For this episode of Blúiríní I am joined by sculptor Aidan Harte, whose recent work 'The Púca of Ennistymon' was commissioned by Clare county Council for the town of Ennistymon in the west of Ireland. The piece caused widespread controversy and made headlines nationally and internationally over the summer, being denounced as a pagan idol and sinister statue irreflective of the character and heritage of the town. In the course of our discussion Aidan and I examine the controversy and differing opinions regarding the statue, before taking a closer look at the figure of the Púca himself.

The Púca is a solitary spirit in Irish folk tradition. A wanderer of the night, tradition tells us that he is often found in lonely portions of the rural landscape beyond the confines of the town; gambolling and sporting to himself amidst the hayfields in autumn, spoiling the fruit of the roadside with the coming of winter or haunting lonely glens, caves, chasms, cliffs, pools, forts, woods and castles across Ireland that bear his name. His shape is amorphous - many mushrooms are named after him, and he may appear to wayfarers on the road at night as a horse, a goat, a dog, a man or as a streak of light. Those who meet with him in lonely places at night relate how he hoists them up on his back before embarking on a breakneck cross-country ride; leaping over ditches and through hedges, or running along cliff edges frightening and tormenting his unhappy passenger. Other accounts relate the ways in which the Púca protects those whom he meets; safeguarding them against some worse fate at the hands of otherworld beings, or protecting castles and large estates as a sort of tutelary figure or house spirit. Join us as we explore this chaotic and shadowy figure of 'malignancy and mischief'.

Some sources drawn on for this episode:

The Eldritch World, Nigel Pennick (Arcana Europea 2019)

Irish Names of Places, Patrick Weston Joyce (M. H. Gill and Son 1887)

Deasún Breathnach, 'The Púca: A Multifunctional Irish Supernatural Entity' in Folklore Volume 104 (1993 i & ii)

Erin Sebo, 'Does OE Puca Have an Irish Origin?' in Studia Neophilologica, Volume 89 (2017 Issue 2)

Claude Lecouteaux, 'Encyclopedia of Norse and Germanic Folklore, Mythology and Magic' (Inner Traditions, ed. Michael Moynihan, 2016)

Claude Lecouteaux, The Tradition of Household Spirits (Inner Traditions, trans. Jon E. Graham, 2013)

Katharine Briggs, A Dictionary of Fairies (Penguin, 1976)

National Folklore Collection Main Manuscript Collection

National Folklore Collection Schools' Manuscript Collection

National Folklore Collection Audio Collection

For Frank Callery's singing see:

https://soundcloud.com/frankcallerysongs

For Enda Haran's Music see:

https://www.facebook.com/endaharan2017/

https://www.instagram.com/endaharanmusic/

https://endaharan.bandcamp.com/