Banshee by Rebecca Alley

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Banshee   

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      

This article is about the banshee of Irish folklore.  For other uses, see Banshee (disambiguation).

Banshee

(Bean-sídhe (Gaelic) Bean Sí (Irish) Bean Shìth (Scottish) Bean-shìdh (Scottish))
Creature
Grouping	Mythological
Sub grouping	Aos sí Sidhe
Similar creatures	Bean nighe
Data
Mythology	Irish, Scottish
First reported	Folklore
Country	Ireland, Scotland

The Banshee (pronounced /ˈbænʃiː/, BAN-shee), from the Irish bean sídhe [bʲæn ˈʃiː] ("woman of the síde" or "woman of the fairy mounds") is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. Her Scottish counterpart is the bean shìth (also spelled bean-shìdh).

The aos sí (people of the mounds, people of peace) are variously believed to be the survivals of pre-Christian Gaelic deities, spirits of nature, or the ancestors.

 

Overview

The story of the bean-sidhe began as a fairy woman keening at the death of important personages. In later stories, the appearance of the banshee could foretell death. Banshees were said to appear for particular Irish families, though which families made it onto this list varied depending on who was telling the story.

The banshee can appear in a variety of guises. Most often she appears as an ugly, frightening hag, but she can also appear as a stunningly beautiful woman of any age that suits her. In some tales, the figure who first appears to be a "banshee" is later revealed to be the Irish battle goddess, the Morrígan. The hag may also appear as a washer-woman, or bean-nighe (washing woman), and is seen washing the blood stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die.

Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at night when someone is about to die and usually around woods. In 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seer or banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. This is an example of the banshee in human form. There are records of several human banshees or prophets attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of local Irish kings. In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass. In Kerry in the southwest of Ireland, her keen is experienced as a "low, pleasant singing"; in Tyrone in the north, as "the sound of two boards being struck together"; and on Rathlin Island as "a thin, screeching sound somewhere between the wail of a woman and the moan of an owl".

The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.
[edit] Irish history and mythology

In Irish legend, a banshee wails nearby if someone is about to die. There are particular families who are believed to have banshees attached to them, and whose cries herald the death of a member of that family.

Traditionally, when a citizen of an Irish village died, a woman would sing a lament (in Irish: caoineadh, [ˈkɰiːnʲə] or [ˈkiːnʲuː], "caoin" meaning "to weep, to wail") at the citizen's funeral. These women singers are sometimes referred to as "keeners" and the best keeners would be in much demand. Legend has it that for five great Gaelic families — the O'Gradys, the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, and the Kavanaghs — the lament would be sung by a fairy woman; having foresight, she would sing the lament when a family member died, even if the person had died far away and news of their death had not yet come, so that the wailing of the banshee was the first warning the household had of the death.

In later versions, the banshee might appear before the death and warn the family by wailing.[1] When several banshees appeared at once, it indicated the death of someone great or holy.[2] The tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a woman who died in childbirth.[3]

Banshees are frequently described as dressed in white or grey, often having long, fair hair which they brush with a silver comb, a detail scholar Patricia Lysaght attributes to confusion with local mermaid myths. This comb detail is also related to the centuries-old traditional romantic Irish story that, if you ever see a comb lying on the ground in Ireland, you must never pick it up, or the banshees (or mermaids — stories vary), having placed it there to lure unsuspecting humans, will spirit such gullible humans away. Other stories portray banshees as dressed in green, red, or black with a grey cloak.

Banshees are common in Irish and Scottish folk stories such as those recorded by Irish-American writer Herminie T. Kavanagh. They enjoy the same mythical status in Ireland as fairies and leprechauns. Banshees continue to appear in modern fiction that deals with mythology, folklore or the supernatural.
[edit] Celtic cultures

In Welsh folklore, a similar creature is known as the Hag of the mist.[4]
[edit] See also

* Bánánach
* Cailleach
* Irish mythology in popular culture
* Pontianak
* Psychopomp

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Visual or oral Hallucinations of the Banshee may cause death especially in a person who is very sick and close to dying by destroying that person's confidence that he/she can survive, see Nocebo effect.
2. ^ Yeats, W. B. "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry" in Booss, Claire; Yeats, W.B.; Gregory, Lady (1986) A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore. New York: Gramercy Books. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-517-48904-8
3. ^ Briggs (1976), pp.14-16: "Banshee".
4. ^ Owen, Elias (1996). Welsh folk-lore: A collection of the folk-tales and legends of North Wales. Felinfach: Llanerch. p. 142.

