The Irish are Superstitious

There are a few differences between Irish and American lifestyle that I have discovered within the last couple days. My last day in Galway, I spent the day discovering the city with Janine, my new Canadian friend (many Canadians in Galway and all over Ireland, I even live next to someone from Vancouver.) We went to the city’s museum where we latched onto a tour, and the tour guide started telling us about Irish superstitions and folklore. Today there is still a strong belief that pesky little fairies cause havoc if they are disturbed. There are some bizarre stories about future death and failure all “connected” with the destruction of fairy trees and rings. Everyone reading my blog has probably seen Back to the Future and remembers the car in it, the Dalorian (sp?). Apparently it was a legitimate car company, and there was going to be a factory built in Northern Ireland. The greedy American in charge of construction didn’t care that a fairy tree was going to be removed, and cut it down himself after the superstitious Irish wouldn’t go near it. The company went bankrupt and only sold cars for one year. There was also a school built upon a fairy ring, and there were several teachers who died mysterious deaths. The Irish are so fearful of removing these fairy trees and rings that they build major roads around them with the thought that somewhere down the line their life would be destroyed. Americans wouldn’t care and would trudge right through what is thought to be sacred or important. That just goes to show how much we respect ancient beliefs.