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Ah begorah the tale of the leprechaun, what 3rd generation Irish woman wouldn't have something to say about this? And here are my first two words: Santa Claus.

Just about everyone has a reaction to the words Santa Claus and part of the reaction is a jolly old fellow with long white flowing beard and a rather big belly. He's dressed in a red suit trimmed in white fur, wears black boots, a red hat, and spectacles, those little glasses that sit so low on his nose that he isn't ever really looking through them.

Well that Santa, the guy in the red suit, was designed for us by an advertising promotion for a well known cola soda. The image immediately caught the public attention and the story grew and grew until we came to know of his elves, the toy factory, the flying reindeer and all the other myths. But a Santa believer or not, if you think of the image of a loving, caring, jolly, do no harm spirited person who despite snowstorms, geography, and other challenges, reaches out and touches the lives of the world's children delighting them with surprises and presents, you get a sense of "who" Santa Claus is. He is a happening, an energy, that inspires people.

Leprechauns are similar in nature. They have an image given to us through advertising mostly associated with St. Patrick's Day, which leprechauns know nothing of. They have stories, too, from the clothes they wear to the pot of gold hidden at the end of a rainbow. Some of the story is they are Gaelic / European fairie beings who show themselves to man in a single way, as two to three feet males with thick dark hair on their heads and their faces. You don't see bald or clean shaved leprechauns now, do you?

They dress in green because it helps them fit into the green hills and valleys they travel through and live in. They wear hats, sometimes a small top hat, sometimes a bowler style, to protect themselves from the elements and hold their body heat in the cool misty nights.

Leprechauns are said to be on the more mean spirited side of the fairie energy but I offer the theory that's it's more a matter of their being reclusive. They are, by nature, loners. They don't socialize as other fairies might. Instead they like to find a good tree or rock to lay up against, have a quick mead or ale, and look up to the sky and ponder things that are important to fairies.

The pot of gold is often told as if the leprechaun owns it, keeping it for himself and not wanting to share a bit of it with anyone, especially a human. The story

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