldest decided to seek her fortunes in the world. “Mother,” she said, “bake me a cake and kill my chicken, for I am away to the wide world.” And so her mother did just that, and when all was ready, her mother asked “which will you have ... [more]
A fair witch crept to a young man's side, And he kissed her and took her for his bride. But a shape came in at the dead of night, And filled the room with snowy light. And he saw how in his arms there lay A thing more frightful than words may say. And he rose in haste, and followed the Shape Till morning crowned an eastern cape. ... [more]
Once upon a time, not so long ago, a lovely young couple had just gotten married in the Irish countryside. It was a wonderful ceremony and all had remarked on how beautiful the bride looked, when suddenly their festivities and dancing were interrupted by the groom, who rushed into the crowd shouting that his Margaret was missing! Well they ... [more]
They do say that once upon a time, long ago, there lived a lady of great beauty in a castle on a lake, and her hair was fair as gold, shining in the summer sun. She had been promised to a king's son, the lord of a nearby kingdom, but as he was coming to see her one dark November evening, who should come upon him but the warriors of a jealous lo ... [more]
One evening in late November, which is the time of year when the spirits of Ireland have the most power, the prettiest girl in all the land was going to the ancient well for water. Then, as chance would have it, her foot turned on a loose stone, and she fell. It was bad luck, but when she got back to her feet, it seemed as though she was in a stran ... [more]
Baile the son of Buan was renowned through Ulster and all of Ireland for his tale-telling, and loved for his his kindly nature, but most of all by by Aillinn, daughter of Lughaidh. From afar they shared sweet messages and poetry, and as time passed she grew to love him more and more, and he in kind. Everyone spoke well of them and looked forward to ... [more]
In the olden days there was a man who played the pipes, but he was not famous for it, or if he was it was for the wrong reasons, since he had but the one tune, a jaunty jig called The Black Rogue. Now it happened one dark night that he was on his way home after entertaining the gentlemen, and with a few pence in his pocket and a few drinks under hi ... [more]
Times were hard in Ireland back years ago, and while some might say they've had it tough today, it was not a patch on the hardships people endured in times gone by. And so it was with Michael McGovern, a poor farmer with hardly an acre of stony soil to rent, who looked upon his three young sons with love for the life of them and fear for their ... [more]
There was a prince in Ireland a long, long time ago, back when Ireland still had princes, and O'Donall was his name. A brave fellow he was, and powerful, but given to risk and heedless thrills in his hunting and leaping and running and swimming, all the better to impress his friends. He was lord of a wide land, and he wasn't hard on the poo ... [more]
A woman was out one day looking after her sheep in the valley, and coming by a little stream she sat down to rest, when suddenly she seemed to hear the sound of low music, and turning round, beheld at some distance a crowd of people dancing and making merry. And she grew afraid and turned her head away not to see them. Then close by her stood a you ... [more]
They say that in Ireland you will enjoy all four seasons in a day, but on this day the four seasons were high and glorious summer, or so it seemed to Tom Fitzpatrick as he walked along a narrow road between two tall hedges in harvest time. As he walked, he chanced to hear a strange ringing like a tiny bell, and he paused, puzzled as to what it migh ... [more]
Connla of the Fiery Hair was one of the sons of Conn of the Hundred Battles, and his favourite son, a swift and agile warrior with a voice that could make the mountains tremble. Himself and his father climbed the heights of Usna on Samhain, when he saw coming towards them a slender maiden of great beauty, clad in strange clothes. “Where do ... [more]
Strange are the ways of the Fairies of Ireland, and strange the look about them, but for all their wild and untamed manner they follow rules written in the ripples of willow-branches on still ponds, and laws murmured by the echo of birdsong in deep wells. Once there was a woman sitting in her cottage, a humble enough abode, and she was making wo ... [more]
There are many types of fairy in Ireland, some more risky than others, and some to be avoided due to their habits rather than out of any particular malevolence. Such a one is the Gan Ceanach, whose name means “Without Love”. Although you might think such a title would indicate a friendless creature of a lonely nature lacking in socia ... [more]