[edit] References

* Sorlin, Evelyne (1991) (in French). Cris de vie, cris de mort: Les fées du destin dans les pays celtiques. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica. ISBN 978-951-41-0650-7.
* Lysaght, Patricia (1986). The banshee: The Irish death-messenger. Boulder, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart. ISBN 978-1-57098-138-8.
* Briggs, Katharine (1976). An encyclopedia of fairies: Hobgoblins, brownies, bogies, and other supernatural creatures. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 978-0-394-73467-5.
* Evans Wentz, Walter Yeeling (1977). The Fairy-Faith in celtic countries, its psychological origin and nature. Gerrards Cross, Bucks.: C. Smythe. OCLC 257400792

 

The bean-sidhe (woman of the fairy may be an ancestral spirit appointed to forewarn members of certain ancient Irish families of their time of death. According to tradition, the banshee can only cry for five major Irish families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs. Intermarriage has since extended this select list.

Whatever her origins, the banshee chiefly appears in one of three guises: a young woman, a stately matron or a raddled old hag. These represent the triple aspects of the Celtic goddess of war and death, namely Badhbh, Macha and Mor-Rioghain.)The Banshee She usually wears either a grey, hooded cloak or the winding sheet or grave robe of the unshriven dead. She may also appear as a washer-woman, and is seen apparently washing the blood stained clothes of those who are about to die. In this guise she is known as the bean-nighe (washing woman).

Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at night when someone is about to die. In 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seeress or banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. This is an example of the banshee in human form. There are records of several human banshees or prophetesses attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of local Irish kings. In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass. In Kerry, the keen is experienced as a "low, pleasant singing"; in Tyrone as "the sound of two boards being struck together"; and on Rathlin Island as "a thin, screeching sound somewhere between the wail of a woman and the moan of an owl".

The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.

 

The Screaming Banshee

History by Burleson Consulting

According to my own family legend, the Banshee is a friendly mournful spirit whose mournful wailing heralds an impending transition within the family, a spirit that has followed the family since the dawn of recorded history. As a child, I lived in close proximity to my elderly grandmother and great-Aunt, and they both made sure that I was exposed to all of the proper understandings of our Irish history and legend.

It’s easy to hear tales of the Banshee in Ireland, once you convince them that you are not going to mock them. The modern Irishman will usually say that tales of the Banshee are “rubbish”, but if you take a minute to “scratch below the surface”, you will often get the whole truth.

Banshee Research

I’ve heard the plaintive cry of the Banshee myself, and I want to start my noting that she does not “scream”, contrary to popular myth. There have been documented reports where entire villages hear the Banshee, books are published on the Banshee, and there is far too much antidotal evidence for the Banshee to just be a multi-generational legend:

More likely the banshee should be thought of as the "spirit of the family", a spirit who attends to the family in a time of transition. The banshee is described as a wee woman with long white, blond or even auburn hair who appears in the vicinity of the birthplace of the soon to be deceased. When seen, she is wearing the clothes of a country woman, usually white, but sometimes grey, brown or red.

Research show that the ability to hear the Banshee runs in families, and not all Irish can hear the Banshee. Technically, the Banshee is an Irish Household Spirit, who is said to follow families from generation-to-generation, wailing mournfully in anticipation of a death in the family.

The Banshee sound drifts off, as-if it was being carried by the wind. . .

Her sharp, cries and wails are also called 'keen'. The wail of a banshee pierces the night, it's notes rising and falling like the waves of the sea, it always announces a mortal's death. She is solitary woman fairy, mourning and forewarning those only of the best families in Ireland, those with most ancient Celtic lineages. . .

The Banshee is an ancient Irish phenomenon, and it was not until a visit to Ireland many years later that I realized the source of the strange sounds. I was talking to an Irishman, hearing him tell of how the Banshee sounded, and it made my skin crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, when he described a sound that was exactly like my own experience:

I heard the Banshee crying not long ago, and within three days a boy of the Murphy's was killed by his own horse and he bringing his cart to Kinvara. And I heard it again a few nights ago, but I heard of no death since then. What is the Banshee? It is of the nature of the Hyneses. Six families it cries for, the Hyneses and the Fahys and I forget what are the others. I heard her beside the river at Ballylee one time. I would stand barefooted in the snow listening to the tune she had, so nice and so calm and so mournful.