Origins of the Irish Faeries

Irish legend claims that the fairy folk, among whom the leprechauns are numbered, who occupied the Sidhes and Raths of the Irish countryside were once the conquering force of the Tuatha de Dannan. The Tuatha or the Men of Dea as some called them, allegedly ruled Ireland from 1897 BC to 1700 BC having invaded Ireland from the north and defeated the Fir Bolg who had ruled previously. Such a spirited fight had the Fir Bolg put up that the Men of Dea allowed them to remain in Ireland and granted them the province of Connaught.

The Tuatha were both a civilised and sophisticated people and were held in such high regard by their conquered natives that many considered them to be magicians and even Gods. During the struggle against the Fir Bolg, Nuada, the king of the Tuatha lost an arm and was subsequently deposed having been tainted in battle and was replaced by Breas, the Tuatha champion. Breas however ruled without wisdom and with poor counsel and was quickly removed from power and replaced by Nuada who now had a replacement silver arm.

Breas fled to the Hebrides, part of modern day Scotland and persuaded his Father, a Fomorian to raise a massive invading army. The fleet was spoken of having blocked out the sea from Ireland to the hebrides. The Tuatha met the invading Fomorians in battle in Sligo and defeated them forever breaking Fomorian power in Ireland. Nuada was killed in battle and was succeeded in rule by his son Dagda who was in turn succeeded by his three grandsons. It was during this time however that the Milesians invaded and defeated the Tuatha de Dannan. The Tuatha were permitted to remain in Ireland but only if they existed underground. From this point onwards the Tuatha de Dannan became the fairy folk of legends.


The Irish word for fairy is sheehogue [sidheog], a diminutive of "shee" in banshee.

Fairies are deenee shee [daoine sidhe] or fairy people. Who are they? "Fallen angels who were not good enough to be saved, nor bad enough to be lost," say the peasants. "The gods of the earth," says the Book of Armagh.