One of Ireland's most famous myths is that of the banshee. She is seen as a woman who brings a lot of bad luck and whose shrill voice can numb ears. She is also depicted in movies and series as a monster who makes everyone's life miserable and brings death. But what is actually true of that?
Where does the name banshee come from?
The mythological creature called banshee originates from Irish folk tradition. The Irish name for it is bean sídhe. This consists of two words namely bean, which means woman, and sídhe. Sídhe is a bit more complicated. While the word sídhe is often used to refer to fairies, it is also a word they use for certain hills in Ireland. These earthworks were man-made and scattered throughout Ireland. It was said that in those hills lived spirit-shaped people who belonged to the fairy peoples, the sidh. The banshee is therefore still translated differently. Some people call her the faerie woman, but some call her the woman of the hills.
The appearance
There are many different stories about the appearance of a banshee. In many stories she is an old ugly bent over woman with many wrinkles, but there are also stories where she is a beautiful young tall woman. However, most stories have a number of aspects the same. She often has gray or silver hair and wears a gray cloak or white worn-out clothing. It also appears that she almost always has red eyes from all the crying. What's an even bigger theory is that she can take different forms when she wants to.
What does a banshee do?
Het idee van een banshee komt niet uit het niets. Rond de middeleeuwen waren er in Ierland vrouwen wiens baan het was om te jammeren, rouwen en te zingen bij de rituelen rondom de dood van een persoon. De vrouwen werden keening women and were respected by most. Their job was to ve the link between the living world and the afterlife. They did this by howling rhythmically like the banshee. It is therefore not surprising that the banshee is also called the keening woman. wordt genoemd.
A banshee has a lot in common with a keening woman, for she too is a link between the living world and the afterlife. Her job is just a little different. She warns Irish families about the death of one of their relatives. She does this by yelling, crying or clapping and can be heard from far distances. According to some this is heard several nights before death and according to others it is heard once on the night of death. Hearing the banshee can help a family prepare for death. A family can have only one banshee. When that family would emigrate, the banshee goes with them or stays at the parental home and sits there whimpering.
The origin of a banshee
According to many, the banshee appears to be a ghost who has experienced many injustices in her life. Often it was first a perfectly normal woman who eventually overcame a great sadness. Because of this, she became feral and later in her death became a lonely fairy.
Mythological creatures she is often compared to are the witte wieven and the Dames Blanches.
