How excited I am to hear from you!

Mirela@aol.com wrote:

>> In a message dated 99-02-12 18:15:17 EST, you write:
>> My interest in these type of familiar spirits is rooted in the
>> fact that my family has a long standing (if light hearted)
>> tradition of a spirit which "haunts" us called Yahoodi.
>> Recently I have discovered the name "Yahoodi" is more common
>> than I thought, but I don't know much more about it. >>
>
> Wow. I never imagined I would hear someone outside my own family
> talk about Yahoodi. Yahoodi has been hanging around our family
> residences for as long as I can remember. My grandmother used to
> tell me stories about him.

PLEASE!!! Tell me some of the stories!

My father used to jokingly blame "Yahoodi" for such things as doors mysteriously found open, unaccounted for noises within the house, and lights going out or flickering. He only told us that he was a sort of invisible spirit which seemed consigned to hang around our family, and I don't think he knew any more beyond that. He seemed to believe this spirit ("sprite" or whatever) had been somehow connected to the family for quite some generations, and that he had no real evil intent or even much power at all, but would occasionally pull a harmless trick or two if he got bored or wanted to remind us he was around. As I said, there was never any special reverence for him, or fear, almost as if he were some unseen friend or hang-abouter of which we knew very little (or had forgotten through the generations).

None of us really ever gave him much thought, but his existence seemed to stay in the back of all our minds growing up (referring to my siblings). My brother, who is a Walt Disney artist, began his own animation production company as a side-line a few years ago, and called it "Yahoodi Productions, Inc."

Until recently, I thought Yahoodi was purely a family character invented, perhaps, by some earlier ancestor to light-heartedly aportion blame for small things gone awry. Then in some e-mail correspondence a while back, someone mentioned that their family also had a light-hearted tradition of Yahoodi. Since they were not connected to my family in any other way except that they were of Gaelic ancestry, I started wondering if Yahoodi was actually an established spirit of some sort in Irish myth.

I note that the "leprechauns" are actually a fairly recent development in Irish folklore. No mention of them is made in the older tales or manuscripts. They are, in fact, a diminutive of the "faerie," which is itself a diminutive of the sidhe, or "people of the hills (mounds)." These were originally not small spirits at all, but the full-sized underground remnants of the Tuatha de Danaan who, when defeated by the Milesians, suffered to be banished under the surface of the Island. Eventually they became spiritual /ghostly in nature only, and could be seen by fewer and fewer humans. They assumed the nature of spirits of place, and developed a certain devotion of sorts to the families who worked the land they haunted for generations. It is said that they, knowing aforetime of the approaching death of one of the family members, would wail in sorrow for their ultimate demise. Others insist they wailed in delight at their misfortune. This is the "wail of the banshee (actually "bain-sidhe," or female version of the spirit) that is still common in contemporary ghost stories.

A little known fact of the bain-sidhe, however, is that only families descended from Gaelic Milesian stock (and not, for instance of the later Norman stock which inhabited the isles) could have the "honor" -- if that's what is was -- of finding themselves the recipient of this endearing attachment with such a spirit.

'Course, you probably know all that. I recount it to illustrate my question as to whether the belief which runs in certain families regarding Yahoodi is related to this myth, i.e. is Yahoodi actually a sidhe (fir-sidhe were the male variety) of some sort?

And if he is, than who does he represent? Ancient Irish myth is replete with the names of the early Tuatha de Danaan.

Which leads me back to your recollections...

What is your ancestry? Is it Irish Gaelic or Norman Irish? None of the above?

Would you mind recounting some of your family stories or myths regarding Yahoodi? I would LOVE to hear them!

Thanks!

When I would visit my father's older brothers and sisters in Yonkers New York in the late 40's and early 50's I heard the term used as in "Mrs. Yahoodi" or "Mr. Yahoodi did it." referring to such things as a broken milk bottle outside the front door of their apartment in the morning, or some other minor disaster or inconvenience. Quite frankly, for I was under ten at the time, I thought it was the name of the Polish family that lived in the next apartment. Until reading your e-mail I was still under that impression. As I recall, the references were always benign ones.

 FYI, my father's family was from the east of Ireland, Waterford and Wexford, and descended from the Old English settlers who came over with Strongbow in the 11th century. There was very little "Gaelic" or "Celtic" about them. They even supported the Irish Parliamentary Party up until 1918 and some fought in the Great War.

   Well no ledgends since almost all of my Gallagher history has been lost, but both me and my brother have heard or seen odd things. People walking upstairs when no one was there, things turning off and on. Very interesting subject, hope to hear more.
   Speaking of strange stuff, was anyone else drawn to Irish things without knowing why when younger (before knowing any thing about my hertitage).
   Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge with us, keep it coming.

Susan Gallagher, and the TWH mares, Lucy Van Pelt & Silky (Xena)
Beavercreek, OR, USA
My home page;

-- A canter is a cure for every evil. --
    Benjamin Disraeli

Some years ago, there was a popular song called. "Who's Yahoodi?"

I don't know if these lines were from that song or not, but they went:

Yesterday upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
O, how I wish he'd go away.

Who's Yahoodi ....
... etc.

Michael, did I tell you that the Yahoodi spirit was one that my dad used to blame for things all the time? So did Grandma Ma. I taught it to your Dad. So it wasn't an Irish thing. He was English!