The púca (Irish for spirit/ghost), pooka, phouka, phooka, phooca, puca or púka, is primarily a creature of Irish folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad fortune - as many from the faerie folk -, they could either help or hinder rural and marine communities. These creatures were said to be shape changers which could take the appearance of black horses, goats and rabbits. It has counterparts throughout the Celtic cultures of Northwest Europe. For example, in Welsh mythology it is named the pwca or pwwka, and in Cornish the Bucca. In the Channel Islands, the pouque were said to be fairies who lived near ancient stones; in Channel Island French a cromlech is referred to as a pouquelée or pouquelay(e); poulpiquet and polpegan are corresponding terms in Brittany.
     According to legend, the púca is a deft shapeshifter, capable of assuming a variety of terrifying or pleasing forms, and may appear as a horse, rabbit, goat, goblin, or dog. No matter what shape the púca takes, its fur is almost always dark. It most commonly takes the form of a sleek black horse with a flowing mane and luminescent golden eyes.
     If a human is enticed onto a púca's back, it has been known to give them a wild ride; however, unlike a kelpie, which will take its rider and dive into the nearest stream or lake to drown and devour him/her, the púca will do its rider no real harm. Pooka are also known as great chefs, but only operate in their own Village. However according to some folklorists the only man ever to ride the púca was Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, by using a special bridle incorporating three hairs of the púca's tail. The púca has the power of human speech, and has been known to give advice and lead people away from harm. Though the púca enjoys confusing and often terrifying humans, it is considered to be benevolent.
     Regarding being considered menacing or beneficent,  fairy mythologist Thomas Keightley said "notions respecting it are very vague," and in a brief description gives an account collected by Croker from a boy living near Killarney that "old people used to say that the Pookas were very numerous...long ago..., were wicked-minded, black-looking, bad things...that would come in the form of wild colts, with chains hanging about them." and that did much to harm unwary travellers. Also, children were warned not to eat overripe blackberries, because this was a sign that the pooka has befouled them.
     In contrast, the phouka is represented as being helpful to farmers by Lady Wilde, who relates the following tale. A farmer's son named Phadraig one day noticed the invisible presence of the phouka brushing by, and called out to him, offering a coat. The phouka appeared in the guise of a young bull, and told him to come to the old mill at night. From that time onward, the phoukas came secretly at night and performed all the work of milling the sacks of corn into flour. Phadraig fell asleep the first time, but later concealed himself in a chest to catch sight of them, and later made a present of a fine silk suit. This unexpectedly caused the phoukas to go off to "see a little of the world" and cease their work. But by then the farmer's wealth allowed him to retire and give his son an education. Later, at Phadraic's wedding, the phouka left a gift of a golden cup filled with drink that evidently ensured their happiness.
     However, there are also some stories of phookas being blood-thirsty and vampire-like creatures. Other stories even say some are man eating beings, hunting down, killing, and eating their victims.
     It is curious to know that certain agricultural traditions surround the púca. It is a creature associated with Samhain, a Goidelic harvest festival, when the last of the crops are brought in. Anything remaining in the fields is considered "puka", or fairy-blasted, and hence inedible. In some locales, reapers leave a small share of the crop, the "púca's share", to placate the hungry creature. Nonetheless, 1 November is the púca's day, and the one day of the year when it can be expected to behave civilly. At the beginning of November, the púca was known — in some locales— to either defecate or to spit on the wild fruits rendering them inedible and unsafe thenceforth.
     In some regions, the púca is spoken of with considerably more respect than fear; if treated with due deference, it may actually be beneficial to those who encounter it. The púca is a creature of the mountains and hills, and in those regions there are stories of it appearing on November Day and providing prophecies and warnings to those who consult it. In some parts of County Down, for example, the púca is manifested as a short, disfigured goblin who demands a share of the harvest; in County Laois, it appears as a monstrous bogeyman, while in Waterford and Wexford the púca appears as an eagle with a huge wingspan and in Roscommon as a black goat.

