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Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source The Banshee ('bæn.?i),
from the Irish bean sí ("woman of the sídhe" or "woman of the fairy mound")
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". Banshees in
history, mythology and folklore Traditionally, when a citizen of an Irish
village died, a woman would sing a lament (in Irish: caoineadh,) 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; having foresight, she would appear before the death
and keen. When several banshees appeared at once, it indicated the death
of someone great or holy. 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. 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 recorded by Herminie T. Kavanagh. They enjoy the same mythical status
in Ireland as fairies and leprechauns. The banshee wails around a house
if someone is about to die. Etymology The term Banshee is an anglicization
of the Irish bean sídhe or bean sí - "woman of the sídhe" or "woman of
the fairy mound". The Scots Gaelic version of the name is usually Bean
Nighe - "washer-woman". Both names are derived from the Old Irish ben
síde, "fairy woman": bean: woman, and sidhe: the genitive case of "fairy".
Sídhe in Irish, and Sìth in Scots Gaelic, also mean "peace", and the fairies
or sídhe are sometimes referred to as the Daoine Sídhe or Duine Sìth -
the "people of peace", or "the people of the Sídhe mounds. (in Irish folklore)
a spirit in the form of a wailing woman who appears to or is heard by
members of a family as a sign that one of them is about to die. In old
Irish folk lore banshee, banshee moon, banshee folk lore
(in Irish folklore) a spirit in the form of a wailing woman who appears to or is heard by members of a family as a sign that one of them is about to die.
In old Irish folk lore banshee, banshee moon, banshee folk lore