What exactly was/is the deal with "fairy forts" in Ireland?

To the pagan mindset, every 'thing' participates in the divine, including themselves, their bunions, abundant harvests, cow pats, rainbows, deer, poison hemlock, and one-off dwellings. The challenge within such a value system is finding something that did not have 'spiritual' or 'religious' significance. Many diff flavours of paganism, of course, but it hholds true as a general observation.

The dualism point made above is interesting, is this a reference to the arrival of Christianty with its world-hating, neo-Platonic vision?

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118022545#Comment_118022545

Not immediately. Celtic Christianity flourished a long way from Rome and even further from Greece, and it took on board a lot of conceptions and attitudes and values from Gaelic society. I think for a long time it offered essentially a synthesis of the dualistic platonic worldview and the non-dualistic gaelic worldview. When we look at, say, the Gaelic monastic tradition of going off to wild, wet and windy places to live alone, that looks a lot like a withdrawal from the world, which could be motivated by a platonic rejection of material things. On the other hand the monks built their own shelters, they hunted, gathered or grew their own food, etc, etc, and they sacralised these things. So you could see it as a rejection of human society - hence the solitary bit - coupled with a very intimate connection with the physical world and a commitment to finding God in that connection. Perhaps at different times or in different places one of these drivers predominated over the other.

Maybe its only after the Irish church is romanised under the influence of the Norman invasion that the platonic viewpoint gets the upper hand permanently. But even that's in the "professional" church; the stubborn survival into quite modern times of things like holy wells, pattern days, the cult of very local saints, etc, etc (and of course folk-beliefs and traditions about fairies, etc) might suggest that popular spirituality still had a strong, non-dualist Gaelic dimension.

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118022483#Comment_118022483

" Does anyone actually know what they were created for.."

Ring Forts.

I would suggest the name we've given them is the clue.

It's a circular fortification built with what was available, either earth, rocks ,wood or any combination of all three.

Built as protection by our ancestors for themselves and their livestock.

A circle is the most economical use of labour and materials to enclose an area

and also easier to defend.

Usually built on vantage points in the landscape for communicating with other forts and also afford early sighting of potential attackers.

That's it, they were strictly practical , no hocus pocus, faeries or religious connotations.

There was no alignment with the heavens or equinoxes or solstices.

Having said all that , a visit to Staigue Fort in Kerry one December night to view the dark sky had me questioning my scepticism.

Maybe 'twas the pints in the Black Shop.

bodhrandude

I wonder what a Fairy Fart is like. 😊

unfortunately

My friend's father was a digger driver and he and a few men where clearing a field and in the middle was a fairy tree. The boss man wanted the tree torn down but none of the men would do it.

The boss man offered €200 to whoever would do it. My friend's father said I'll do it, he jumped in the digger and tore down the tree.

He laughed at the lads and said you silly bástards and put the €200 in his pocket.

That is a true story, nothing happened to him and that was years ago. This is the problem with ghost and fairy stories, only if sometime happens are they repeated and if nothing happens they are forgotten. Plus everyone likes a good ghost or fairy story for fun.

Another time I was with a group of friends and they were all very superstitious. One had even given out to me earlier in the night when I said I hope (a particular event) doesn't happen because he thought that was tempting fate making it more likely to happen. Nonsense stuff.

I then said out loud "I dare the universe to do something to me" they were horrified. Of course nothing happened to me or my friends or family in the following weeks, months or years. But I realised I made a mistake trying to disapprove susperstions like that. Because when nothing happened they have all probably forgot my challenge to the universe.

But say I was hit my a car by chance a week or a month or three months later, you'd be sure they would be telling the story of me tempting fate for the rest of their days.

I doubt any of them will be telling the story of me saying that and then finishing it with "then he was fine, nothing happened."

I suppose if you are really supertitous you could say that my bad ending is still waiting for me, but then that means you can never win. You have it both ways.

maccored

a fairy ring is a circle of trees. not related to fairies as much as ancient worship - though that worship is sometimes linked to other dimensions/'the other world' etc etc which technically is what the whole idea of faeries is about - creatures from another realm. not much to do with the Disney idea of little winged beings.

most of the places referred to as fairy rings are ringforts