~Ally

    Penthesilea or Penthesileia was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe. She killed Hippolyta accidentally with a spear when they were hunting deer; and this caused Penthesilea so much grief that she wished only to die, but, as a warrior and an Amazon, she had to do so honorably and in battle. She therefore was easily convinced to join in the Trojan War, fighting on the side of Troy's defenders.
     Penthesilea arrives in Troy the night before the fighting is due to recommence following Hector's death and funeral. She came to Troy to prove to others that her people, the Amazons, are great warriors and can share the hardships of war and to appease the Gods for accidentally killing her sister Hippolyta while hunting. She arrived with twelve companions and promised the Trojans that she would kill Achilles. On her first and only day of fighting, Penthesilea kills many men and clashes with Telamonian Ajax, although there is no clear victor, before she comes face to face with Achilles, who had been summoned by Telamonian Ajax. Prior to Achilles' entrance, Penthesilea had tried to fight Telamonian Ajax but he had merely laughed off her attempts, thinking her an unfit opponent. With only one blow to her breastplate, Achilles knocks her to the ground and she begs for her life. He is unmoved, kills her, and mocks her corpse until he removes her helmet and feels strong remorse.

~Ally

    The Fachen, which is also known as Fachan, Fachin, Peg Leg Jack or Direach Ghlinn Eitidh (Dwarf of Glen Etive), is a creature with only half a body in Scottish and Scots-Irish folklore. Supposedly its appearance, which includes a mane of black feathers tufted at the top and a very wide mouth, is so frightening that it induces heart attacks. It can destroy an orchard with a chain in its strong, singular, withered arm, in a single night.
      A story in John Francis Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands features a Fachen named Nesnas Mhiccallain being defeated in a race by the story's hero, Murachadh Mac Brian, who became king of Ireland. In that tale, the Fachen is described like this:

"Ugly was the make of the Fachin; there was one hand out of the ridge of his chest, and one tuft out of the top of his head, it were easier to take a mountain from the root than to bend that tuft."

~Ally

     I always like to learn about heroines from history and legend, and today I decided to learn a little bit about the Swedish legend of Blenda, a woman from Småland who led the rural women of Värend in an attack on a pillaging Danish army and annihilated the invaders.
     According to the legend, the events took place in the time of Alle, King of the Geats, when this king lead the Geats in an attack against Norway. King Alle had marshalled not only the West Geats, but also the South Geats (or Riding Geats) of Småland, and so many men had left for Norway that the region was virtually defenseless.
     When the Danes learned of Småland's precarious situation, they took advantage of it and attacked the defenseless small lands. Blenda was a woman of noble descent in the Konga Hundred and she decided to send the fiery cross to rally all the womenfolk in the hundreds of Konga, Albo, Kinnevald, Norrvidinge and Uppvidinge. The women armies assembled on the Brávellir, which according to Smålandish tradition is located in Värend and not in Östergötland.
     The women approached the Danes and told them how much they were impressed with the Danish men. They invited the men to a banquet where they were provided with food and drink. After a long evening, the Danish warriors fell asleep and the women killed every single one of them with axes and staffs.
     When King Alle returned, he bestowed new rights on the women. They acquired equal inheritance with their brothers and husbands, the right always to wear a belt around their waists as a sign of eternal vigilance, the right to beat the drum at weddings, and so forth. The five hundreds were combined into the land of Värend, which means the "defense", since it was a bulwark for Geatland. Blenda's village was called Värnslanda and a location near the battle ground was called Bländinge.
     Damn!

