Berniepaintings - Art Gallery : FANTASIE / The Banshee

The Banshee - 2009 |Price

Een banshee is een fee die de dood van een mens aankondigt. Het is de Engelse fonetische spelling van het Ierse Bean sídhe dat 'vrouw van de sídhe' betekent.

De banshee verschijnt in drie verschillende vormen: een jong meisje, een statige dame en een oude heks[bron?]. Ze heeft lang wit haar dat ze kamt met een zilveren kam.

Volgens het gebruik zong een vrouw een lied (Iers: caoineadh, IPA: [ˈkiːnʲə]) bij begrafenissen. Volgens de legende zou dit bij vijf grote Ierse clans, de O'Gradys,de O'Neills, de O'Briens, de O'Connors, en de Kavanaghs, door elfenvrouwen gedaan zijn.

In de Táin Bó Cúailnge wordt Fráech mac Idad na zijn dood door honderdvijftig vrouwen van de sídhe zijn grafheuvel in gedragen.

Volgens een verhaal verscheen een banshee aan Brian O'Bua. Dit was een Ierse koning, hij liep door het bos en zag toen een oude vrouw kleren wassen die bedekt waren met bloed en ze huilde. De volgende dag werd Brian dood aangetroffen in zijn tent. Dit zou omstreeks het jaar 1000 gebeurd zijn; sindsdien horen mensen vaak de ijselijke gil van de banshee en de dag daarna is een familielid of een kennis gestorven.

De banshee is een populair deel van de Ierse folklore.

(Banshee
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Banshee AKA: Bean Sí (Gaelic)
Bean Shìth (Scottish
Bean-shìdh (Scottish)
Creature
Grouping Mythological
Sub grouping Aos sí
Sidhe
Similar creatures Bean nighe
Data
Mythology Irish mythology
First reported Folklore
Country Ireland
This article is about the banshee of Irish folklore. For other uses, see Banshee (disambiguation).
The Banshee (IPA: /ˈbænʃiː/, BAN-shee), from the Irish bean sí ("woman of the síde" or "woman of the fairy mounds") 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 shìth (also spelled bean-shìdh).

The aos sí ("people of the mounds," "people of peace") 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 aos sí as "fallen angels". They are commonly referred to in English as "fairies", and the banshee can also be described as a "fairy woman".

The bean-sidhe (woman of the fairy) may be an ancestral spirit appointed to forewarn members of certain ancient Irish families of their time of death. According to tradition, the banshee can only cry for five major Irish families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs. Intermarriage has since extended this select list.

Whatever her origins, the banshee chiefly appears in one of three guises: a young woman, a stately matron or a raddled old hag. These represent the triple aspects of the Celtic goddess of war and death, namely Badhbh, Macha and Mor-Rioghain.) She usually wears either a grey, hooded cloak or the winding sheet or grave robe of the unshriven dead. She may also appear as a washer-woman, and is seen apparently washing the blood stained clothes of those who are about to die. In this guise she is known as the bean-nighe (washing woman).

Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at night when someone is about to die. In 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seeress or banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. This is an example of the banshee in human form. There are records of several human banshees or prophetesses 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, the keen is experienced as a "low, pleasant singing"; in Tyrone 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.