Irish/Welsh Mythology?

[silversquirrel]

Well I know what a Banshee is, a wailing ghost, but in your research what details did you discover of what they were?

I've heard lots of tales stating that a Banshee is someone who is cursed, or someone looking for a lost love, or Leprechauns gone bad, etc.

What have you discovered?

Actually, nobody can really agree exactly on what a Banshee is as far as species. But traditionally a banshee appears as a young woman dressed either in white or green with a grey cloak standing by the roadside near a house belonging to one of the oldest families in Ireland when a member of the family has died. She is almost always seen as weeping over the person's death, however there are a few tales of one gloating over the death of a rival. There is a version of banshee in Scotland that's entirely malevolent, but in Ireland there usually fairly good-natured. There is speculation that a banshee is the ghost of the last female to die in the family she's associated with, but just as often they're considered fairies.

I'm actually working on a project involving Celtic folk and fairytales, so if there's any other creature you want info on feel free to ask.

[omnituton]

There is a version of banshee in Scotland that's entirely malevolent, but in Ireland there usually fairly good-natured.

Thing about folklore (mythology too I guess) is that it is subject to lots of local deviation. I'm Irish and my understanding of banshee has always been that to hear the wail of a banshee was a warning of a forthcoming death in the family. Banshee's occur before the fact and not after. Furthermore, she is often referred to as combing her long hair as she wails...there is a reason for this that I can't remember...but the upshot is if you ever find a comb on the ground your not supposed to pick it up - in case it belongs to a banshee and you bring bad luck on yourself.

As I said folklore deviates wildly from place to place in Ireland, and even more so as a lot of the more familiar tales have undergone a massive 're-packaging' in the later half of the 19th centuary. Why repackaged?- as part of the development of a 'celtic' ideal and history to underwrite the nationalist causes of the time. Thus the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) formed at that time traces its lineage and games to ancient sources...despite the fact that some of its most popular games hold only a tenuous link sports played in ancient hibernia. Hurling is by far the sport with the most "celtic" integrity - versions of it showing up in wales, scotland etc...but the most popular gaelic sport "football" bears little or no relation to the occassional practice of playing a game of catch with a pigs stomach. Thats mythology for ya...particularly Irish mythology...even the mythology is mythologised.

[Neurolanis]

Thanks, Omnituton. I'm sure I've explained it similarly in the past, just can't remember where.

But to quote Katharine Briggs, past Pesident of the English Folklore Society and lecturer in American universities, from her classic book "A Dictionary of fairies":

Banshee:

"An Irish death spirit, more correctly written Bean Si, who wails only for members of the old families. When several keen together, it fortells the death of someone great or holy. The Banshee has long streaming hair and a grey cloak over a green dress. Her eyes are feiry red with continual weeping. In the Scottish Highlands the Banshee is called the Bean-Nighe or Little-Washer-By-The-Ford, and she washes the grave clothes of those about to die.

"... Lady Wilde wrote a chapter in her Ancient Legends of Ireland (vol. 1, pp. 259-63) on the beliefs about the Banshee. According to her, the Irish Banshee is more beautiful and poetic than the deformed Banshee of the Scottish Highlands...

"The Bean-Nighe is also thought of sometimes thought of as a ghost, but the ghost of a woman who died in childbirth. J. G. Campbell in Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands (p. 43) says: 'Women dying in childbed were looked upon as dying prematurely, and it was believed that, unless all the clothes left by them were washed, they should have to wash them themselves till the period of their death.' Yet the Bean-Nighe's washing was supposed to foreshadow the violent death of some member of the clan, whose grave-clothes she was washing. The Highland Banshee, like the other Fairies, has some physical defects. She has only one nostril, a large protruding front tooth and long hanging breasts. A mortal who is bold enough to creep up to her as she is washing and lamenating and suck her long breast can claim to be her foster-child and gain a wish from her. Since the word 'Banshee' means 'fairy woman', the beliefs about her are various, and occasionally the Glaistig is spoken of as a banshee, though she has nothing to do with the Bean-Nighe."