The closer it gets to Halloween the more I have to look up my favorite ghostly creatures like my favorite phantom, the bean-sidhe.
When I was little and my sisters and I became really rambunctious and loud my dad would call us "howling banshees".
"What's a banshee?" we would ask.
Banshees, my parents explained, where ghosts that howled and the people who heard them died. For several months after this when we played dress-up I powdered my face white, which made my dark hair look even blacker, and glided around the house in an old white choir robe pretending to be a banshee. A few years ago for Halloween I researched and practiced a more accurate portrayal of the bean-sidhe, keening and even carrying white scraps of cloth blotched with fake blood.
Bean-sidhes (ban-shee derived from Bean Si "woman of faery") are actually keening heralds of death and disaster whose mournful cries strike fear into the heart of those who are unfortunate enough to hear them. Whether she appears as a beautiful woman or a wizened hag the bean-sidhe is usually seen wearing a long grey cloak, those who see the bean-sidhe and hear her cry will die shortly thereafter.
The wailing shrieks that are associated with bean-sidhes is actually keening, a high-pitched singing in Irish tradition reserved for funerals. Keening women would be hired for funerals to keen over the body of the deceased. Once taught as an art, young girls would be apprenticed to learn the art of keening. However, bean-sidhes will only keen for the families of O'Connor, O'Grady, O'Brien, O'Neill and Kavanagh. The bean-sidhe is thought to be the ghostly ancestors of the aforementioned Irish families, women that had died in childbirth. The bean-sidhe will still keen for a family member that is away from home or overseas, even if they don't see her those that hear her cry know that they are about to die.
Sometimes the bean-sidhe is known as the bean-nighe or the caointeach of Inslay (Briggs) and "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" (irelandseye). The bean-nighe (ben-neeyeh), the washerwoman, is the cousin of the bean-sidhe. Similarly those who see the bean-nighe, washing the bloody grave clothes of those about to die, pass away shortly after. Getting between the bean-nighe and the river where she washes her clothes could grant the interloper three wishes although if someone tried to take the washing of the caointeach of Inslay she "strikes at his legs with her wet linen and often he loses the use of his limbs" (Briggs).
So if you're related to one of those five major Irish families (and aren't we all a little Irish?) the next time you hear a howling by moonlight, hold your loved-ones tight, the bean-sidhe's about that night.
References:
Allen, Judy. Fantasy Encyclopedia. New York : Kingfisher, 2005. Print.
Banshee. Mysteriousbritain.co.uk. Web. 25 October 2013. http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/republic-of-ireland/folklore/banshee.html
Briggs, Katharine. "Bean-nighe". An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York: Pantheon Books, 1976. Print.
Briggs, Katharine. "Bean Si". An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York: Pantheon Books, 1976. Print.
DiTerlizzi, Tony and Holly Black. Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005. Print.
Froud, Brian and Alan Lee. Faeries. New York: Abrams, 2002. Print.
Keening. Wikipedia. Web. 25 October 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keening
Paciorek, Andrew L.. Strange Lands: Supernatural Creatures of the Celtic Otherworld. Blurb, 2010. Print.
The Banshee. Irelandseye.com. Web. 25 October 2013. http://www.irelandseye.com/animation/explorer/banshee.html
When I was little and my sisters and I became really rambunctious and loud my dad would call us "howling banshees".
"What's a banshee?" we would ask.
Banshees, my parents explained, where ghosts that howled and the people who heard them died. For several months after this when we played dress-up I powdered my face white, which made my dark hair look even blacker, and glided around the house in an old white choir robe pretending to be a banshee. A few years ago for Halloween I researched and practiced a more accurate portrayal of the bean-sidhe, keening and even carrying white scraps of cloth blotched with fake blood.
Bean-sidhes (ban-shee derived from Bean Si "woman of faery") are actually keening heralds of death and disaster whose mournful cries strike fear into the heart of those who are unfortunate enough to hear them. Whether she appears as a beautiful woman or a wizened hag the bean-sidhe is usually seen wearing a long grey cloak, those who see the bean-sidhe and hear her cry will die shortly thereafter.
The wailing shrieks that are associated with bean-sidhes is actually keening, a high-pitched singing in Irish tradition reserved for funerals. Keening women would be hired for funerals to keen over the body of the deceased. Once taught as an art, young girls would be apprenticed to learn the art of keening. However, bean-sidhes will only keen for the families of O'Connor, O'Grady, O'Brien, O'Neill and Kavanagh. The bean-sidhe is thought to be the ghostly ancestors of the aforementioned Irish families, women that had died in childbirth. The bean-sidhe will still keen for a family member that is away from home or overseas, even if they don't see her those that hear her cry know that they are about to die.
The video above is an example of Keening
Sometimes the bean-sidhe is known as the bean-nighe or the caointeach of Inslay (Briggs) and "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" (irelandseye). The bean-nighe (ben-neeyeh), the washerwoman, is the cousin of the bean-sidhe. Similarly those who see the bean-nighe, washing the bloody grave clothes of those about to die, pass away shortly after. Getting between the bean-nighe and the river where she washes her clothes could grant the interloper three wishes although if someone tried to take the washing of the caointeach of Inslay she "strikes at his legs with her wet linen and often he loses the use of his limbs" (Briggs).
So if you're related to one of those five major Irish families (and aren't we all a little Irish?) the next time you hear a howling by moonlight, hold your loved-ones tight, the bean-sidhe's about that night.
References:
Allen, Judy. Fantasy Encyclopedia. New York : Kingfisher, 2005. Print.
Banshee. Mysteriousbritain.co.uk. Web. 25 October 2013. http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/republic-of-ireland/folklore/banshee.html
Briggs, Katharine. "Bean-nighe". An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York: Pantheon Books, 1976. Print.
Briggs, Katharine. "Bean Si". An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York: Pantheon Books, 1976. Print.
DiTerlizzi, Tony and Holly Black. Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005. Print.
Froud, Brian and Alan Lee. Faeries. New York: Abrams, 2002. Print.
Keening. Wikipedia. Web. 25 October 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keening
Paciorek, Andrew L.. Strange Lands: Supernatural Creatures of the Celtic Otherworld. Blurb, 2010. Print.
The Banshee. Irelandseye.com. Web. 25 October 2013. http://www.irelandseye.com/animation/explorer/banshee.html
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