Donal Hickey: Don't take chances with a fairy tree — even if you're not spooked by a púca

Very few people are prepared to damage a fairy fort or a fairy tree in any way because of superstition and a fear that harm could come to them if they did

A fairy tree: belief that enormous riches were buried under certain trees was once widespread, which may explain placenames such as Skeaghanore (thorn of gold), near Ballydehob, in West Cork. Picture: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

We’re told that belief in fairies and an ‘otherworld’ populated by strange spirits has diminished. Yet, there’s a contradiction — a belief in some form of vengeance from that mysterious world still exists widely.

For example, very few people are prepared to damage an ancient, or fairy, fort in any way because of superstition and a fear that harm could come to them if they did. That’s equally true of fairy trees, which are often in forts.

And who are people afraid of? It must be invisible beings which come under the term 'fairies' surely.

And there’s an abundance of stories about people who suffered bad luck, injuries, or even death, after interfering with such trees.

These trees have survived large-scale land reclamation and are found across the country. Though they are sometimes small and non-descript, they stick out. If you see a hawthorn tree standing on its own in the middle of a field, on a ditch, or on the bank of a fort, chances are it has been left there because of its perceived links with fairies.

Halloween — a time when fairies and the mischievous Pooka (púcaí) are said to be active and moving around — is upon us and the standard advice from Clare-based folklorist and seanchaí, Eddie Lenihan, is not to take chances with the fairies and to leave the trees alone.

In 1999 teacher and storyteller Eddie Lenihan campaigned to save this fairy tree which was to be cut down to make way for the new Shannon Ennis bypass near Dromoland Castle. The planned road was re-routed and the tree still stands. Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22

Eddie Lenihan has spent a lifetime studying these matters and interviewing people who believe very firmly in fairies. Decades ago, he gained international headlines for his campaign to save a hawthorn bush which stood in the way of a bypass road at Newmarket-on-Fergus. The planned road was re-routed and the solitary tree stands to this day.

The fact that these trees, usually of the thorn variety, live on despite the grazing of livestock, the elements, and farming activity, enhances the strongly-held view that they have some sort of magical, protective quality.

Folklorist, Christine Zucchelli, who travelled the country researching the folklore of trees, has related stories of fairy bushes continuing to grow after they were uprooted — and cut-off branches re-appearing on the bush next day.

Eddie Lenihan with the Newmarket On Fergus fairy tree in 2003 which has started to grow back after being vandalised almost a year ago in 2002. Picture: Brian Arthur/Press 22

On the other hand, decisions by farmers to let a tree alone can be rewarded by its otherworld owners. “A farmer who heeded the warning not to build on a fairy circle was advised to build between a certain pair of whitethorns instead. As he dug the foundations, he found a pot of gold," she wrote in her book, Trees of Inspiration.

The belief that enormous riches were buried under certain trees was once widespread, which may explain placenames such as Skeaghanore (thorn of gold), near Ballydehob, in West Cork. 

Meanwhile, be careful out there!