National Leprechaun Day

The earliest leprechauns were not lucky and not kind. The oldest known reference sits in a medieval Irish tale called Echtra Fergus mac Léti, the Adventure of Fergus son of Léti, in which three tiny beings drag a sleeping king of Ulster toward the sea before he wakes, seizes them, and wins three wishes for their release. These were water sprites, not shoemakers. Even the name is humbler than the legend suggests. It descends from the Old Irish luchorpán, which Britannica reads simply as "little body." The word did not surface in English until around 1604, spelled "lubrican" in a stage comedy.

The modern leprechaun, small and green and grinning beside a pot of gold, was largely built in the United States. Walt Disney put a whole leprechaun kingdom on screen in Darby O'Gill and the Little People in 1959. Five years later General Mills introduced Lucky the Leprechaun to sell Lucky Charms, debuting him on St. Patrick's Day 1964. The next year the University of Notre Dame made the leprechaun its official mascot, retiring a line of Irish terrier dogs. By the time National Leprechaun Day appeared on American calendars, the little cobbler had already been redrawn as a brand. Who first named May 13 for him, and why, was never written down.