Rune Oracle

Celtic folklore

The Aos Sí

The people of the fairy mounds

the Otherworldenchantmentmusic and danceluck and bargainsthe old places

Also called Daoine Sídhe, the Good People, the Gentry, the Fair Folk, Sìth (Scottish Gaelic).

The tale

The aos sí are the people of the mounds, said in Irish tradition to be the Tuatha Dé Danann who went into the hills when mortals took Ireland. They live in a timeless Otherworld of music and feasting, ride out in great hosts at Samhain and Bealtaine, and sometimes steal away a mortal, leaving a changeling in their place. In the Scottish ballad of Tam Lin, a young woman wins her lover back from the fairy queen on Hallowe'en by pulling him from his horse and holding him fast while he is changed into a snake, a bear and a burning brand. She holds on, and when he becomes a naked man she covers him with her cloak and he is hers.

When they are met

  • Bealtaine (May Eve)
  • Samhain
  • Midsummer
  • when building or clearing land

Staying on their good side

  • a little milk or butter left out at night
  • the first drop from a jug spilled on the ground
  • leaving lone hawthorns and fairy forts undisturbed
  • calling them the Good People, never by rude names

Honouring them, or keeping safe

  1. Leave a small bowl of milk or a bit of bread outside on May Eve and Samhain.
  2. Never cut a lone hawthorn or disturb an old ringfort.
  3. Traditionally, carry iron or turn your coat inside out if you feel led astray, and never eat food offered in their halls.
  4. Speak of them politely, as the Good People.

What their tales teach

  • respect for old places
  • music and poetry
  • luck
  • the lesson of keeping bargains

Symbols

  • fairy forts and ringforts
  • the hawthorn tree
  • fairy rings
  • silver branch and music
  • the white cow

From Irish and Scottish folk belief and ballads; changeling beliefs had real and sometimes tragic consequences, so tread gently.

More Celtic folklore