An Irish Guide To Things That Go Bump In The Night

Monday night is of course Halloween, the spookiest night of the year. Halloween, having originated in Ireland is full of spirits and spooks of a green persuasion, and you may run into a few of them as you trick or treat on the day. As a public service, the Kansas City Irish Fest presents this handy guide to identifying these Gaelic Ghouls.

The Bean Sidhe or Banshee makes her appearance when someone in the household is about to die. She heralds your demise when her piercing "caoine" or keening is heard. Similar mournful wailing is sometimes heard when last call is announced at the Irish Fest beer tents.

The Púca, pronounced "Pookah" is an Irish hobgoblin. One of the most feared spirits, according to legend, it can take on a variety of shapes and sizes in order to wreak havoc and harm. It's said that the Púca often takes on the form of a horse or calf, rushes between a victim's legs, and hoists them away for a mad dash across the countryside. This excuse can come in handy, should you have to explain to your significant other how you ended up on a stool at Kelly's Bar when you'd just gone out to light the jack o'lantern on the front step.

The Taisé is the image of a person who is not present and warns of an imminent accident. The worst omen of all is to see the Taisé of yourself, which means you are about to die. Or that you happen to be standing in front of a mirror, which for some of us is equally scary.

The Gray Man or Far Liath appears as a fog and covers land and sea with his cloak. He obscures rocks so ships crash upon them and darkens the road so that travelers unwittingly stumble over cliffs to their deaths. Again, for some of us seeing a gray man may simply mean we've happened on to that mirror again.

The Dark Man or Far Dorocha rides on his black horse into our world to abduct humans and return with them to the underworld. Although he never speaks, mortals invariably understand his commands and, unable to disobey, surrender their wills to his. This is similar to the way we Irish Fest staffers respond to our executive director "Kreepy Keli" Wenzel.

The Dullahan is a headless horseman who rides an equally headless horse during the dead of night; wherever he stops a mortal dies. And since neither one can see where the hell they're going, they tend to stop a lot unfortunately, usually after running into road signs and the backs of stopped busses. His eerie cry of "Ow! Damn it!" can be heard echoing throughout the land.

The Dearg-Dur is Ireland's legendary vampire. According to some tales, it can take the shape of a pale young woman who lingers in graveyards at night waiting for unwary passers-by. Her beauty is irresistibly seductive, but when she kisses, she feeds on blood, draining the life from her victim. The victim, having been stupid enough to go shift a pale looking girl hanging around in a graveyard at night, deserves exacty what he has coming to him. This is known as "thinning the herd".

Halloween has its roots deep in the history of ancient pagan Ireland. Here is a brief history of Irish Halloween and some of the traditions that survive to this day:

The Jack O'Lantern: The scary, glowing faces we call Jack O'Lanterns were first carved in Ireland many centuries ago, to frighten off American tourists and Dutch real estate developers. Back then, there were no pumpkins in Ireland and so Jack O'Lanterns had to be carved out of bananas and small birds. An interesting trivia fact: the name "Jack O'Lantern" honors to this day the Irish inventor of the that first carved Halloween icon, Jack McGillycuddy. He made up the "O'Lantern" part, because who'd want to put a "Jack McGillycuddy" out on their porch?

Trick Or Treating: When you see the hordes of little children climb the stairs to your front door tomorrow night, you'll be witnessing a recreation of an Irish tradition that goes back eons into the mists of time. In those early days, Irish peasants would dress in ragged, frightening and horrible costumes that they called "clothes" and would go door to door in their villages, asking their neighbors for treats such as "food" and "water". As they approached, they would shout out a hearty "For Jaysus sake, we're starvin' out here!", which of course became our modern "trick or treat".

Witches, Monsters, Vampires and Ghouls: In the Ireland of old these scary creatures of the night existed in much the same form we imagine them now, but they were called "British".

From all of us at the Kansas City Irish Fest, a happy and safe Halloween!

Boo!