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The Banshee Mourns For You.
Originally in Irish literature, banshee actually means "woman of fairy mound" or just simply as "fairy woman". Ban or bean meaning "woman". The various spelling or pronounciation of the word for fairy mound referred to the Otherworldly realm, which the Irish referred to as shee, sid, sidh or sidhe.
The word banshee may have originated from East Munster, and there are many ways it can be spelt. In Irish Gaelic it could be spelt as banshie, bean sidhe and ben side. The Scottish words are ban-sith, bean-shith and bean sith. The Manx form is ben shee.
It was only in later Irish and Scottish Gaelic folklore traditions that banshee came to mean a female wraith or spirit, whose keening presages the death of person's in the household. This banshee was tied to a person or family, sort of like an attendant fairy.
She only foretells the pending death of a person. Unlike the Breton fairy woman korrigan, the banshee doesn't cause a person's death with her power or curse. Related to the banshee is the Washer or Washer-woman at the Ford, known in Scottish folklore as bean sighe.
According to the Irish poet Yeats, banshee was sometimes accompanied by the Dullahan, a headless fairy coachman. It is also sometimes believed that on these occasion, the banshee is also headless. It has been reported in 1807 that one headless banshee had frightened to death two sentries stationed at James' Park.
The banshee was sometimes seen as a young, fair woman, especially in Irish texts, while other sources from Scottish tradition described her as an old hag. Her description varied. What is common in both traditions was that banshee had long, unbound hair, and dressed in white, though, sometimes she was seen dressed in a grey cloak over a green dress. Another common tradition is that she can be heard weeping or wailing, that sounds like the keening of mourners. And because of continuous weeping, her eyes were red in colour.
Info obtained here: www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html
Part of my Faerie series.
:)
The main figure is intended to be the Banshee, and the girl is supposed to be floating down the river Styx (The river that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead)
Stock used:
Models: faestock.deviantart.com/art/Lace8-86869202
elithastock.deviantart.com/art/Ophelia-5-91764924
Background: cybrea-stock.deviantart.com/art/Life-is-but-a-dream-stock...
Bird brush: midnightstouch.deviantart.com/art/Birds-of-A-Feather-4276...
Wings brush: c4ligo.deviantart.com/art/Angel-Wing-Brush-Set-Nr-1-12938262
Texture: mourningstocks.deviantart.com/art/Old-Paper-1-22865437
The Banshee Mourns For You.
Originally in Irish literature, banshee actually means "woman of fairy mound" or just simply as "fairy woman". Ban or bean meaning "woman". The various spelling or pronounciation of the word for fairy mound referred to the Otherworldly realm, which the Irish referred to as shee, sid, sidh or sidhe.
The word banshee may have originated from East Munster, and there are many ways it can be spelt. In Irish Gaelic it could be spelt as banshie, bean sidhe and ben side. The Scottish words are ban-sith, bean-shith and bean sith. The Manx form is ben shee.
It was only in later Irish and Scottish Gaelic folklore traditions that banshee came to mean a female wraith or spirit, whose keening presages the death of person's in the household. This banshee was tied to a person or family, sort of like an attendant fairy.
She only foretells the pending death of a person. Unlike the Breton fairy woman korrigan, the banshee doesn't cause a person's death with her power or curse. Related to the banshee is the Washer or Washer-woman at the Ford, known in Scottish folklore as bean sighe.
According to the Irish poet Yeats, banshee was sometimes accompanied by the Dullahan, a headless fairy coachman. It is also sometimes believed that on these occasion, the banshee is also headless. It has been reported in 1807 that one headless banshee had frightened to death two sentries stationed at James' Park.
The banshee was sometimes seen as a young, fair woman, especially in Irish texts, while other sources from Scottish tradition described her as an old hag. Her description varied. What is common in both traditions was that banshee had long, unbound hair, and dressed in white, though, sometimes she was seen dressed in a grey cloak over a green dress. Another common tradition is that she can be heard weeping or wailing, that sounds like the keening of mourners. And because of continuous weeping, her eyes were red in colour.
Info obtained here: www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html
Part of my Faerie series.
:)
The main figure is intended to be the Banshee, and the girl is supposed to be floating down the river Styx (The river that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead)
Stock used:
Models: faestock.deviantart.com/art/Lace8-86869202
elithastock.deviantart.com/art/Ophelia-5-91764924
Background: cybrea-stock.deviantart.com/art/Life-is-but-a-dream-stock...
Bird brush: midnightstouch.deviantart.com/art/Birds-of-A-Feather-4276...
Wings brush: c4ligo.deviantart.com/art/Angel-Wing-Brush-Set-Nr-1-12938262
Texture: mourningstocks.deviantart.com/art/Old-Paper-1-22865437