There are a great many raths or fairy forts of old scattered throughout Ireland today, numbering in the tens of thousands, and it is here, the wise say, that the good people or fairy folk gather to hold their revels. Nobody would dare to cross, let alone build on a fairy dwelling in the past, marking as they did the boundary between our civilise ... [more]
Near to the town of Fermoy in Ireland lies the great stack of Cairn Thierna, not as wide about nor as tall as some mountains perhaps but feared and respected by the local people nonetheless. For all around it and along its flanks are tall heaps of stones they say are the work of the fairy folk, or the old people who lived here long ago. And you ... [more]
On the road going down to Cork there's an old set of four walls that used to once be called Ronayne's Court. Although there's little enough to see of it nowadays still the stack of the chimneys stands proud, and on it can be seen the coat of arms of the family that built it and used to live there. They were a fine couple and had one ... [more]
It was known in times past in Ireland that there were men and women who could talk to the fairies, ask favours from them, and even live among them, and some used this acquaintance to work their will on the world, for good or for ill. Most famous, perhaps, among these people were the fairy healers of old. Biddy Early is the best known of their ki ... [more]
James Mac Neill was as strapping a young fellow as you could hope to meet, and likely with it. Never did he walk away from a tussle or a drink, and never far from his hand was his shillelagh. He had no fears save the lacking of a pint, no cares except for who would pay for it, and not a thought in his head but how to have fun after it. One cold ... [more]
Maurice Mulreaney was well known for travelling about the countryside without fear of anything living or otherwise, as quick to cross a graveyard or fairy mound as you or I would be to cross the street, for he didn't believe in that which he couldn't see with his own two eyes or touch with his own two hands, and he didn't bother with ol ... [more]
It wasn't a bad life for Fergus O'Hara in Owenmore, for all that himself and his wife Rose had little, the little they had was enough for them. Some goats, pigs and poultry ranged far and wide about their few acres, and a field of oats and potatoes kept them busy for the harvest and brought in a few pennies. It so happened that there lay ... [more]
The children of De Danann once ruled the island of Ireland, before they departed back to their own lands in the farthest west or went below the earth in their fairy mounds to dance and sing forevermore, but if you're lucky – or unlucky! – you might still come across them in the wild places and those deep forests yet untouched. An ... [more]
Some of the Sidhe in times of old would take a fondness for one particular family, protecting it and helping it rise in the world, and so it was with the O'Briens, who were known as the Dál gCais, or the Dalcassians. Their fairy guardian was called Aoibhell, whose name means burning ardour or beauty, depending on who you ask. She had ... [more]
Irish legends from time immemorial have a great deal to say about the land of the fairies, the home of the Tuatha De Danann, or the world of the Sidhe. There are those who claim it lies beneath fairy mounds or on the other side of deep caves where Druids once held tryst and shared magical secrets, while other tales tell of heroes and adventurers, e ... [more]
It's well known among those who know of such things that fairies love to dance more than anything else, and they take it ill should anything interfere with their merriment. And if someone wanted to spoil a dance, they could come up with few better ways of doing so than to send a herd of cattle wandering through! The hill atop Knockshegowna w ... [more]
The cheerful Leprechaun is about as well known an emblem of Ireland as you could want, but what truth lies behind the stories? Well the truth is nobody really knows the truth, for leprechauns are are a cagey bunch at the best of times, not prone to gossip or holding forth on the important events of the day or the local hurling results, even after a ... [more]
After the Tuatha De Dannan were defeated in battle by the great race of Milesians, who held sway in Ireland long after, some of the Tuatha decided to leave and go elsewhere while some chose to stay in Ireland. Those that stayed agreed that they must live beneath the earth, and they were led by a great King in the west, Finnbhear son of Dagda, who i ... [more]
Some might wonder, who or what are the fairy folk? There are stories upon stories of them and their doings in many places, but most of all in Ireland, where it was said they lived longest and if they still walk the earth, where they can yet be found! The country folk claim they are fallen angels lacking the merit to stay in heaven while being kindl ... [more]
