Neacha Scáfara

🔊 Mar chuid de gach PDF tá nasc MF a osclaíonn comhad fuaime díreach ón gcáipéis sin, nó is féidir é a oscailt le guthán póca, leac 7rl. nuair atá an bhileog clóite.

* De réir an tsean-nóis tosaíonn an lá dar gcionn nuair a théanns an Ghrian faoi, smaoinigh ar Oíche Shamhna 7rl, agus mar sin cuireadh bileog nua curtha ar fáil le coim na hoíche.

The massive international festival of Halloween is, as we all know, based on our Samhain but do you know the full list of otherworldly creatures in our rich Gaelic culture? 

• Púca – the famous shapeshifting troublemaker, linked by English writers like Shakespeare to hobgoblins, and now too-often strangely used to misname a ghost (taibhse) 🖍️bileog
• Aosán – an evil fairy 🖍️bileog
• Súmaire – a bloodsucking creature, although the evil vampire as imagined by Bram Stoker of Baile Átha Cliath is likely more based on the infamous Abhartach (Dracula has been shown not to be based on Vlad III)🖍️bileog
• Draoi – from whence the word druid comes in English 🖍️bileog
• Seargán – the dried out corpse, a mummy, reanimated 🖍️bileog
• Bocánach – like a goblin but with a fondeness for battlefields 🖍️bileog
• Seán Na Gealaí – all of those pumpkins carved into a Jack-o’-Latern are inspired by the turnip laterns carved for Seán An Gabha, a miserly smith, condemned to wander the roads of Ireland under the moon (Gealach, hence Gealaí) wanted by neither Heaven nor Hell🖍️bileog
• Deamhan – a demon 🖍️bileog
• Amhailt – a phantom 🖍️bileog
• Conriocht – one of the shapeshifters into wolf form, stories of these werewolves abound in Cill Chainnigh 🖍️bileog
• Catamán – neither alive nor dead, do they like to eat the living like a zombie, you can wait around to ask them 🖍️bileog
• Dubhlachan – a headless horseman, or coachman on the Cóiste Bodhar (deaf/silent coach), signals death where he stops; spread far and wide in the nineteenth century🖍️bileog
• Siride – a mischievous little elf sized creature 🖍️bileog
• Asarlaí – a sorcerer, wizard, with knowledge of potions and spells 🖍️bileog
• Bean Sí – another of our legends that have travelled the world under the mispelt Banshee 🖍️bileog
• Arracht – a monster 🖍️bileog
• Fuachaid – a witch or hag with evil spells 🖍️bileog
• Gruagach – a hairy goblin that gave rise to English stories of Brownies and associated Hobgoblins, probably via Gaelic storytellng in Alba 🖍️bileog
• Cailleach – often mistranslated as the witch of other cultures 🖍️bileog
• Ollphéist – a serpent/dragon like water monster, usually found in lakes, with one of the most famous being Caoránach of Loch Dearg 🖍️bileog
• Abhartach – a horrifying blood thirsty dwarf sized creature from legend that could not be killed but was eventually head down to keep him from rising again; believed to be central to Stoker’s inspiration for Dracula 🖍️bileog
• Smúrthannach – similar to the Catamán, undead, but sniffing loudly… are you prey?🖍️bileog
• Ailléan – the famous burner of the seat of the Ard-Rí at Teamhair (corrupted into Hill Of Tara, from Cnoc Na Teamhrach) whose magic Fionn managed to defeat🖍️bileog
• Cnámharlach – can a skeleton emerge from the ground to cause trouble, don’t doubt it, according to the old scéalta 🖍️bileog
• Taibhse – the star of the many ghost stories that abound in our culture since time immemorial 🖍️bileog