 ~Ally

      ... And gone, apparently! Ever since last year - after a dreadful period of 4 years being afraid of the end of the Mayan calendar -, I became a little skeptic when it comes to the subject of apocalyptic calendar ends. So you can guess how surprised I was when I read somewhere that Ragnarök was scheduled for today. * Now I get it, it was a sort of an April's Fool day joke, but whatever*
    The sad truth is (because, let's face it, Ragnarök would be such a funnier and more exciting end than the one the Mayans predicted) that it was actually scheduled for February 22nd of this year, that is, more than a month ago! And how do I know this? Well, they even made a huge festival to celebrate it in York, England, called the Jorvik Viking Festival!
     The only Ragnarök that is being launched today is the game, Ragnarök Odyssey Ace.
    So much for my new hand made arrows and sharpened knives and swords. It's back to the drawing board, guys! And let's hope that next time someone warns us about a doomsday approaching, they'll be more clear about the precise date. You don't want to be caught with your armour down by a bunch of angry frost giants, do you?

~Ally

     The Huldra is a seductive forest creature found in Scandinavian folklore. Her name comes from a root meaning "covered" or "secret". In Norwegian folklore, she is known as the skogsfru or skovfrue (meaning "Lady of the forest"). She is known as the skogsrå (forest spirit) or Tallemaja (pine tree Mary) in Swedish folklore, and Ulda in Sámi folklore. She is also considered the same being as the völva Huld and the German Holda. There are also male hulders, called huldu, or, in Norway, a huldrekarl. This being is closely related to other underground dwellers, usually called tusser. Like the female counterpart, the huldrekarl is a shapeshifter who often lures girls under a fair countenance.
     The female creature, however, is descrived as a stunningly beautiful naked woman with long hair, and has an animal's tail. In Norway, she has a cow's tail, and in Sweden she may have that of a cow or a fox. Further in the north of Sweden, the tail can be entirely omitted in favor of her hollow or bark-covered back. The huldra is one of several rå (keeper, warden), including the aquatic Sjörå (or havsfru), later identified with a mermaids, and the bergsrå in caves and mines who made life tough for the poor miners.    
     The huldras were held to be kind to charcoal burners, watching their charcoal kilns while they rested. Knowing that she would wake them if there were any problems, they were able to sleep, and in exchange they left provisions for her in a special place. A tale from Närke illustrates further how kind a huldra could be, especially if treated with respect (Hellström 1985:15). Read it below.

     "A boy in Tiveden went fishing, but he had no luck. Then he met a beautiful lady, and she was so stunning that he felt he had to catch his breath. But, then he realized who she was, because he could see a fox's tail sticking out below the skirt. As he knew that it was forbidden to comment on the tail to the lady of the forest, if it were not done in the most polite manner, he bowed deeply and said with his softest voice, "Milady, I see that your petticoat shows below your skirt". The lady thanked him gracefully and hid her tail under her skirt, telling the boy to fish on the other side of the lake. That day, the boy had great luck with his fishing and he caught a fish every time he threw out the line. This was the huldra's recognition of his politeness."

     In some traditions, the huldra lures men into the forest to have sexual intercourse with her, rewarding those who satisfy her and often killing those who do not. The Norwegian huldra is a lot less bloodthirsty and may simply kidnap a man or lure him into the underworld. She sometimes steals human infants and replaces them with her own ugly huldrebarn (changeling huldre children). In some cases, the intercourse resulted in a child, being presented to the unknowing father. In some cases, she forces him to marry her.
     Sometimes she marries a local farm boy, but when this happens, the glamour leaves her when the priest lays his hand on her, or when she enters the church. Some legends tell of husbands who subsequently treat her badly. Some fairy tales leave out this feature, and only relate how a marriage to a Christian man will cause her to lose her tail, but not her looks, and let the couple live happily ever after. However if she is treated badly, she will remind him that she is far from weak, often by straightening out a horseshoe with her bare hands, sometimes while it is still glowing hot from the forge or even lift up a tree trunk.
     If betrayed, the huldra can punish the man severely, as in one case from Sigdal, when she avenged her pride on a young braggart she had sworn to marry, on the promise that he would not tell anybody of her. The boy instead bragged about his bride for a year, and when they met again, she beat him around the ears with her cow's tail. He lost his hearing and his wits for the rest of his life.
    The hulder has long been associated with hunting; she might blow down the barrel of a huntsman's rifle, causing it never thereafter to miss a shot. Some men are not so lucky, or perhaps skilled, and escape her only after surrendering their sanity. The huldra myth has also been associated with Christianity in the past, and a tale recounts how a woman had washed only half of her children when God came to her cottage; ashamed of the dirty ones, she hid them. God decreed that those she had hidden from him would be hidden from mankind; they became the huldrer.

