Banshee
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- This article is about the banshee of Irish folklore. For other uses, see Banshee (disambiguation).
The Banshee (IPA: [ˈbænʃiː]), from the Irish bean sídhe or bean sí ("woman of the sídhe") 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 Nighe ("washer-woman").
The sídhe are variously believed to be the survivals of pre-Christian Gaelic deities, spirits of nature, or the ancestors. Some Theosophists and Celtic Christians have also referred to the sídhe as "fallen angels". They are commonly referred to in English as "fairies", and the Banshee can also be described as a "fairy woman".
Traditionally, when a citizen of an Irish village died, a woman would sing a lament (in Irish: caoineadh ([kwi:nʲə])) at their funeral. These women singers are sometimes referred to as "keeners". 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. These families had a fairy woman associated with them, who would make an appearance after a death in the family to sing this lament. Tales recount how, when the family member had died far away then the appearance or, in some tales, the sound of the fairy keener, might be the first intimation of the death.
When these oral narratives were first translated into English, a distinction between the "banshee" and other fairy folk was introduced which does not seem to exist in the stories in their original (Irish or Scottish) Gaelic forms. Similarly, the funeral lament became a mournful cry or wail by which the death is heralded. In these tales, hearing the banshee's wail came to predict a death in the family and seeing the banshee portends one's own death.
Banshees are frequently described as dressed in white or grey, and 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 written down by Herminie T. Kavanagh. They enjoy the same mythical status in Ireland as fairies and leprechauns.
Contemporary usage and depictions of the Banshee give her a much more evil nature, being often used as a foe in series and video games, and characterized by her powerful and strident voice.
[edit] Etymology
Banshee (IPA: [ˈbænʃiː]) is an anglicization of the Irish bean sídhe or bean sí - "woman of the sídhe" or "fairy woman". The Scots Gaelic version of the name is Bean Nighe - "washer-woman". Both names are derived from the Old Irish ben síde, "fairy woman": bean: woman, and sidhe: the tuiseal ginideach (possessive case) of "fairy".
Sídhe in Irish, and Sìth in Scots Gaelic mean "peace", and the fairies or sídhe are also referred to as the Daoine Sídhe or Duine Sìth - the "people of peace". Sídhe, in its variant spellings, is used to refer to the Sídhe Mounds, as well as to the beings said to inhabit the mounds.
[edit] References
- Lysaght, Patricia (1986). The Banshee: The Irish Death Messenger. Roberts Rinehart Publishers. ISBN 1-57098-138-8.
- Briggs, Katharine (1976). An Encyclopedia of Fairies. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-73467-X.
- Wentz, WY Evans (1966, 1990). The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. Citadel.
- Vinopal, John (1986). Ten Years of Torment. UC Santa Cruz Press.
