Fear gorta

In Irish mythology, the fear gorta is a kind of hungry ghost.

Etymology

Fear gorta in Irish means Man of hunger / Man of famine; also known as the fear gortach.

Description

Fear gorta is said to resemble an pale, emaciated emaciated human, so weak and thin that he can barely lift his alms cup, and he has few clothes to cover his modesty, even in wintertime.

Behavior

According to Yeats' Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry the fear gorta walks the earth during times of famine, seeking alms from passers-by. The generous individuals are rewarded while the smug and selfish who turn away from him in disgust are punished.

Harvey relates a myth that the fear gorta was a harbinger of famine during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, and that the spirit originally arises from a patch of hungry grass (féar gortach).

References

1. Yeats, W. B. (ed.) Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. 1888.
2. Harvey, Steenie. Twilight places: Ireland's enduring fairy lore. World and I, March 1998, v13 n3