~Ally

      It's back to mythology and folklore today, folks! And I must say: I missed it a little!
     Today I want to tell you a bit about the Alp Luachra, also spelt Alp-luachra or Alpluachra, and also known as a Joint-eater or Just-halver. This is an evil and greedy fairy from Irish mythology that seems to be always lurking for food through humans.
    When a person falls asleep by the side of a spring or stream, the Alp-luachra appears in the form of a newt and crawls down the person's mouth, feeding off the food that they had eaten. According to Robert Kirk's "Secret Commonwealth of Fairies", this creature feeds not on the food itself, but on the "pith or quintessence" of the food. Another famous occurrence is in Douglas Hyde's "Beside the Fire", which tells of how a person got back at an Alp-luachra by eating large amounts of salted meat and sleeping near the stream. The Alp-luachra fed upon him, but jumped to the water in thirst.
     Next time you fall asleep next to a strem and wake up with a nasty or strange taste in your mouth, blame the Alp-luachra, not your lack of teeth brushing!

~Ally

     Also referred to as Afrit, Afreet, Ifreet, Yfrit and Efreet, this is an enormous winged demonic creature of fire from the Middle Eastern and African culture.
     Either male or female, it lives underground and frequents ruins. They are said to prey on people, especially children from Islamic belief. When a child of wealthy future and evil character is born, an Afrit spirit comes and takes the place of the child's soul. The Ifrits have a human form with goat’s legs and horns on their heads, much like the Devil in Christianity.
     They live in a society structured along ancient Arab tribal lines, complete with kings, tribes, and clans. They generally marry one another, but they can also marry humans. While ordinary weapons and forces have no power over them, they are susceptible to magic, which humans can use to kill them or to capture and enslave them.
     As with the jinn - and it is important to say that Afrits are one of the classes of Djinns -, an Ifrit may be either a believer or an unbeliever, good or evil, but he is most often depicted as a wicked and ruthless being.
     In early folklore it was believed that the Afrit spirit was created by the formation of the blood spilt by a murder victim. To prevent an Afrit from being created, then, it was advised to drive a special nail into the blood. In fact, when British soldiers arrived in Egypt during the Second World War, the locals warned them of the Afrits that lived nearby. They said that the Demons could appear in the form of an astray dog and that they had the power to turn humans into animals. Because, apparently, bombs and angry Nazi's aren't scary enough in a war!

