An old woman dressed all in black with grey hair (this is how she was always described to me as a young child). An old woman with frightening red eyes (from continual weeping), a green dress, and long white hair.A woman in a silver dress with long silver hair.A pale woman in a white dress with long red hair and a ghastly complexion.She is sometimes portrayed as a ghostly woman rising up from the mists or a spectral rider on horseback.Īccounts of the appearances of the banshee include, but are not limited to: While the banshee may be seen as a sinister figure in some stories, she is also often depicted as beautiful and ethereal, with long flowing hair and gentle features. She may also appear as an old woman dressed in black or even as a beautiful young woman with fair skin and long flowing hair. In some tales, she appears as a hooded figure with long hair and a white veil draped over her face. It is for this reason that she has also been associated with the Irish goddess, Morrigan, as she was the triple goddess of war, fate, and death. The banshee can typically have three appearances – a young woman, a matron, or an old hag. The appearance of a banshee can take on many forms, but what remains consistent is the supernatural nature of her presence. This is essentially the definition of banshee, and if you are ever asked what does banshee mean, it means “woman of the fairy mound”. The banshee is seen as a harbinger of death, and her keening (screaming, see further below) can be heard just before someone important in a family passes away. Many cultures have similar myths about female spirits who appear before death, and it has been suggested that the banshee mythology may have originated from these tales. The banshee is said to be related to the Irish goddess of death, Morrigan (see further below for an explanation of this). The use of the word banshee became more common in the late 18th century but there have been accounts of a banshee, a witch-like creature as far back as the mid-14th century, and some historians have traced the first stories of the banshee to the 8th century, based on the old tradition where women sang a sorrowful song upon the death of someone. Banshees appear in non-corporeal form (they have no physical body), and their ghostly visages can float several feet above ground and pass through solid objects.The exact origin of the word banshee is unknown, but it likely comes from an old Gaelic term, “bean sídhe or bean sí,” (written ban sídhe in Scottish Gaelic) which translates to “woman of the fairy mound” or “fairy woman.” She was not a welcome visitor and was said to be seen combing her hair or wailing beneath the window of the family she was visiting. They have wild, uncombed hair and wrinkled skin. Those who have seen a banshee usually describe them as a thin, old woman wearing a traditional burial robe (typically given to those people with no family or religious identification) which is often torn and tattered. The vast majority of what we know about these mythical creatures come from what they sound like, not what they look like. There isn’t a lot of detail about banshees in Celtic mythology, mostly because it is rare for anyone to actually see one. Therefore hearing a banshee’s wail means that someone close to you will die very soon. The difference being that keening happens after the death of a person while the banshee’s cry happens before the death of a person. This leads us to wonder if the banshee, also known as “the wailing woman”, could be a ghost of a great keener. Keeners, as they are called, were often in demand, and people would even hire the best keeners to wail for their loved ones. There is an ancient Irish tradition called “keening” where a woman will wail following a person’s death. It is said that if you hear the wail of a banshee then someone close to you, or possibly yourself, will soon meet their end. These ghostly screams are almost always heard at night and are said to sound like a blend between a woman’s scream and a night creature’s wail. A banshee is a ghostly woman whose high pitched screams prophesy the death of someone soon to come. Primarily known now as an Irish fairy creature, the Banshee legend has been passed down through generations due to its consistent haunting quality. Banshee mythology began centuries ago in the Celtic isles of Ireland, Scotland, and Great Britain.
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