Friday Funday: The Banshee
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Random
blog day boo yah. As you should know Fridays is random blog day were
we talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's
blog is on The Banshee.
In
Ireland and parts of Scotland, a traditional part of mourning is the
Keening woman (bean
chaointe),
who wails a lament – in Irish: Caoineadh,
Irish pronunciation: (Munster dialect),(Connaught dialect) or (Ulster
dialect), caoin meaning "to weep, to wail". This keening
woman may in some cases be a professional, and the best keeners would
be in high demand.
Irish
legend speaks of a lament being sung by a fairy woman, or banshee.
She would sing it when a family member died or was about to die, even
if the person had died far away and news of their death had not yet
come. In those cases, her wailing would be the first warning the
household had of the death.
The
banshee also is a predictor of death. If someone is about to enter a
situation where it is unlikely they will come out alive she will warn
people by screaming or wailing, giving rise to a banshee also being
known as a wailing woman.
It
is often stated that the banshee laments only the descendants of the
pure Milesian stock of Ireland,
sometimes
clarified as surnames prefixed with O' and Mac,
and
some accounts even state that each family has its own banshee. One
account, however, also included the Geraldines, as they had
apparently become “More Irish than the Irish themselves”
countering
the lore ascribing banshees exclusively to those of Milesian stock.
When
several banshees appear at once, it indicates the death of someone
great or holy.
The
tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was
a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a mother who died in
childbirth.
- Banshee wiki
The Banshee is widely
well known and is usually tied to Ireland. However there are some
stories that are linked to the story of the Banshee like The Lady of
Bradley woods.
The
story is known to have been told for many generations. It was once
used by parents to frighten children; this appears to have been a
common practice among parents in the area, and children were warned
that if they were not safely in bed by a certain time "the black
lady will get you!".
One
theory that has been put forward is that the Black Lady is the ghost
of a nun. She appears dressed in black and at nearby Nunsthorpe (now
an area of Grimsby) where a convent existed until the Reformation.
This theory gives no reason as to why the Black Lady should have
moved from Nunsthorpe to Bradley, 2 miles (3.2km) away. Also, though
she may be dressed in black, few if any eyewitnesses have described
her appearance as matching that of a nun.
Another
possible explanation is that she is a Spinster who at one time lived
a life of isolation in her cottage in the woods far enough away from
the village. If village children had come across a woman living on
her own in the woods, who became angry when her privacy and solitude
was breached, then imaginary tales of witchcraft could have
exaggerated the legend.
Neither
of these theories ties in with the Folklore.
During
the wars of the roses or alternatively the Baron's Wars, a young
woodsman and his wife lived with their baby son in a cottage in
Bradley Woods. Eventually the woodsman left his family to fight,
leaving his wife to bring up the baby alone. After many months there
was no news of the woodsman. Every day she would take her child and
walk to the edge of the woods, awaiting the sight of her husband
coming home from the wars, until one day the enemy army crossed the
Humber and marched through the area on the way to attack Lincoln. As
she was leaving her cottage, the woman was set upon by three horsemen
who brutally raped her before snatching the baby boy and riding off
laughing into the woods. Heartbroken and humiliated, she wandered the
woods searching in vain for her child and husband.
After
her death people began to see her wandering the woods, carrying on
her never ending search.
It
is rumoured that if someone ventures into the woods on Christmas Eve
and shouts the words "Black Lady, Black Lady, I've stolen your
baby!" three times the Lady appears to them to take back her
child. This appears to be a modern addition to the myth.
- Lady of Bradley woods wiki
Whilst the
lady of Bradley woods could be a type of Banshee, other factors can
have the story be told other ways and tied to other things. Another
Banshee type story is the Mexican legend of La Llorona.
According
to the legend, in a rural village there lived a young woman named
María. She came from a poor family but was known around her village
for her beauty. One day, an extremely wealthy nobleman travelled
through her village. He stopped in his tracks when he saw María.
María was charmed by him and he was taken by her beauty, so when he
proposed to her, she immediately accepted. Eventually, the two
married, and María gave birth to two sons. Her husband was always
travelling and he stopped spending time with his family. When he came
home, he only paid attention to the children and as time passed María
could tell that her husband was falling out of love with her because
she was getting old. One day he returned to the village with a
younger woman, and bid his children farewell, ignoring María.
María,
angry and hurt, took her children to a river and drowned them in a
blind rage. She realized what she had done and searched for them, but
the river had already carried them away. Days later, her husband came
back and asked about the children, but Maria started weeping and said
that she had drowned them. Her husband was furious and said that she
could not be with him unless she found their children.
Now
she spends eternity looking for her lost children. She is always
heard weeping for her children, earning her the name "La
Llorona".
It
is said that if you hear her crying, you are to run the opposite way.
If you hear her cries, they could bring misfortune or even death.
Many parents in Latin America use this story to scare their children
from staying out too late.
La
Llorona kidnaps wandering children at night, mistaking them for her
own. She begs the heavens for forgiveness, and drowns the children
she kidnaps.
People
who claim to have seen her say she appears at night or in the late
evening by rivers or lakes, wearing a white gown with a veil.
Some
believe those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death
or misfortune, similar to the Gaelic Banshee legend.
Among
her wails, she is noted as crying "¡Ay, mis hijos!" which
translates to "Oh, my children!" or "Oh, my sons!"
It is also said she cries out "¿Donde estan mis hijos?"
which translates into "Where are my sons?" She scrapes the
bottom of the rivers and lakes, searching for her sons. It is said
that when her wails sound near she is actually far and when she
sounds distant, she is actually very near.
- La Llorona wiki
Apart from the Banshee
of Ireland La Llorona is the most famous shrieking woman in the
world. There are many references in TV shows and movies the most
recent movie showing La Llorona is 2019's the Curse of La Llorona.
THE
WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
And there
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THIS IS
THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY,
STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
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