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Celtic folklore has given us some of the darkest and most frightening tales in folkloric history: three-headed monsters, headless horsemen, famine-spreaders, joint-eaters and spirits of terror. One of the most fascinating and evil groups to form part of The Unseelie Court are The Sluagh Sidhe, or ‘Fairy Host’: spirits of the unforgiven or restless dead who soared the skies at night searching for humans to pick off. Some believed them to be Fallen Angels. Others thought them the spirits of unbaptized children who had returned to seek their revenge. – Anna Mazzola
The Sluagh Sídhe (pronounced sloo-ah shee), also known as The Fairy Host, Fairy Hunt or Trooping Fairies. Is a band of travelling fairies often seen as a whirl wind of strong gust of wind by ordinary people and by those Seers with the second sight as an army of fairies on horse back. It is considered a physical manifestation of the Fairy Wild Hunt. They can cause great destruction and even abduct people and cattle. Often dogs will bark at this wind. If encountered it is said that Iron or a reaping sickle can be used to prevent abduction. Aso in the Shetland Isle in Scotland, one can be transported by repeating their cries of “Up hors, up hedik, up well ridden bolwind”, but this is not advised. Christian blessings were said to work as well as the Scottish Saining rituals. The Sluagh could consist of the unrestful spirits of the dead and were considered by many to be troublesome and destructive. In Ireland, if someone flung a fork at the whirlwind, reports said moaning could be heard. The person who threw the fork was supposed to say at the same time: M’olc agus m’urchóid leat! (‘May my misfortune go with you’?).
The Gaoithe Sídhe (fairy wind) was preceded by a loud humming noise, like thousands of bees as was believed to have been caused by the passing of a fairy host although it may even contain a fairy host within the wind. Several Irish phrases describe it: sídh/sí gaoithe, sídh/sí chóra, gaoth sídhe/sí, séideán sídhe/sí.
It was thought that the wind was either evidence that the fairies were helping with the farm labour or the wind was thought to be the source of sudden illness. The wind could even rip the roof of a poor family’s house and let the faerie host in. It was thought the wind could silence musicians playing fairy music and cause injury to humans or animals, especially the eyes.
Sometimes the wind could contain coils of dust or carry away hayricks, straw or flax, through the air, sometimes as far as the neighbours’ fields.
These unusual whirlwinds played their part in weather forecasting. For some, if the whirlwind turned towards the southwest, they would ‘say it was fetching rain’. According to others still, the sudden gust of wind that carried away wisps of hay or straw meant that the coming winter would be a hard one.
In Ireland, when a great wind was seen whirling everything into the air, it was often interpreted in terms of the fairies – that the fairy host was passing by, sometimes carrying mortals away with it. Indeed, almost any death, other than a gentle and gradual departure in old age, was open to interpretation as the work of the fairies. In the case of a young person’s death, people would talk about abduction by the fairies.
According to oral tradition on Midsummer Eve the Sídhe sometimes stole away beautiful mortals to be their brides. They were also believed to be continually trying to abduct newborn children (usually males) to replenish their own fairy population, and to take young mothers into fairyland in order to suckle such abducted children.
As the fairies were thought to be very keen on music, it was said that they would also try to abduct mortals whose musical skills far exceeded theirs. Consequently, it was considered dangerous to find oneself in the path of a whirlwind. W.B. Yeats said that that fear was expressed in the attitude of the peasantry when they saw such whirlwinds: ‘They would take off their hats and say “God bless them!”
Some say the Gaoithe Sídhe can bring good fortune if you are on good terms with the Sídhe. One folklore tale tells of the Gaoithe Sídhe blowing money onto a big hawthorn tree that was growing in a farmers field, or as they called it at that time a ‘scarteen’ (Irish: scairtín, “a thorny bush’). Money was found on almost on every thorn of the tree. The old people say that the money was blown onto the bush by a ‘sheegee’ (Irish: sí gaoithe, ‘whirlwind’).
In Ireland, it was again the fairies who were blamed for such afflictions. It was said that one should never look in the direction of a whirlwind, and people would speak about the ‘poc sí’, ‘fairy-stroke’ as resulting from their wind induced attacks. The ‘poc sí’ could take many forms. Any sudden fall or injury or any unexplained laming, deafness, loss of speech, fainting spell, distortion or swelling could be attributed to it, particularly if an unusual puff of wind had been observed about the time of the onset. It was said that if you encountered the fairy wind while out on your path, you should lie flat on the ground on your stomach and let the wind pass over you.