Also called Bean sídhe, Bean chaointe (keening woman), Bean nighe (the washer at the ford, in Scotland).
The tale
The banshee is a woman of the sídhe, the fairy mounds, who is heard wailing outside a house at night when someone of an old Irish family is about to die. Some say she follows only the ancient families, the Os and the Macs, such as the O'Neills and O'Briens. She may be seen as a pale young woman or a small, very old one, combing her long hair and crying. In the Scottish Highlands her cousin, the bean nighe, is found at a ford washing the clothes of those who are soon to die.
When they are met
- at a death in the family
- at wakes and funerals
- Samhain
Staying on their good side
- respect, never mockery
- keening or singing a lament for the dead
- leaving a comb found on the road where it lies
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Learn a traditional Irish or Scottish lament and sing or play it in memory of someone lost.
- Keep old family stories alive, since she is said to follow the old families.
- Tradition says never pick up a comb found lying on the road.
- Treat grief as something to be voiced, as the keening women once voiced it for everyone.
What their tales teach
- facing grief
- honouring ancestors
- the value of lament
- preparing for loss
Symbols
- a comb
- long hair, grey or red
- a grey cloak
- the keening cry at night
- a stream and bloodied clothes
From Irish and Scottish folk belief recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries; the keening tradition itself was real and long-lived.
More Celtic folklore
- Selkies The seal folk who come ashore
- The Púca The shape-shifter of November
- The Aos Sí The people of the fairy mounds
- The Kelpie The water horse of the lochs
- The Tylwyth Teg The Fair Family of Wales
- Leprechaun The solitary fairy shoemaker
- Clurichaun The fairy of the wine cellar
- Fear Dearg The red man who asks to warm himself