All my life I have heard stories of people seeing or hearing the banshee...My mother claims to have heard the banshee twice once when her brother died and once when her husband died and once when I was younger I heard a wailing that really sent shivers down my spine and two mirrors fell off walls, the next day I found out my cousin had been killed so that creeped me out. In fact everyone I know has a story about the banshee. Is this just an Irish thing and do you have a similar figure in your culture which brings warning of death?
2007-12-19 23:11:51 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
The banshee is Scottish as well as Irish. My family has one and since all my fathers siblings got old she has been very busy.
2007-12-20 04:31:15 · answer #1 · answered by freebird 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Banshee - Gaelic form: ben sid.
In Irish folklore, the Banshee is seen as both faerie and ghost. As a faerie, she is used in stories to warn children of the dangers of being out alone. They would be told, "the wind through the trees in the winter forest is the banshee." Essentially, she is the one blamed for the things that howl and go bump in the night. She is also what is called a sidh faerie, meaning she derives herself from the faerie mound, closely relating her to the playful puca and other notable entities of the mound.
In ghost lore, she is the apparition attached to ancient Irish families who forewarns the death of a family member. However, the Banshees revolted against the people and united. This unification resulted in their wailing before any of the Irish people died. She wails at their birth place and within the hour, they are no more.
In mythology, she is closely related to Macha, the horse goddess. She eventually became associated with justice and revenge. The Banshee can also be related to Aine, the goddess of the sea, and equivalent to the Greek goddess Diana. The banshee, in essence, is a fallen goddess.
2007-12-20 09:53:54 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
There are no portents of death here in my neck of the woods, i.e., New Mexico, as far as I know. I'm sure you've heard that the banshee only cries for people from certain families or for someone who has lived an honourable life, filled with good deeds.
Consider it an honour that the banshee cries for members of your family :)
2007-12-20 11:03:40 · answer #3 · answered by wee falorie man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only story like that I've heard here in America is about a shadowy figure called the Mothman. They actually made a movie about it with Richard Gere as the lead. It tells of some people who saw a shadowy figure of a man with large butterfly shaped wings in the woods of West Virginia in a certain area. It happened a number of times and was associated with a bridge collapse.
There's a Wikipedia article about it and Point Pleasant, WV where it happened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman.
There are plenty of things yet that we don't know about...who knows what these things really are??
2007-12-20 07:32:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hi...I am Native...and in my culture there are many foreshadows of death...all tribes have their own...but the one that I am most familiar with is the Owl...it is said to be a messenger of death... is actually my totem...
There are some who believe in the whippoorwill and it's call
Then there is the story of the death beetle and its click
Some say the crow escorts the spirit
And a hawk flying low across your path is not a good sign
2007-12-20 08:49:48 · answer #5 · answered by Patti_Ja 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
in my family glass and crystal will crack just before a death in the family
i don't blame the banshee for not coming to the states she like it where she is ! an old world gal
2007-12-20 07:43:47 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Banshees would have been nothing without Siouxsie.
*wink*
2007-12-20 07:32:46 · answer #7 · answered by Mr.Longrove 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