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 AWAY
- by Jane Urquhart
Some
background information
chap 1: Ireland
- coast
chap 2: Canada
- forest
chap 3: Canada
- lake
Beansidhe
One of the most dreaded and best known
of the Irish faeries is the Banshee, properly named the Beansidhe
literally, "woman fairy." The Irish have many names for her
(perhaps they feared invocation of her true name may invoke her
presence?). They included: Washer of the Shrouds, Washer at the Banks,
Washer at the Ford and the Little Washer of Sorrow.
The Scottish called her Cointeach,
literally "one who keens." To the cornish she was Cyhiraeth
and to the Welsh either Cyoerraeth or Gwrach y Rhibyn, which
translates as "Hag of the Dribble" (to the Welsh she
sometimes appear as a male). In Brittany her name is Eur-Cunnere Noe.
The Beansidhe is an extremely beautiful
faery, possessing long, flowing hair, red eyes (due to continuous
weeping) and light complexions. They typically donn green dresses with
gray cloaks. Their wailing fortells of a death nearby, though it never
causes such a death (which is why they are wrongly feared). Some of
Ireland's oldest aristocrachy could boast of banshees dwelling nearby
their ancestral homes.
If one heard the wailing of the
beansidhe and discovered candles burned in a winding pattern (like a
shroud) later that evening, they knew the death was to occur in their
household. In Scotland she squats near the door of the one doomed and
in Cornwall her figure flaps her wings against the glass of the window
belonging to s/he who would die.
- As her other names might suggest,
she frequently appears as a washerwoman at the banks of
- streams. In these cases, she is
called the Bean Nighe (pronounced "ben-neeyah"). The
clothing
- she washed takes different forms
depending upon the legend. Sometimes it is burial shrouds,
- others it is the bloodstained
clothing of those who will soon die. This particular version of
the
- Bean Sidhe is Scottish in origin and
unlike the Irish version, she is extremely ugly, sometimes
- described as having a single nostril,
one large buck tooth, webbed feet and extremely long
- breasts, which she must throw over
her shoulders to prevent them getting in the way of her
- washing . Her long stringy hair is
partially covered with a hood and a white gown or shroud is
- her main wardrobe. The skin of the
Beansidhe is often wet and slimy as if she had just been
- pulled from a moss covered lake.
They are rumored to be the ghosts of women who died in
- childbirth and will continue to wash
until the day they should have died. The keening music of
- Irish wakes, called caoine, is said
to have been derived from the wails of the Beansidhe.
from: http://www.thefae.freeservers.com/waterfaeries.html
Where did the name "faerie" come from?
- It is a little ambiguous as to where
it came from. "Faerie"
- seems to be derived from the Latin
fatum or fate. Fate is
- referring to the goddesses (the
Fatae) who ruled over or
- controlled human affairs. There is
also a strong connection
- with the word fatare, meaning
"to enchant." Thirdly, there is a
- link with the Fatuae, a species of
nymphs known in Latin
- mythology as "a race of
immortal damsels." They were said
- to haunt places inaccessible to
humans.(1) In France, "feer"
- referred to the faeries' ability to
alter the world that humans
- saw. From "feer" came not
only "fee" but the English word
- "faerie," which
encompassed both the art of enchantment and
- the whole realm in which faeries had
their being. "Fairy" and
- "fay" are derivatives of
the parent word.
from: http://magickalworlds.com/f_basics.html
Shee or Fairies and their Dwellings
The pagan Irish worshipped the side [shee],
i.e. the earth-gods, or fairies, or elves. These side are closely
mixed up with the mythical race called Dedannans, to whom the great
majority of the fairy gods belonged. According to our bardic
chroniclers the Dedannans were the fourth of the prehistoric colonies
that arrived in Ireland many centuries before the Christian era. They
were great magicians, and were highly skilled in science and
metal-working. After inhabiting Ireland for about two hundred years,
they were conquered by the people ofthe fifth and last colony - the
Milesians. They then arranged that the several chiefs, with their
followers, were totake up their residence in the pleasant hills all
over the country - the side [shee] or elf-mounds - where they could
live free from observation or molestation; and Bodb Derg [Bove Derg]
was chosen as their king. Deep underground in these abodes they built
themselves glorious palaces, all ablaze with light, and glittering
with gems and gold. Sometimes their fairy palaces were situated under
wells or lakes, or under the sea.
From what has been said it will be
observed that the word side is applied to the fairies themselves as
well as to their abodes. And shee, as meaning a fairy, is perfectly
understood still. When you see a little whirl of dust moving along the
road on a fine calm day, that is called shee-geeha, ' wind-fairies,'
travelling from one lis orelf-mound to another.
The ideas prevalent in the ninth, tenth,
and eleventh centuries, as to what the people's beliefs were,
regarding the fairies before the time of St. Patrick, are well set
forth in the concluding paragraph of the tale of "The Sick Bed of
Cuculainn" in the Book of the Dun Cow. :- "For the demoniac
power was great before the faith: and such was its greatness that the
demons used to tempt the people, and they used to show them delights
and secrets, and how they might become immortal. And it was to these
phantoms the ignorant used to apply the name side."
Numbers of fairy hills and sepulchral
cairns are scattered over the country, each with a bright palace deep
underneath, ruled by its own chief, the tutelary deity. They are still
regarded as fairy haunts, and are held in much superstitious awe by
the peasantry.
The fairies possessed great
preternatural powers. They could make themselves invisible to some
persons standing by, while visible to others: as Pallas showed herself
to Achilles, while remaining invisible to the other Greeks (Iliad,
r.). But their powers were exercised much oftener for evil than for
good. They were consequently dreaded rather than loved; and whatever
worship or respect was paid to them was mainly intended to avert
mischief. It is in this sense that they are now often called 'Good
people.'
They could wither up the crops over a
whole district, or strike cattle with disease. To this day the
peasantry have a lurking belief that cattle and human beings who
interfere with the haunted old lisses or forts, are often fairy-struck,
which brings on paralysis or other dangerous illness, or death.from: http://www.alia.ie/tirnanog/sochis/vb.html
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© En21L (Dt)
Gymnasium Ulricianum Aurich - Stand:20-06-2000
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