banshee
American Heritage Dictionary:
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ban·shee
also ban·shie (băn'shē) 
n.
A female spirit in Gaelic folklore believed to presage, by wailing, a death in a family.
n.
A female spirit in Gaelic folklore believed to presage, by wailing, a death in a family.
[Irish Gaelic bean sídhe, woman of the fairies, banshee : bean, woman (from Old Irish ben) + sídhe, fairy (from Old Irish síde, genitive of síd, fairy mound).]
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banshee, a folklore figure whose lamentation portends a family death. In the form of a solitary woman, bean sí in Irish meaning ‘woman of the sídh’, she derives from the mythological construct whereby a goddess presides over the fortunes of a kinship group. She is generally heard at night rather than seen, though some late stories portray her as a small, wizened old woman who combs her hair as she makes her cry.
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badh [east Munster], banshie, beansí, bean sídhe, ben síde; Scottish forms: bansìth, bean-shìth, bean sìth; Manx: ben shee
[Irish, fairy woman, woman of the fairy mound]
A female wraith of Irish and Scottish Gaelic tradition thought to be able to foretell but not necessarily cause death in a household. Although Fedelm in the Táin Bó Cuailnge [Cattle Raid of Cooley] seems to be an anticipation of the figure, observations and portrayals of the banshee in literature were not common before the 17th century. Since that time, the banshee has been depicted so often and so variously that generalizations about her appearance and role are difficult to make without many qualifications. She may be seen as a beautiful maiden weeping for the coming death of a loved one, or she may be a gruesome hag foretelling it. Lady Jane Wilde (1888) seems to be the first to opine that the beautiful banshee is more common in Ireland and the ugly more common in Scotland. In Scotland the figure is known as ban-sìth, bean-shìth, or bean sìth; closely related to it is the baobhan sìth, which may embody elements of the succubus or vampire. The Manx ben shee seems closer to the Irish banshee. Both the beautiful and the ugly figures often wear white; in Meath she wears a white gown with red shoes. As oral tradition was continued by English speakers, the banshee tended to become confused with the White Lady of other folklores, as bean, ‘woman’, sounds like bán, ‘white, fair-haired’. The banshee may also wear a grey cloak over a green dress. Her eyes are usually fiery red from continual weeping. The beautiful banshee has long hair which she strokes with a gold or silver comb. The wail of the banshee is most often compared with the keening of Irish mourners, and thus she is often known as an bhean chaointe, ‘the keening woman’. Less flattering commentators have compared her sound to that of a dog baying at the moon. The banshee is most often a solitary person, although an assembly might wail at the passing of an especially noble or holy person.
The banshee appears to draw from the characterizations of Áine and Badb in earlier Irish literature, and like Badb she has associations with the hooded crow. In folk etiology the banshee was thought to be the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth, or of a murdered pregnant woman. Despite these sombre associations, a banshee's attentions to a family were thought to be a mark of high station, especially in Ireland, and several hundred families boasted of their own banshee. A Welsh counterpart is the cyhyraeth. See also AÍBELL; ANGAU; ANKOU; CLÍDNA; DEATH COACH; GLAISTIG; WASHER AT THE FORD.
Bibliography
- Patricia Lysaght, “‘Irish Banshee Traditions’”, Béaloideas, 42–4 (1974–6)
- “‘An Bhean Chaointe: The Supernatural Woman in Irish Folklore’”, Éire-Ireland,
14 (4) (Winter 1979), 7–29 - The Banshee: The Supernatural Death-Messenger (Dublin, 1986)
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An Irish supernatural being of the wraith type. The name derives from the Gaelic bean si and implies "female fairy." She is usually the possession of a specific family, to a member or members of which she appears before the death of one of them.
T. F. Thistleton Dyer, writing on the banshee in his book The Ghost World (1898), states: "Unlike, also, many of the legendary beliefs of this kind, the popular accounts illustrative of it are related on the evidence of all sections of the community, many an enlightened and well-informed advocate being enthusiastic in his vindication of its reality. It would seem, however, that no family which is not of an ancient and noble stock is honored with this visit of the Banshee and hence its nonappearance has been regarded as an indication of disqualification in this respect on the part of the person about to die. 'If I am rightly informed,' writes Sir Walter Scott, 'the distinction of a Banshee is only allowed to families of the pure Milesian stock, and is never ascribed to any descendant of the proudest Norman or the boldest Saxon who followed the banner of Strongbow, much less to adventurers of later dates who have obtained settlements in the Green Isle.' Thus, an amusing story is contained in an Irish elegy to the effect that on the death of one of the Knights of Kerry, when the Banshee was heard to lament his decease at Dingle—a seaport town, the property of those knights—all the merchants of this place were thrown into a state of alarm lest the mournful and ominous wailing should be a forewarning of the death of one of them, but, as the poet humorously points out, there was no necessity for them to be anxious on this point. Although, through misfortune, a family may be brought down from high estate to the rank of peasant tenants, the Banshee never leaves nor forgets it till the last member has been gathered to his fathers in the churchyard. The MacCarthys, O'Flahertys, Magraths, O'Rileys, O'Sullivans, O'Reardons, have their Banshees, though many representatives of these names are in abject poverty.
