6/18/2023 0 Comments Banshee animal![]() ![]() It has gradually disappeared, following the prohibition of this practice by the Catholic Church in Ireland8. This funeral practice, present in many parts of the world, was documented in Ireland and Scotland during the Middle Ages. These “keening” melodies refer directly to the ancient Gaelic practice of weeping women women who improvised vocal lamentations during funeral processions and burials, in order to pay tribute to the dead and their families. By this behaviour, she is thus called in Irish bean chaointe, in Scottish caointeach and keening woman in English. It would only be from the eighth century onwards that the bean would take on the meaning of “woman of the Other World” in the texts.Īccording to tradition, the banshee sometimes announces death by crying, moaning or lamentation or more precisely “funeral melodies”. ![]() In the past, bean could have meant a “mystical or magical quality” (sí) attached to a “woman” (bean). It is however difficult to determine the original meaning of bean sí, because of the mixture of pagan and Christian concepts in medieval texts. This finally lead to the translation of the banshee as “ woman of the fairy mound” or “ fairy woman“). Later this term took the meaning of a “hill or mound” which gives access to the kingdom of the gods, fairies and death. In Scottish Gaelic she is called bean sith, literally meaning “ woman of the sidh“, the sidh (or sí, síd, sith, sidhe) being the Other World in the Gaelic mythology. ![]() In Ireland, the term bean sidhe, bean sí, formerly ben síd) or baintsíde is used. The most common current designation is of course the English term banshee, which by the way, was first used in 1771, phonetically derived and borrowed from Irish Gaelic. The apperition is known by different names. Bunworth Banshee, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. ![]()
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