What You Didn’t Know About Leprechauns

There are many things we associate with St. Patrick’s Day – the color green, parades, shamrocks, beer and leprechauns. Very odd that in the history of Irish folklore – there have never been any female leprechauns. There’s never been any explanation of how they might come to be you might say.

There is one theory in the book “A History of Irish Fairies” that leprechauns are actually the offspring of fairies who were determined to be “defective children.”

Ireland is not alone. There are a number of other European countries where there have been tales of little men very similar to leprechauns.

There’s a small park in Portland, Oregon dedicated to leprechauns. The park has one small tree in the middle of a road and it’s the center of the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

Notre Dame’s sports teams are known as the Fighting Irish. But over the years they were known as the Catholics, Hoosiers, Rock Men, Bulldogs and Terriers. In the 1960’s a human leprechaun joined the cheerleaders on the sidelines. The next season the leprechaun became their mascot, he was added to their logo and ever since they’ve been known as the Fighting Irish.