~Ally

   The aos sí, "ees shee",aes sídhe, "ays sheeth-uh" or Sidhe is the Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish and Scottish mythologies, (usually spelled Sìth, however pronounced the same) comparable to the fairies or elves. They are said to live underground in fairy mounds, across the western sea, or in an invisible world that coexists with the world of humans. This world is described in literature as a parallel universe in which the aos sí walk amongst the living. In the Irish language, aos sí means "people of the mounds" (the mounds are known in Irish as "the sídhe"). In Irish literature the people of the mounds are also called daoine sídhe; in Scottish mythology they are daoine sìth. They are variously said to be the ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods.
      In many Gaelic tales, however, the aos sí are later, literary versions of the Tuatha Dé Danann ("People of the Goddess Danu") – remember them? Some sources describe them as the survivors of the Tuatha Dé Danann who retreated into the Otherworld after they were defeated by the Milesians – the mortal Sons of Míl Espáine who, like many other early invaders of Ireland, came from Iberia. Geoffrey Keating, an Irish historian of the late 17th century, equates Iberia with the Land of the Dead.
     In folk belief and practice, the aos sí are often appeased with offerings, and care is taken to avoid angering or insulting them. Often they are not named directly, but rather spoken of as "The Good Neighbors", "The Fair Folk", or simply "The Folk". The most common names for them, aos sí, aes sídhe, daoine sídhe (singular duine sídhe) and daoine sìth mean, literally, "people of the mounds" (referring to the sidhe). The aos sí are generally described as stunningly beautiful, though they can also be terrible and hideous. They are sometimes seen as fierce guardians of their abodes – whether a fairy hill, a fairy ring, a special tree (often a hawthorn) or a particular loch or wood. The Gaelic Otherworld is seen as closer at the times of dusk and dawn, therefore this is a special time to the aos sí, as are some festivals such as Samhain, Beltane and Midsummer.
     As part of the terms of their surrender to the Milesians the Tuatha Dé Danann agreed to retreat and dwell underground in the sídhe (modern Irish: sí; Scottish Gaelic: sìth; Old Irish síde, singular síd), the hills or earthen mounds that dot the Irish landscape. In some later poetry each tribe of the Tuatha Dé Danann was given its own mound.
     In a number of later English language texts the word sídhe is used both for the mounds and the people of the mounds. However sidh in older texts refers specifically to "the palaces, courts, halls or residences" of the ghostly beings that, according to Gaedhelic mythology, inhabit them.
     The fact that many of these sídhe have been found to be ancient burial mounds has contributed to the theory that the aos sí were the pre-Celtic occupants of Ireland. "The Book of Invasions", "The Annals of the Four Masters", and oral history support this view.
     The story of the Aes Sídhe is found all over Scotland and Ireland, many tales referring to how the Norse invaders drove Scottish inhabitants underground to live in the hills. This part of the legend contributes to the Changeling myth in west European folklore.
     There are many types of Sidhe, and some of them are relatively famous, as in the case of the Banshee or bean sídhe, which means "woman of the sídhe", has come to indicate any supernatural women of Ireland who announce a coming death by wailing and keening. Her counterpart in Scottish mythology is the bean sìth (sometimes spelled bean-sìdh).
     Other varieties of aos sí and daoine sìth include the Scottish bean nighe: the washerwoman who is seen washing the bloody clothing or armour of the person who is doomed to die (I wrote about them here); the leanan sídhe: the "fairy lover"; the Cat Sìth: a fairy cat; and the Cù Sìth: fairy dog. The sluagh sídhe — "the fairy host" — is sometimes depicted in Irish and Scottish lore as a crowd of airborne spirits, perhaps the cursed, evil or restless dead. The siabhra (anglicised as "sheevra"), may be a type of these lesser spirits, prone to evil and mischief. However an Ulster folk song also uses "sheevra" simply to mean "spirit" or "fairy".

~Ally

     The four treasures (or jewels) of the Tuatha Dé Danann are four magical items which the mythological folk are supposed to have brought with them from the four island cities Murias, Falias, Gorias and Findias, when they arrived in Ireland.
     From Falias came the Stone of Fál (Lia Fáil), which served as a coronation stone and would cry beneath the king who took the sovereignty of Ireland and was supposedly located near the Hill of Tara in County Meath.
     Goirias or Gorias beared the Spear (sleg) of Lug, and no battle was ever sustained against it, or against the man who held it.
     From Findias there was a Sword (claideb/claiomh solais) which belonged to Núadu. No one ever escaped from it once it was drawn from its sheath, and no one could resist it. The sword is also described in the Tain legend as 'Nuadu's Cainnel' - a glowing bright torch.
   Finally, Muirias or Murias beared the Cauldron (coire) of the Dagda, from which no company ever went away from unsatisfied. Very usefull, indeed.

~Ally