The Banshee is another member of the fairy family. Banshee or 'Bean-sidhe' is Irish for fairy woman - ban (bean), meaning a woman, and shee (sidhe), meaning fairy.
The Banshee is not exclusive to Irish mythology. In Scotland, she is known as ban-sìth, bean-shìth, or bean sìth, but in both countries sheperforms the same role - to foretell the impending death of a person by her eerie cries and wailing. In Scotland though, I believe, she is more often seen at the edge of a stream or river washing the clothes of one who is about to die.
It is said that a banshee guards each Milesian Irish family (those with most ancient Celtic lineages), so keep your ears open if your name starts with O’ or Mac/Mc, or if your name is Kavanagh. There is, we are told, a banshee for each branch of these families, and she can follow the descendants to America, Australia, or to anywhere on the globe- she never leaves her family. Despite her somberness, a banshee's attentions to a family were thought to be a mark of high station, especially in Ireland, and several hundred families boasted their own banshee. Unless you had one in the family, you could not claim to be truly Irish.
The banshee, depending on where you live, is variously described as a beautiful young woman, weeping for the coming death of a loved one, or she may be a gruesome hag foretelling it. All agree on one distinctive feature - her fiery red eyes, said to be so from centuries of crying.
The beautiful banshee is more common in Ireland and the ugly more common in Scotland. Both the beautiful and the ugly figures often wear white; in some areas, she wears a white gown with red shoes. She may also wear a grey cloak over a green dress. The beautiful banshee has long hair which she strokes with a gold or silver comb.
Countless people claim to have seen and heard one. One witness has described 'a tall, thin young woman with uncovered head and long hair that floated round her shoulders, dressed in something like a loose, white cloak or a sheet thrown around her, and uttering piercing cries'. Another claimed to have seen a banshee sitting on a stile, a small woman, with long light hair and wearing a cloak.
Mercifully, she will never be heard or seen by the person whose death she has come to foretell - although I’m not sure if that is such a good thing. If everyone around you is seeing and hearing her, and you’re not, well, draw your own conclusions.
The wail of the banshee is most often compared with the keening of Irish mourners, and thus she is often known in Gaelic as an bhean chaointe, ‘the keening woman’. Less flattering commentators have compared her sound to that of a dog baying at the moon.
The banshee is most often a solitary person, although an assembly might wail at the passing of an especially noble or holy person.
On a lighter note, Scottish legends tell us that any man bold enough to creep up behind the banshee and grab her breast will be granted a wish.
It is not known if any man has ever succeeded.
