She’s known for her dramatic screaming and crying, and her seemingly dark power to predict
death, the Banshee is seen as a terrifying female spirit in Irish mythology.
But is she really all that terrifying?
Although some of today’s pop culture has weaponized the Banshee’s screams and made
them an object of fear, the first banshees weren’t evil or even dangerous.
She not only predicts your death, but helps you prepare for it.
This is one monster you might actually want on your side.
Going back to at least the 8thcentury, Irish folk tradition depicts the Banshee as the
spirit or ghost of a once living woman.
Banshees appear in two different forms: as a withered, tiny crone with white hair; or
as a tall, thin, beautiful woman.
The typical banshee has long, flowing hair and appears dressed in white.
Many times the woman’s spirit becomes a banshee because of some injustice in her life,
because of bad or “improper” things she did as a living woman, or was a victim of
violence.
Banshees only appear alone and don’t do much of anything besides warn the living when
death is coming.
They forewarn the living of death by crying, screaming, and clapping.
The Old Irish word “Bean sí” directly translates to “fairy woman,” but etymologists
and folklorists agree that “sí” originally meant ‘Otherworld’ so the name actually
means ‘Woman of the Otherworld.”
What’s especially unique about the banshee is that they are only devoted to certain people;
the ancient Gaelic nobility.
Most often, people who have a surname that begins with an “O,” “Mc,” or “Mac”
. A different banshee belonged to each noble family and would forewarn deaths, sometimes
appearing to the families’ servants.
She is said to be an ancestor of the family herself.
In many ways, the banshee is a protector of the family and its noble land, even a symbol
of the family.
If any part of the ancestral home is still standing, even if it’s a ruin, she will
appear.
Side note: Although my mom’s ancestors came from the Munster province in Ireland, which
is full of banshee myths, her family name is Welsh, so unfortunately, no banshees for
me.
Banshee legends became less common in the 16th and 17thcenturies—possibly because
this is when the British government confiscated Irish land.
The English families who moved to Ireland couldn’t have a banshee since they did not
have Irish ancestry—even if they did seize a noble title.
You can take my title, but you can never take my banshee.
Many old banshee stories are even classified by the name of the family they are loyal to.
A famous author, Thomas Crofton Croker, includes “The Bunworth Banshee” and “The Mac
Carthy Banshee” in his book of Irish folklore.
In both stories, the male heir’s death is preceded by the wailing and clapping of a
banshee.
So, the banshee’s appearance warns of impending death.
But why the screaming and moaning?
These expressions of mourning come from Irish religious and cultural history.
Women have played a crucial role in the Irish culture of death from the very beginning.
In their mythology, the ancient Celtic battle goddess Catabodva is also known as Badb.
A variant of her name, just happens to be the south-eastern Irish name for banshee.
Badb was said to not only influence battles, but predict the deaths of notable warriors—by
a loud, wailing cry.
She could also shapeshift into a crow, an ability some banshees have as well.
Another goddess, Brigit, was said to be the first in all of Ireland to cry and lament
a death, that of her son—yet another connection between women, death, and crying…or rather
keening.
In the Irish tradition, keening is a rhythmic wailing and mourning performed by women as
part of the death ritual.
Keening was seen as necessary for the dead to pass safely into the next world.
Keening women were respected professionals and performers who guided mourners through
grief with crying and singing.
They were viewed as in-between worlds, the link between the living world and the Otherworld.
Oh, and did I mention that yet another name for the banshee is bean chaointe—which in
Gaelic literally means “keening woman.”
Since their actions were seen as necessary, they were allowed to ignore social customs
while performing.
Keening women might walk barefoot, traveling not on the roads, but through untamed countryside.
They would appear disheveled, in torn clothes, and unpinned and uncombed hair.
They were outsiders, and these physical attributes only served to emphasize their otherworldly
responsibilities.
Despite the supernatural air surrounding keening women, they served a very practical function.
In times of grief they acted as a catharsis.
Since they were paid professionals, for a time only wealthy members of society could
afford one, including those old noble families.
So it makes sense that the banshee, who are in many ways the ghost form of the keening
woman, would only be associated with the upper class.
Goddesses, keening women, and banshees.
It’s pretty easy to see that women controlled the voice of death in Ireland.
But I also have another theory, one that I think explains the accounts of banshees “shrieking.”
Barn owls.
Hear me out.
Barn owls make a truly terrifying screaming sound.
While they are currently endangered in Ireland, they used to be widely spread across the country.
Barn owls are nocturnal, hunting (and screeching) at night.
In the stories that I read, banshees only appear at night.
The owls horrifying screeching could have made its way into the Banshee myth.
Maybe someone heard a barn owl’s cry in the darkness the night before a death in the
family and connected it to the keening Banshee that also marks death.
The banshee legend not only links Irish people to their ancestors but emphasizes their belief
in the supernatural.
The Otherworld is important to the creation of their literary and oral histories.
With elements of mythical ancient goddesses and real-life keening women, she connects
other worlds as well: fact
and fiction.