How to catch a Leprechaun.
My paternal grandparents were born and raised in Ireland and immigrated to the US as young adults around 1920.
My grandmother would tell me stories about Ireland, my favorite one was how to catch a Leprechaun.
Leprechauns she said are wily, ornery, and distrustful of humans. They love rainbows and pots of gold. In fact, they store their pots of gold at the end of a rainbow.
So grandma told me that if you see a rainbow, make sure to look for a leprechaun and his gold. Once you see the leprechaun you are to spit on him and he will hand over his gold to you.
I was only about 6 years old when she gave me these instructions. My mother was a nurse so I knew that spitting was not sanitary. And I also knew it was quite rude. I also wondered why I would take something that belonged to someone else.
But I loved my grandmother and agreed to follow her instructions. I was also intrigued by the idea of leprechauns. I did look for them whenever I saw a rainbow and was ready to start spitting.
Many years later, about 8 years ago, the cousins from this side of the family had a big reunion. Grandma of course was long gone at that point. Our favorite aunt, who had entered the convent at age 8 and been a lifelong nun in a teaching order, had just passed away.
It was an outdoor reunion, but a bad storm whipped up that morning looking to ruin it. However right before we gathered the storm miraculously cleared up to a beautiful day.
And of course a huge beautiful rainbow appeared. Now my cousins are smart, cynical, and somewhat jaded. But every single one of us knew that grandma and our aunt had sent us the rainbow. And we looked around to see if there were any leprechauns. `
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