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This little cryptid is one you might actually want to have around! Although they are mischievous, the clurichaun has some great attributes too! If you enjoy wine, you will want to pay special attention to this article about these little green fairies.
Clurichauns (ďKloo'-ra-kahns") are related to leprechauns, and generally considered to be the darker counterpart of the Irish fairy. A clurichaun is called a monciello in Italy, and is also said to be called ďHis NibsĒ in parts of Ireland. Their favorite pastime is drinking wine. They also enjoy riding sheep and dogs in the moonlight.
If you are friendly to the little fellows, they will protect your wine cellar at all costs! If you have a clurichaun around, and someone breaks in to steal from you, at least the wine is safe! Actually, most are very agreeable to protecting your entire home - itís their home too! If you happen to store your wine in casks, clurichauns will ensure that they do not ever leak.
Another huge benefit, in my mind, is that clurichauns like to be clean and well-dressed. Most wear an organic red hat of some kind. Some are said to wear the colors red and white, because they are offended if mistaken for their green-clothed cousins, the leprechauns. They donít usually carry any tools, as leprechauns sometimes do, because they usually donít have any desire to use them. Clurichauns are sometimes seen wearing blue knee-high stockings, and silver buckles on their shoes.
If you donít treat these little guys (all those sighted have appeared to be male) benevolently, they can cause all kinds of problems, similar to that of a poltergeist. They will even cut off their noses to spite their faces by spoiling the wine supply!
If you have a change of heart, decide you want one around after all, and attempt to rectify your unfriendly treatment, it will be too late. One you drive a clurichaun out of your home, you can never have another.
Know to be happy little drunkards most of the time, they can be a bit surly before their first goblet of vino. A clurichaun prefers his own company to anyone elseís, and is quite content living a solitary lifestyle. Some people lucky enough to have one in their wine cellar, say they are sometimes entertained by the little fellow singing Irish folk songs.
You can call a clurichaun to your home by leaving a little wine out for him after you go to bed. You might also try your own little ritual or invocation to invite the little fairy to come to you. Be forewarned, though, you simply must have a supply of wine before you even attempt to call the clurichaun. And, you have to keep the supply well-stocked! Be assured, if you treat your clurichaun right, he will be there to protect your fermented juice for your lifetime.
There is another possibility for bringing a clurichaun into your home, that I hesitate to even mention, because it can be extremely dangerous. You might try to find a circle of mushrooms called a fairy circle, or fairy ring. According to folklore, these mushroom rings are doorways into the fairy kingdom. I have seen several in the last few years, about six feet in circumference, not too far from my home.
The largest and oldest known fairy ring is located in France. It is more than seven hundred years old, and is about one-half mile in circumference. In England, on the South Downs, there are several large fairy rings many hundreds of years old.
After finding a circle, set a date on a night under the full moon. Be sure to take a friend with you to remain outside of the circle, in case you need to be pulled out. Keep in mind that you might be invisible. Run around the circle nine times before entering. The fairies can be very helpful and entertaining, but they will want you to remain and dance with them, and will attempt to lure you to stay with their beautiful music. State your request for the services of a clurichaun politely, thank them, and then leave quickly, while you still have all of your faculties about you. A word of caution: If the fairies are not in a good mood, or you have found a group of less-than-friendly fairies, you could be taken captive, put under a spell, and not released until you are very old, if then. A day in the fairy kingdom can be hundreds of years in human time.
Warning: There are some rogue clurichauns who have been known to steal from the homeowners.
References/Sources/Additional Information and Reading:
W. B. Yeats. Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, in A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore, p 80, ISBN 0-517-489904-X
Katharine Briggs. An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other S upernatural Creatures, "Leprechauns", p264. ISBN 0-394-73467-X
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