| What is a Banshee? |
| From a Treasury of Irish Myths, legends and folklore / Occultapedia |
| The Solitary Fairies The legend of the Banshee goes all the way back to the early eighth century and is currently alive and well in various parts of Ireland. Many believe that the banshee follows the old families and wails prior to a death in the family. If a group of banshee's wail in chorus it is a foretelling of a death of a great or holy person. Many have described the wail as horrble and ear piercing. One of the household spirits of certain Scottish Highland or Irish families, supporedly a female creature that is said to wail at or before the death of a family member. The word is supposed to be derived from the Old Irish ben sidhe, (a woman of the folk) or (the fairy mound); but it is translated by different scholars in a variety of ways. Including - Banshi, Benshee, Female Fairy, Angel of Death, Lady of Death, Woman of Peace, White Lady of Sorrow, Nymph of the Air and Spirit of the Air. The Banshee of legend is actually a disembodied soul, either of someone who in life was strongly attached to the family or who hated all it's members. So, if she loves those whom she calls, the wail is a soft, tender, soothing chant, intended to give notice of death's proximity and reassure the one destined to die, or to comfort the survivors. But if instead the Banshee during her life was an enemy of the family, the wail is more like a scream of a fiendish ghost, a demonic howling of delight over the upcoming fatal tragedy and agony of one of her foes. BACK |
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