" 'The Banshee,' says D. R. McAnally [in his book Irish Wonders (1888)], 'is really a disembodied soul, that of one who in life was strongly attached to the family, or who had good reason to hate all its members. Thus, in different instances, the Banshee's song may be inspired by different motives. When the Banshee loves those she calls, the song is a low, soft chant giving notice, indeed, of the close proximity of the angel of death, but with a tenderness of tone that reassures the one destined to die and comforts the survivors; rather a welcome than a warning, and having in its tones a thrill of exultation, as though the messenger spirit were bringing glad tidings to him summoned to join the waiting throng of his ancest[o]rs.' To a doomed member of the family of the O'Reardons the Banshee generally appears in the form of a beautiful woman, 'and sings a song so sweetly solemn as to reconcile him to his approaching fate.' But if, during his lifetime, the Banshee was an enemy of the family, the cry is the scream of a fiend, howling with demoniac delight over the coming death agony of another of his foes.
"Hence, in Ireland, the hateful 'Banshee' is a source of dread to many a family against which she has an enmity. 'It appears,' adds McAnally, 'that a noble family, whose name is still familiar in Mayo, is attended by a Banshee of this description— the spirit of a young girl deceived, and afterwards murdered by a former head of the family. With her dying breath she cursed her murderer, and promised she would attend him and his forever. After many years the chieftain reformed his ways, and his youthful crime was almost forgotten even by himself, when one night, as he and his family were seated by the fire, the most terrible shrieks were suddenly heard outside the castle walls. All ran out, but saw nothing. During the night the screams continued as though the castle were besieged by demons, and the un-happy man recognised in the cry of the Banshee the voice of the young girl he had murdered. The next night he was assassinated by one of his followers, when again the wild unearthly screams were heard exulting over his fate. Since that night "hateful Banshee" has, it is said, never failed to notify the family, with shrill cries of revengeful gladness, when the time of one of their number has arrived.' "Among some of the recorded instances of the Banshee's appearance may be mentioned one related by Miss Lefrau, the niece of [Richard] Sheridan, in the memoirs of her grandmother, Mrs. Frances Sheridan. From this account we gather that Miss Elizabeth Sheridan was a firm believer in the Banshee, and firmly maintained that the one attached to the Sheridan family was distinctly heard lamenting beneath the windows of the family residence before the news arrived from France of Mrs. Frances Sheridan's death at Blois. She added that a niece of Miss Sheridan made her very angry by observing that as Mrs. Frances Sheridan was by birth a Chamberlaine, a family of English extraction, she had no right to the guardianship of an Irish fairy, and that therefore the Banshee must have made a mistake. Then there is the well-known case related by Lady Fanshawe who tells us how, when on a visit in Ireland, she was awakened at midnight by a loud scream outside her window. On looking out she saw a young and rather handsome woman, with dishevelled hair, who vanished before her eyes with another shriek. On communicating the circumstance in the morning, her host replied, 'A near relation of mine died last night in the castle, and before such an event happens, the female spectre whom you have seen is always visible.' "This weird apparition is generally supposed to assume the form of a woman, sometimes young, but more often old. She is usually attired in a loose white drapery, and her long ragged locks hang over her thin shoulders. As night time approaches she occasionally becomes visible, and pours forth her mournful wail—a sound said to resemble the melancholy moaning of the wind…. Oftentimes she is not seen but only heard, yet she is supposed to be always clearly discernible to the person upon whom she specially waits. Respecting the history of the Banshee, popular tradition in many instances accounts for its presence as the spirit of some mortal woman whose destinies have become linked by some accident with those of the family she follows. It is related how the Banshee of the family of the O'Briens of Thomond was originally a woman who had been seduced by one of the chiefs of that race—an act of indiscretion which ultimately brought about her death."
The banshee is not confined to Ireland, since she is also the subject of folktales in the highlands of Scotland, where she is known as bean-nighe, or "little-washer-by-the-ford." She is said to be seen by the side of a river, washing the blood from the clothes of those who will die.
Sources:
Lysaght, Patricia. The Banshee. Dublin, 1986.
McAnally, D. R. Irish Wonders. 1888. Reprint, Detroit: Grand River Books, 1971.
O'Donnell, Elliot. The Banshee. London, 1919.
Yeats, W. B. Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. London: Walter Scott, [1888].
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'banshee'
- Mixed Drinks - banshee: crème de banana, crème de cacao, light cream
- Behavior or Personality
- Mythological and Folkloric Beings - banshee: female spirit who warns of death by wailing (Ireland and Scotland)
- Individuals and Objects - banshee: female spirit
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Banshee
This article is about the banshee of Irish folklore. For other uses, see Banshee (disambiguation).
| (Bean-sídhe (Gaelic) Bean Sí (Irish) Bean Shìth (Scottish) Bean-shìdh (Scottish)) |
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|---|---|
 Banshee (1897 painting) |
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| Creature | |
| Grouping | Mythological |
| Sub grouping | Aos sí Sidhe |
| Similar creatures | Bean nighe |
| Data | |
| Mythology | Irish, Scottish |
| First reported | Folklore |
| Country | Ireland, Scotland |
The banshee (
/ˈbænʃiː/ BAN-shee), from the Irish bean sí [bʲæn ˈʃiː] ("woman of the sídhe" or "woman of the fairy mounds") is a feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld.
