The Irish Folklore Centre

Providing a focus for the whole Irish folk tradition

The rapparees

Submitted by Tim Donohue Rapparees or raparees (from the Irish ropairí, plural of ropaire, meaning half-pike or pike-wielding person) were Irish guerrilla fighters who operated on the Jacobite side during the 1690s Williamite war in Ireland. Subsequently, the name was also given to bandits and highwaymen in Ireland – many former guerrillas having turned to […]

The pursuit of the Giolla Deacair and his horse

This is an early modern tale, probably from the fifteenth century.  It centres around a journey to the Otherworld accessed by a magic well, where mortals participate in local battles, and everyone gets home in the end. During the first half of every year Fionn and his men hunted each day with their dogs and […]