Also called the washer at the ford, Nigheag, Ban-nigheachain.
The tale
The bean-nighe is seen at a lonely stream washing the clothes of those about to die. Highland tradition held that she was the spirit of a woman who died in childbirth, doomed to wash until the day she would have died. If you get between her and the water without her seeing, she must answer your questions or grant a wish. The figure goes back to medieval Irish tales, where a woman washing armour at a ford warns of a hero's death.
When they are met
- at dusk by lonely streams
- Samhain, when her tales are told
Staying on their good side
- leave her to her work
- some tales say to seize her and ask three questions before she sees you
- speak kindly of the dead
Honouring them, or keeping safe
- Treat her as a figure of grief and warning, not one to summon.
- Honour women who have died in childbirth, whom tradition says she once was.
What their tales teach
- the tales teach acceptance of fate
- remembering those lost too soon
Symbols
- the ford
- bloodied clothes
- the washing stone
Sources
- Campbell, Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands
- MacKillop, Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology
More Celtic folklore
- The Banshee The keening woman of the fairy mound
- 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