Banshee

A banshee is one of many spirits of Irish and Scottish folklore. The modern understanding of a banshee as a grotesque, angry female spirit that flies in the air at night, terrifying those with her shrieking is something of a disnomer; the banshee was a culturally understood truth to the peasantry of Ireland and Scottland, as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld by wailing under the windows of a house where a person is about to die. 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.

Etymology

The term Banshee is an anglicization of the Irish bean sídhe or bean sí, which translates as "female, or woman of the faeries or elves". 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 genitive case of "fairy."

Description

The shriveled hag, with long, unkempt white hair and wearing a funeral robe is only one of several different forms that a banshee can appear in, although in modern times this is the most common form the creature takes. It can also appear as a young woman with a beautiful, if slightly un-Earthly, appearance, an honorable matriarch or a washer-woman, as seen in Celtic traditions. No matter what appearance, she is almost always portrayed as having long grey or white hair, and wearing long flowing robes of similar color

Of course the most important distinction of the banshee is her cry. It has been described differently, from a low moan to a loud shriek. Most often it was said to be a loud, said lamenting that not startled but saddened those who heard it.

Origin

The banshee first appeared in very old Gaelic legends. According to such stories, the five noteworthy families of Ireland, the O'Neills, O'Donnells, O'Connors, the O'Learys, the O'Tools and the O'Connaghs each had a woman spirit would act as the harbinger of death; 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. Why these specific families were connected originally to the banshee is not entirely known. Some have suggested that the banshee is actually the conglomeration of death rituals and supernatural beliefs. Traditionally, when a citizen of an Irish village died, a woman would sing, otherwise known as keen, a lament at their funeral. Music in those times were often connected to the spirits and fairies that were believed to inhabit the woods. It is possible that at some point, the ritual merged with the belief, creating the banshee.

In Scottland, the idea of the banshee actually came out of the belief that women who had died in childbirth, or who had been murdered, came back as ghosts or spirits that roamed the countryside, lamenting their situation and warning others of danger

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. 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 in popular culture

• A banshee appears in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Reaper Man, named Brother Ixolite. He has a speech impediment, so "instead of sitting on roofs and screaming when people are about to die, he just writes them a note and slips it under the door." Going Postal introduces "feral" banshees, whose predatory habits offer an explanation as to why a banshee's cry is an omen of death (i.e. the banshee is stalking its prey, most likely whoever hears the banshee's cry).
• Banshees have been featured in a number of video games, such as the MMORPGs RuneScape and Tibia, in which they are often known to attack players by singing. In the popular RTS game, WarCraft III, "banshees" belong to "the undead army" and can attack other units with "tortured blasts of sonic force"; they can also curse or possess their enemies.
• The name "Banshee" has been given to many whistling fireworks produced by various manufacturers.
• "Banshee" is the name of a mutant in the second iteration of Marvel's X-Men comics. He is able to cause damage with his "sonic scream." A modification of this scream allows him to fly, although he can not talk while doing so.
• In an episode of the television series Charmed, Alyssa Milano's character Phoebe turned into a Banshee.
• Banshees appear in the Disney children's movie Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), certainly resulting in many a nightmares.
• Banshee was used as a name for a General Motors series of show cars for its PontiacDivision, the first appearing in 1966. Reportedly, the name was to be used on the Pontiac Firebird, but GM executives thought better of using a name meaning a "screaming spirit of death" on one its products.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• 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. 

External links

• The Legend of the Banshee
• An Animated Tale of the Banshee
• The Banshee

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