Podcast - folk Lore

This episode of "Whispers from the Emerald Isle" discusses three well-known tales of Irish folklore: the Banshee, Tir na nÓg, and the Children of Lir. The Banshee is a terrifying spirit who wails to announce the impending doom of a family member. Tir na nÓg is a realm of eternal youth and happiness, where heroes traveled on quests. The Children of Lir tells the story of four children turned into swans by their jealous stepmother. The spell was eventually broken, and they were reunited with their parents in heaven. The podcast also announces a giveaway of tickets to the National Museum of Ireland. Deadline to enter is May 1st. Hi, welcome back to another episode. My name is Katie and you're listening to Whispers from the Emerald Isle, where we discuss all things tales of Irish folklore and myths. Join us as we venture into the realm of Irish folklore, seeking knowledge, amusement and adventure. Today we're tackling three of the most well-known lore in Ireland, Banshee, Tyrannoog and the Children of Lir. I'll be going into detail explaining each story while keeping you entertained and also educating you with some of the history from our beloved country. Stay tuned to see what exciting events we have in store for you. So we'll start off with the spooky story of the Banshee. In Ireland, a Banshee is a female entity who wails outside a house to announce the impending doom of a family member. Her cries are frequently heard before she is seen and they are so loud that no one would willingly try to see this terrifying spirit. According to some myths, she serves as an escort to make sure their loved ones cross over safely. Ireland has many stories about Banshees that have often been passed down through the generations. According to some of these myths, the Banshee is the spirit of a young woman who has been brutally murdered. She now witnesses relatives and loved ones alerting them to her death because her death was so terrible. Legend also says that the Banshee is multi-formative. In Ireland, her appearance has mostly been that of a beautiful young woman with long flowing silver white hair or an elderly woman dressed in rags with long fingernails, dirty grey hair and sharp decaying teeth. The Banshee's eyes, which are notably red from sobbing so much, are also described in both versions. This is what the blood curdling scream of the Banshee is believed to sound like. This shows how truly terrifying it would be to hear these ungodly screams in real time. Now I'm going to go into detail about Tir na nÓg. Tir na nÓg is the realm of the Otherworld, where the Fae stayed and where heroes travelled on quests. It was a place of the West, just beyond the boundaries of mankind, where there was only happiness, beauty and no sickness, death or passing or time. It is crucial to understand that Tir na nÓg was a location on Earth, a land of eternal youth that could only be reached by magic rather than so much of an afterlife. Tir na nÓg is critical to the development of heroes and mystics in many Celtic legends. Translated from Irish, Tir na nÓg means land of youth right up front. The best known tale of Tir na nÓg is the story of a young Irish warrior called Oisin, who fell in love with the flame-haired maiden Niamh, whose father was the king of Tir na nÓg. Together they rode Niamh's white mare across the sea to the enchanted land, where they lived happily for three centuries. Even during Tir na nÓg's eternal joy, Oisin held a strange longing to return to Ireland because a part of him missed his native land. At last, Niamh sent him back to his tribe in Ireland after realising that she could no longer contain him. Oisin rode the enchanted white mare back to his home, only to discover his castle overrun by weeds and all his friends and family long dead. He, after all, had been gone for three centuries. With regret, Oisin turned to the mare, back towards the West, getting ready to return to Tir na nÓg. When the mare's hoof caught a stone en route, Oisin mused to himself that it would be like bringing a little piece of Ireland back with him if he brought the rock back to Tir na nÓg. He staggered and fell while trying to pick up the stone, instantly becoming three centuries older. In a panic, the mare fled into the sea and made her way back to Tir na nÓg without him. On the other hand, a few fishermen who had been observing from the shore were shocked to see a man ageing so quickly. They took it as common sense that magic was involved, and so they rounded up Oisin and brought him to see St. Patrick. Oisin told St. Patrick the tale of his adventure, the enchanted land of Tir na nÓg and his red-headed love Niamh, when he first appeared before him. When he was done, Oisin left this life behind, and he was finally at peace. Finally, I'm now going to talk about the story of the Children of Lir. This myth tells us the story of King Lir and his family. Many years ago, King Lir was married to a woman called Eva, who gave him four children, A, Fionnuala, Fíorca and Conn. Eva passed away when the children were young, and the king remarried her sister Aoife. It was rumoured that Aoife had magical powers. At first, Aoife loved the children dearly, but soon became jealous of the time King Lir spent with them. One day, she led the group of children to a lake and used her powers to cast a spell on them, turning them all into beautiful swans. Aoife knew that if she killed the children, their ghosts would haunt her, so she instead forced them to live as swans for nine hundred years. They lived between three bodies of water and earth, Loch Durrvara, the Sea of Moil and Inishgor. As a small act of mercy, Aoife let the children use their beautiful voices. Once passing the lake near the castle, the children sang Bealfleet to King Lir. Being the devoted father he is, King Lir came to live by the lake with them. Of course, King Lir eventually grew old and died, leaving his swan children alone. This spell could only be broken when the children heard the ringing of a bell after their time was up. Once the church bell was rung and the spell was broken, a monk, some say St. Patrick himself, baptised them when they regained their human form. Much aged, they were then said to have passed away peacefully and were buried together, rejoining their beloved parents in heaven. Finally, we're going to wrap things up for today and now I'll tell you about my exciting announcement. I'm giving away two lucky listeners tickets to go to the National Museum of Ireland. The only requirement is to like this podcast and subscribe. It is a very exciting and informative day for any age. You will not want to miss out on this opportunity. The deadline is on the 1st of May and I will announce the winner on next week's podcast. Have a wonderful day and remind yourself, thank you so much for listening to this podcast and I'll see you next time.