Thread by @MeaveofConnaugh

I think we will discuss Celtic Otherworld now - it is a place that is very misunderstood - its a parallel dimension and we need to be careful - I'll tell you a few stories about it and you can tell me what you think #Otherworld

Paddy Sheehan was coming home from Kilkee when they saw 300 fairies. He recognised people who were long dead among the fairy host - the fairies stopped at Harvey's Fort & danced, McGrath played a tune on his fiddle - the fairies reproached him - threatened to kill him #Otherworld

What are we to make of this - dancing fairies - no bother but what about the dead among the fairy host - and the threat to kill poor old Paddy - not really what we might expect from the fairies - or is it? #Otherworld

If we were to find the dead among the fairies, perhas we need to take a closer look at who the fairies are - the lore of the dead has become confused with the fairies? or is it trying to tell us something else? #Otherworld

The Fairies are associated with the mounds - the many thousands of ring forts that lie scattered across the Irish countryside - in Rathcairn, for instance, in Meath (and many other places), the fairies are seen dancing - in the moonlight - inside the ringfort #Otherworld

Throughout the Bronze Age (and before) and well into the Iron Age, the mounds were associated with burials - so it is easy to see how the dead and the fairies have become confused - simple isn't it? well it's not simple at all - there is something deeper at play here #Otherworld

Belief in the fairies reflects a concern with the continuance of life cycles -the dead and the fairies are all the one in the non-Christian otherworld - the dead live on in their burial chambers within the mounds - they can come out and meet the living - yikes! #Otherworld

In Athboy, the Banshee cries for the Roe and Cusack families of Main Street, the Gills of Rathmore and the Martins of Connaught Street - she calls the dead to the mounds - why else would she be bothered - the Banshee - Fairy Woman #Otherworld

If we are to see the fairies and the dead as all the one it puts a different gloss on "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" - Hollywood might find it harder to sell "Darby O'Gill and Your Dead Granny" #Otherworld

Tommy Moore of Loughfad (County Donegal) met a dead neighbour as he was crossing Clooney Hill one night. The dead lad asked him to be a witness for his wedding to a dead woman celebrated by a dead priest - of course he did, wouldn't you? #Otherworld

Poor Ted, a young gosson, from Ardkeenan, Roscommon, met a fairy funeral and was made carry a very lively corpse who threatened to kill him if he didn't bury him right. The ghosts of long dead neighbours egged him on - fairies and the dead again #Otherworld

Kit Cleary from #Ballivor was made carry a coffin by the fairies. They brought the coffin to Kilaconningham graveyard where they walked around the grave until dawn - when the cock crew, fairies and coffin disappeared leaving Kit scratching his head in wonder #Otherworld

Mary Caffey from #Caherciveen died. One night a man passing the sports field saw the fairies playing football - Mary Caffey was with them #Otherworld

John McNeilly from Newport, Co. Mayo saw a fairy funeral passing through the air. It is exactly like an ordinary funeral - horses, hearse, mourners - except that it made of clouds #Otherowrld

All these stories - and there are hundreds of them - that associate the fairies with the dead should make us reflect on our cosy notions about the fairy folk - perhaps the belief tells us something much deeper in our tradition - maybe.. just maybe #Otherworld

If you want to read more about our popular beliefs and traditions, you can do so by visiting the wonderful resource that is Duchas.ie the Irish Folklore Collection #Otherworld

And finally tonight, if you enjoy this account, i'm promoting Irish myth. If you could follow me, i'd appreciate it - the more followers the further the stories go - any chance of getting 206 more followers? please retweet