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According to an Irish myth there was once a young, beautiful woman from Waterford. She fell in love with and planned to marry a young farmer, but her greedy father brokered an arranged marriage for her. She was forced to marry a wealthy, nasty local leader, who paid handsomely to marry her. On her wedding day she wore a gown of red and gold, but her marriage did not match the happiness of the day as her marriage was full of cruelty. She was locked away from her friends and family, and each day she prayed that someone would come to rescue her. No one did. As a result she refused to eat or drink, eventually wasting away. Her husband married before she was buried, and her family never visited her grave. Years later she resurrected herself so she could seek revenge on those who wronged her, thereby becoming the Dearg Due.
The Dearg Due story is one of the oldest myths of Ireland, and it is said to still strike fear in many Irish today. Her burial is marked as the Strongbow Tree, which is not a tree but a pile of rocks meant to mark her grave. It is said that the Dearg Due returns every year on the date of her death to sate her deep appetite for blood, so in the days leading up to her death date locals pile more rocks onto her grave in order to keep her at bay.
This tale, however, parallels various other tales of the region in that its purpose was to explain the unexplainable. Whenever an individual, particularly a man, went missing or unexpectedly and violently ill the misfortune was blamed on the Dearg Due. It was believed that her appetite for blood and vengeance went beyond that of her ex-husband and her father (who in certain versions of the myth also met an unfortunate fate), and that any unsuspecting individual, particularly men, could fall victim to the Dearg Due.
It is also important to note that the Dearg Due is one of the oldest vampire myths in the region, dating back to the Celtic era. It may have served as inspiration for various other (and more modern) vampire tales, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Today, it aids in tourism of the region as tourists are encouraged to place a stone on the Dearg Due’s grave to do their part to protect themselves from her wrath.
Bibliography
Hrodvitnir, Yamuna. "Dearg-Due: The Irish Vampire." Medium 12 February 2020. Electronic.
Lloyd, Ellen. "Dearg-Due Frightening Female Demon And Tyrannical Abhartach Of Irish Folklore." 5 January 2017. Ancient Pages. Electronic. 5 August 2020.
No Author. "Dearg Due." n.d. Emerald Isle. Electronic. 6 August 2020.
O'Regan, Ann. "The Dearg Due - How a revengeful young lover became Ireland's most famous female vampire." 2 October 2018. Irish Central. Electronic. 6 August 2020.
18 comments:
Why is it that some of these old myths and tales have no happy ending? A lot of these stories have to do with the cruelty of women who becomes scorn. As well this story reminds me of a lot of Disney films which make my insight about Walt Disney and his staff that they were very dark individuals and creatives.
its sad to know that her own father did not visit her grave. even sadder that he he did not feel the need to help her when im pretty sure he knew that she was in danger.
-Simone Jordan
I Enjoyed learning about the Dearg due and its possible influence upon Bran stoker.
-Jermaine Alexander
I love the story but what did the rocks do for her burial and my big question why didn't her family visit her
What I find interesting about the dearg due is that when local men started coming up missing around her death date, they would Correlate his death or reason for missing on the dearg due. I also find it interesting because this is one of the oldest vampire myths in the region.
Reuben Nichols
The story is really interesting and in the first part it’s shows how in today’s culture well American culture that it’s the opposite of what happened in the first part of the story because we can choose to marry who ever we want.
I understand that people look and at every opportunity to pin point every thing on something in the past and there’s a lot of stories like this especially in Caribbean culture referring to people being cursed because of a past event . How ever the story is very interesting
The thing that amaze me most about this myth and every other similar myths I’ve heard here and in the Caribbean it’s always some woman being cursed and seeking revenge on men in general and I often wonder why is it like that ?
This post is draw me in mainly because I love to hear myths that has anything to do with supernatural activity. The question I have is why didn't her family come visit her grave? What happened to her dad?
Jada Johnson
Interesting questions, Jada, all of which go back to what we just talked about in regards to look at culture through an anthropological lens. When we do this we would discover that in the past (and even in some cultures today) women are valued less than men, and marriages are political alliances more than loving relationships. It appears that her marriage was very much a political alliance, and if her husband was displeased with her it would be in the family's interest to keep him happy by not visiting her grave. This is, of course, assumptions based on what the legend provides, but it does give us insights into the cultural values of the past.
By her father choosing who he wants to marry his daughter instead of who she wants to marry lead to her wasting and killing her self because she wasnt happy and nobody wanted to help her. From the sound of it her dad was in it for the wealth
Chamaje Barideaux
First, I dont like how her father forced her to marry a man she never loved. Second, her so called husband locker her away from all her friends and family, which is so cruel, and no on even tried to go and see her. Third, they let her rot away and die all alone. She was treated terribly.
Kiara Cadore
Okay, this kind of scary, but I like it... I just wish this story was popular in the United States because if it were, I think maybe we wouldn't have so many unfaithful and/or malignant men. They would have something to fear.
Mya Bursey
I love hear stories like this! It is very sad to me when that she could not marry the man that she loved, and instead had to marry someone because of money belong involved. Do you feel many arranged marriages involve money?
-Alexa Holzschuh
I believe all marriages have some monetary elements involved. I say this because money is one of the contributing factors to failed relationships. When one person does not feel like they are being valued as either the "bread winner" or they are being taken advantage of for providing the majority of the financial stability to the relationship then this leads to problems. Many individuals look for a partner who will fulfill whatever monetary needs they have, be it as someone who is the financial dependent, the financial producer, or financial equal. There also plays into this how one's credit may be, how one spends or saves, etc. So money has a lot to do with any relationship, not just arranged marriages.
The marriage was basically a fight for whoever had wealth to take the hand of a beautiful lady, I do not understand why the wealthy man who was not loved would want to treat a lady such a way, however I do understand cultures and old tales were very different in the older centuries. There has to be an aspect of supernatural within the world if this country believes so highly of this tale. Do you believe in the supernatural?
Qwynn Marquez
The story was wonderful I loved it, but I hated that her father gets to choose who she can date. She was depressed because they said she couldn't eat or drink anything. I been there before, and its not a good feeling. (Laugh out loud)
-Jaden Clark
Reading this article was kind of scary. I felt bad for the lady because she wasn’t happy in her marriage. Her dad wanted her to be with a man who had more money but he treated her like crap. Meanwhile she wanted to marry a man who was a farmer and who was nice to her. Her family did her wrong by not coming to see her or check on her. If I was her, I would of left him.
AJ Moore
Sometimes I love hearing about Myths and Supernatural things. It's really sad that her family didn't feel the need to come and visit her grave. That was very wrong of her dad not coming to his daughter's homegoing.
- Jada Watkins
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