In legend, a banshee is a fairy woman who begins to wail if someone is about to die. In Scottish mythology the creature is called the bean sìth or bean-nighe and is seen washing the blood stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die. Alleged sightings of banshees have been reported as recently as 1948.[1] Similar creatures are also found in Welsh,[2] Norse[3][4] [5] and American folklore, such as aos sí ("tumulus folk").
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Contents
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Overview
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011) |
The story of the banshee began as a fairy woman keening at the death of important personages.[6] 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. Stories of banshees were also prevalent in the West Highlands of Scotland.[6]
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.
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 who was later identified as a banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. There are records of several prophets believed to be incarnate banshees 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.
History and mythology
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011) |
In 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. The most common surname attached to the banshee was Mac.[7] They were also associated with the Airlie clan.[6] Accounts of banshees go back as far as 1380 with the publication of the Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh (Triumps of Torlough) by Seean mac Craith.[8] Mentions of banshees can also be found in Norman literature of that time.[8] The Ban Si was also known to wail at the crowning of the true king. Such a cry was reported to be heard at the crowning of Brian Boru.
Traditionally, when a person died a woman would sing a lament (in Irish: caoineadh, [ˈkɰiːnʲə] or [ˈkiːnʲuː], "caoin" meaning "to weep, to wail") at the funeral. These women 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 Ó Briains, the Ó Conchobhairs, and the Caomhánachs — 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.
The Ó Briains' banshee was thought to have the name of Eevul, and was ruler of 25 other banshees who would always be at her attendance.[8] It is thought that from this myth comes the idea that the wailing of numerous banshees signifies the death of a great person.[8]
In later versions, the banshee might appear before the death and warn the family by wailing.[9] When several banshees appeared at once, it indicated the death of someone great or holy.[10] The tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a mother who died in childbirth.[11]
Banshees are frequently described as dressed in white or grey, often having long, pale 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.[7]
American folklore
Stories of banshees can also be found in America in the late 18th century.[7] The most prevalent of the American stories comes from Tar River in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. However, in this variation of the story, the banshee is simply a ghoul, as opposed to a sign of misfortune.[7]
In the badlands of South Dakota, a banshee is said to wail upon a hill near Watch Dog Butte. Like other American tales of banshees, this legend does not connect her to any particular death (aside, perhaps, from her own).[12]
Celtic cultures
In Scottish Mythology a similar creature is known as a the Bean nighe or ban nigheachain (little washerwoman) or nigheag na h-àth (little washer at the ford).
In Welsh folklore, a similar creature is known as the Hag of the mist.[13]
See also
((washer woman)) ((cailleacha of the spirits))
Notes
- ^ "Superstition". Western Folklore (Western States Folklore Society) 7 (4). October 1948. JSTOR 1497855.
- ^ Wiffen, B. B., Choice Notes from "Notes and Queries", P.P. - London. - Notes and Queries, William John Thoms. p. 32
- ^ Kellog, various (2001:745)
- ^ Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-34520-2
- ^ Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-513-1
- ^ a b c Knight, Jan (1980). A-Z of ghosts and supernatural. Pepper Press. pp. 10. ISBN 0-560-74509-5.
- ^ a b c d "Banshee". The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World. Harper Element. 2006. pp. 62.
- ^ a b c d Westropp, Thos. J. (June 1910). "A Folklore Survey of County Clare". Folklore (Taylor & Francis, Ltd.): 180–199. JSTOR 1254686.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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
- ^ Briggs (1976), pp.14-16: "Banshee".
- ^ Skinner, Charles M. "Myths and Legends of Our Own Land". J.P. Lippincott Company, 1896, p. 216.
- ^ Owen, Elias (1887). Welsh folk-lore: A collection of the folk-tales and legends of North Wales. Felinfach: Llanerch. p. 142.
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
External links
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Look up banshee in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- MovilleInishowen.com: The Legend of the Banshee, Leo Bowes
- Irish Culture and Customs: Creepy Irish Creatures, Bridget Haggerty
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Banshee". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Banshee
Dansk (Danish)
n. - kvindelig ånd, som ved hylen varsler død
Nederlands (Dutch)
jammerklacht van geest ter aankondiging van sterfgeval
Français (French)
n. - (Ir, Mythol) fée (dont les cris présagent la mort)
Deutsch (German)
n. - todesverkündende Geisterfrau
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - θηλυκό πνεύμα που προαγγέλλει το θάνατο, σειρήνα αντιαεροπορικού συναγερμού
Italiano (Italian)
fantasma di malaugurio
Português (Portuguese)
n. - fada (f) que prediz a morte de alguém
Español (Spanish)
n. - hada maligna que anuncia la muerte
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - andeväsen, siren, irländsk dödsfe
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
女妖精
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 女妖精
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) روح انثويه تولول قبل وفاة
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - שדה מבשרת מוות, רוח אישה מייללת
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