Gary’s Q&A

Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage

Bairbre N’Cinneide (kin-ade-ah)asks, “As a Northern American citizen can you explain why Americans associate leprechauns with the Irish. Our traditions have the “little people” which are closer to fairies. Leprechauns look more like German traditions. Love the podcast, and I’m telling all my fellow artists about it ??”

The answer is that leprechauns are Irish, and they were originally considered fairies.

In particular, leprechauns were considered solitary fairies, as opposed to fairies that lived in a fairy tree or a fairy mound. Over time they were ignored in Irish folklore until they were repopularized by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats in the 19th century.

The leprechauns were traditionally portrayed as wearing red clothing.

The portrayal of leprechauns wearing green was a function of the Irish diaspora in the United States. Green was the traditional Irish color, so leprechauns started wearing green.

From there, leprechauns just became a symbol of Ireland, along with shamrocks.