 | ||||||
| ||||||
Land of Origin: Ireland
Other Names: Washer of the Shrouds, Washer at the Banks, Washer at the Ford. Banshee is the Anglicized spelling, the one
commonly used in Canada and the United States. She is called Cointeach in Scotland, a word which literally means "one who keens." The Cornish call her Cyhiraeth. The Welsh know her as either Cyoerraeth or Gwyach y Rhibyn, meaning "Hag of the Dribble," and to the Welsh she can sometimes appear as a male. In Brittany they called her EurCunnere Noe.
Element: Water
Appearance and Temperament: The Beansidhe (Banshee), or "woman faery," is another well-known and much feared Irish faery, though some might classify her as a ghost. She is always female and always appears in a filmy, full-sized human form. Long stringy hair partially covered with a hood, and a white gown or shroud are part of her attire, as is a wet and ghost-like appearance, as if she had just been fished from a moss-covered
lake. Her appearance varies by region. In Donegal she is green-robed, and in County Mayo she is black-clad. In Cornwall she is said to have long black teeth.
Lore: The Beansidhe's keening (mourning wail) can be heard at night prior to a death, and her lamentations are still heard all
over Ireland when death is near. Usually these faeries are attached to a particular family or locale, though the latter is not so common. Many believe the Beansidhe to be attached only to the old noble families of Ireland, those of Milesian descent. The origins of the Beansidhe have been lost in time, but it is reasonable to assume that she represents a mother-form from the Irish land of the dead, Tir-na-nog. In old Ireland Tir-na-nog was also known as the "land of the women," and it was believed
that upon physical death a soul was reabsorbed into the womb of the Great Mother, or into some other woman form, to await rebirth. Some persons who have heard a Beansidhe do not report her mournful keening as being frightening at all, but oddly comforting. But the majority find her sound bone-chilling and
terrifying. Occasionally a Beansidhe is seen at a river washing the winding sheets which will soon become a shroud. The "washer at the ford" is an old Celtic legend which stems from this belief.
To see the washer meant that a major life-changing event was about to occur, and it was a fearsome sight. If later that night any of your candles burned in a winding pattern - like a shroud - you would know that death was to visit your own household. In Scotland she has been seen squatting near the door of the one about to die. In Cornwall she stands near the window of the
one about to die and flaps her wings against the glass. In doing this she is often mistaken for a crow, the bird associated with
the Crone Goddess in Celtic mythology. Special keening (caoine) music used at wakes in Ireland is said to have come from the Beansidhe's own lamentations.
The Beansidhe
Every man marveled mightily what it should mean that a man and his horse should be such a color green.
~~Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Hindu men once believed it to be unluckily to marry a third time. They could avoid misfortune by marrying a tree first. The tree (his third wife) was then burnt, freeing him to marry again.
|
