Fairy Fights & Community Action- Latoon Fairy Tree
Hello and welcome back to another week of Rooted, where this week on the show I wanted to shake off the last bits of my winter slump (and recover a bit after being very sick these last 2 weeks behind the scenes!) to just do a short and sweet episode on something…a little strange, but also pretty relevant.
So, This week we’re digging into the so called latoon fairy tree from Ireland, which is both a fun story, and a reminder that sometimes the best ways we can protect the things we care about IS by infusing a little bit of whimsy into our community action, and banding together to raise a little hell when faced with changes we don’t think are right for our community.
TO really set the stage, I need you to close your eyes and picture it with me…the year is 1999- I am barely a person, but in Latoon ireland, Eddie Lenihan is out for a walk in his town, as he is passing his favorite tree. A whitethorn that a local farmer once told him was a known site for fairy battles between 2 opposing fairy kingdoms. The evidence? The farmer had seen white fairy blood and little specs with the texture of liver he believed to be tiny fairy guts left behind after a particularly nasty fight..
While in the US we would probably write that off as some random hubbub, Ireland has many historic sites that are protected because of their connections to the fairy realm. While today many people in ireland do identify as christian, they still have very strong beliefs and ties to fairies and other ancient deities and beings- this is important because it sets us up for what is about to happen
See, Eddie walked past this tree almost every day on his way home from work. It had grown to be almost like a companion to him- a friend he looked forward to seeing, as it marked his path and gave him some way to mark the distance- a sign he was nearly home. But on this rainy day, he noticed something that made him stop in his tracks- a construction crew.
Alarmed, Eddie stopped to ask the crew that they were doing, and to his horror- they were marking out space for a brand new highway that would make his commute unsafe to do on foot…Eddie knew they had been talking about building this new highway, but he didn't realize it was coming to his own backyard. And to make matters worse, they were going to chop down his favorite tree to do it.
Not one to just sit by, Eddie immediately started thinking- why should this tree not be offered the same protections as the others who were rumored to be home to fairies? If other landmarks could be set aside for religious or historical significance, why couldn't this one? And who had the authority to deem what was real and important to a community when it came to something like fairies anyway? Eddie was going to find out, and he was going to fight.
Cut to a few months later and Eddie is making headlines. Turns out, when he put the call out, his community came out and supported him- no one was chopping down that fairy battle ground without a fight….and much to the zoning board’s chagrin, Eddie had a case…it turns out that in order for the road to go through the fairy tree, the company would have to prove that the fairies *didn’t* exist with proof beyond a reasonable doubt…something that would prove nearly impossible when being held to the same standards as disproving religions like christianity…and so, after a long fight and LOTS of news coverage, a deal was made- the road would still be built, but it would NOT be able to interfere with the fairy tree in Latoon.
Despite a few incidents of people trying to cut it down (presumably out of spite or teenage angst) the fairy tree is still alive and well- nestled into the road- still viable to travelers passing by, even if no longer on foot.
While it may sound a bit silly, I do think it’s a good lesson to keep in mind these days- sometimes it can feel like there really isn’t much we can do about change. But, when we ask for help and believe in our community we can ALWAYS fight for change…plus, a little extra whimsy can go a long way in making our lives feel more magical and connected- as long as we remember to look for it.
That’s all I’ve got for this week, but we’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled programming here and on socials as I keep getting better. Now more than ever I hope you are resting, taking care of yourself, drinking your water, and planting those seeds of community where you can…ideally in your local libraries, parks, and other public spaces that could really use our support and appreciation right now.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latoon_fairy_bush
