It has been a while since I wrote a post concerning mascots. That’s because…well, frankly there is something a bit grotesque and disorienting about the entire topic. The bilious cartoony figures speak of the snake oil which lubricates our consumer culture. And most of the characters are teetering right at the edge of nineteenth-century jingoism and ethnic stereotypes. If Aunt Jemima, Chief Wahoo, Uncle Ben, the Gordon Fisherman, and Ole’ Miss don’t make you a bit anxious, then they aren’t doing their jobs.
All of which is why this subject is entirely perfect for Saint Patrick’s Day! This holiday has long since dismissed any semblance of reasoned discourse. The downtown of every major city in the United States fills up before noon with intoxicated teens garbed crown-to-toe in Kelly green and red-faced, red-haired firemen wielding bagpipes! So bring on the leprechaun mascots.
Traditionally leprechauns were members of the aes sídhe, supernatural beings who dwell in a mythical land beyond human kin. This unseen realm may be across the western sea, or in an invisible world parallel to ours, or in an underground kingdom accessible only through the pre-Christian burial mounds and barrows lying throughout Scotland, Ireland, and the ancient places of Western Europe. The aes sídhe tended to be impossible beautiful and strange in such a way that they could only be apprehended by dying people, insane people, or William Butler Yeats. Leprechauns were the money-grubbing cobblers and grabby tricksters among the lofty fairy folk. The first mention of leprechauns is found in a medieval epic: the hero recovers consciousness from a dreadful wound only to discover that he is being dragged into the sea by leprechauns. Yeats writes of the leprechaun “Many treasure-crocks, buried of old in war-time, has he now for his own.” In folklore Leprechauns originally wore red coats.
In America today all of this has been somewhat bowdlerized: leprechauns are small bellicose Irishman garbed completely in green. They ride on rainbows, possess pots of gold, and never quite grant wishes. Anyone who says otherwise is liable to get punched in the mouth by an electrician from Jersey City.
Lucky the leprechaun, the spokesbeing for Lucky Charms cereal since 1964, is probably the most famous of these contemporary leprechauns. His ancient bog sorcery has been condensed into the trademark phrase “magically delicious” and six talisman-like marshmallow shapes calculated to best please the discerning six-year old palate.
Sports teams also like leprechauns. The most famous sports-leprechauns are the pugnacious fighting Irish leprechaun of Notre Dame and the slippery dandy leprechaun of the Boston Celtics.
However an alarming range of other leprechaun mascots exist. They have different waistcoats from various historical eras, sundry prankish expressions, and wear a rainbow of different greens but they are all instantly recognizable.
I don’t know…I was going to be more cynical, but just look at them up there, drinking and hoarding and dancing away. There is something appealing about the wee folk. Shameless stereotype or not, t’is all in good fun. There’s a bit of a March hare in all of, longing to run wild after the long winter. If our culture chooses to exemplify this spring atavism through images of a little irrepressible green man, then so be it. Sláinte, dear readers! Have a happy Saint Patrick’s Day, a merry March, and a glorious spring.
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March 17, 2011 at 7:41 PM
ms.yin
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Two comments: Lucky Charms ARE magically delicious, even past the age of 6. I kind of always want Notre Dame to lose, because, well, a) they mispronounce their name; b) while I have great sympathies for the Irish, it seems strange to me that a school would choose the fighting Irish as a mascot, because, well, the Irish fight, but tend not to come out so well; and c) their mascot’s boxing stance is stupid.
March 18, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Hieronymo
I’m not really sure I remember what Lucky Charms taste like. When we got sugared cereal it was always alphabits or honey smacks. I think the Notre Dame sports team refers to the individual fighting spirit of each Irish person not their collective tactical ability as a warrior nation, but I don’t know–the minds of athletic directors remain alien to me.
March 18, 2011 at 6:01 PM
ms.yin
Is it wise to continue fighting, at least physically, for, say, 500 years? Strategically, it seems that there are more efficient means to whatever you’re working at, unless you are some sort of geology.
April 7, 2012 at 2:33 PM
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April 10, 2012 at 9:19 AM
Wayne
The opposite leprechaun specialists? Yes, I wonder what they say too…
June 18, 2012 at 1:51 PM
Tessa McHugh
I need pictures of leprechauns. I did not know you got different ones.