During one of our first explorations of the Dublin City Center, we happened to stumble upon a little gem, which we promised ourselves we would go back and visit once we got settled into our apartment and school life... This was, if you haven't guessed already, the
National Leprechaun Museum! As one might expect, it's a bit of a money grab (
€ 8.30) for tourists as I'm assuming the cost of putting such a place together can't have been that high, but it is definitely worth seeing in that it brings out your inner child and provides a bit of insight into the
myth & legend character of Irish Culture.
 |
Myself, Sam, Alex, Tra, and Judith
hanging out with a leprechaun |
So this is how, on a partly cloudy/sunny/rainy/hailing Sunday (typical Irish weather),
Judith, Tra, Alex, Samuel (from Quebec City) and myself, found ourselves standing at the entrance to the museum, impatiently waiting for the tour to start! Our guide finally popped out from behind a hidden door... and no, she was NOT a leprechaun... and began with a brief introduction, during which we learnt that leprechauns (for those of you who don't know) are an integral element in Irish folklore, as part of the
Tuatha Dé Dannan, or people of the goddess Danu. They are
3x smaller than humans, have long beards and are usually clad in green. They are also know to be mischievous creatures and incapable of telling lies. Leprechauns spend all their time making shoes for the fairies, who pay them in gold coins, which they store away in a pot hidden at the end of the rainbow. It is said that if you catch a leprechaun, you'd better hold on tight and not look away for even one second or he will vanish, along with his pot of gold. A captive leprechaun will usually grant you three wishes to gain his freedom, but as they are cunning creatures, they almost always manage to grant wishes in ways that don't quite generate the expected rewards.
 |
| Causeway Stones |
To all of this was the added fact that humans are
3x smaller than giants, which explains why the first major stop in the tour is a giant's room, via the Giant's Causeway. So we followed the tour guide through a magical corridor that shrunk us down as we walked along it in order to come out at the other end and walk through some of the hexagonal replicates of the Giant's Causeway.
After crawling through every crevice and up onto every rock we could find, we found ourselves facing a dead-end wall. To our great surprise, we discovered that we had actually been exploring the inside of a giant's cupboard and were now venturing out into the dinning/living room. Luckily, the giant wasn't home, so we were free to climb up onto all his furniture and feel like little leprechauns would in a human house!
 |
| Chilling on the Giant's couch! |
 |
| Rainbow Walk |
We then ventured through the fireplace and subsequently through the rain to be able to walk over the rainbow and look for the pot of gold at the end. We turned out to be lucky that day as a leprechaun agreed to let us gaze on in awe at his pot of gold for a bit and, try as we might, we could not reach far enough to grab a gold coin as a memento.
 |
| Reaching for the pot of gold! |
Throughout our tour, we also learnt about fairies and fairy trees. The latter serve as links between the underground fairy and above-ground human realms and should not be disturbed or even approached as fairies are known to dislike humans and harm them at times. Apparently, there aren't enough males in the underground realm, which explains the Irish practice which consists of dressing little boys in girl's clothes to prevent them from being stolen by the malevolent fairies.
 |
From left to right: Alex's, Tra's, Mine, Sam's,
and Judith's drawings |
At the end of our adventure, we were allowed to draw a picture and leave our mark at the leprechaun museum and, being the kids at heart that we are, we all spent a good 20 minutes with coloring pencils, working arduously to make the best drawing possible. All in all, quite a fun adventure. And from this, we learnt an important lesson that will certainly come in handy with St-Patrick's Day looming:
If you ever spot a leprechaun, you may be better off to pass him by without taking notice as you can end up in more trouble than it's worth if you decide to pursue him!
 |
| We're all wee leprechauns now! : ) |
During one of our first explorations of the Dublin City Center, we happened to stumble upon a little gem, which we promised ourselves we would go back and visit once we got settled into our apartment and school life... This was, if you haven't guessed already, the National Leprechaun Museum! As one might expect, it's a bit of a money grab (€ 8.30) for tourists as I'm assuming the cost of putting such a place together can't have been that high, but it is definitely worth seeing in that it brings out your inner child and provides a bit of insight into the myth & legend character of Irish Culture.
To all of this was the added fact that humans are 3x smaller than giants, which explains why the first major stop in the tour is a giant's room, via the Giant's Causeway. So we followed the tour guide through a magical corridor that shrunk us down as we walked along it in order to come out at the other end and walk through some of the hexagonal replicates of the Giant's Causeway.
After crawling through every crevice and up onto every rock we could find, we found ourselves facing a dead-end wall. To our great surprise, we discovered that we had actually been exploring the inside of a giant's cupboard and were now venturing out into the dinning/living room. Luckily, the giant wasn't home, so we were free to climb up onto all his furniture and feel like little leprechauns would in a human house! 
No comments:
Post a Comment