Post by Fool Coyote on May 5, 2008 17:51:33 GMT -5
"The Washer at the ford"
A lonely stream there is, afar in a lone dim land:
It hath white dust for shore it has, white bones bestrew the strand:
The only thing that liveth there is a naked leaping sword;
But I, who a seer am, have seen the whirling hand
Of the Washer of the Ford.
A shadowy shape of cloud and mist, of gloom and night, she stands,
The Washer of the Ford:
She laughs, at times, and strews the dust through the hollow of her hands.
She counts the sins of all men there, and slays the red-stained horde--
The ghosts of all the sins of men must know the whirling sword
Of the Washer of the Ford.
We've all heard the stories of the Bean Sidhe, be it of strict Irish Folklore, or our more Americanized version of the lore. Here in the west, our visual of the Irish Bean Sidhe usually derived from the 1958 film Darby O'Gill and the Little People, wherein the bean sidhe is a frightening figure who can steal a person's soul away. This is certainly not the original version of the fairy woman's lore, in fact some folklorists regard her as the forerunner of the Guardian Angel, and a friendly spirit who offers guidance and forewarning to her family. Some people think her to be the ghost of someone who died some tragic and/or brutal death at the hands of a loved one, or family member, and that her song is her curse on his/her descendants. It is not certain whether she is a friend or an enemy to the chosen family to whom her warning is conveyed. Her cry often comes from a spring, river or lake with which her name is connected.
"Then Cuchulain went on his way, and Cathbad that had followed him went with him. And presently they came to a ford, and there they saw a young girl thin and white-skinned and having yellow hair, washing and ever washing, and wringing out clothing that was stained crimson red, and she crying and keening all the time. 'Little Hound,' said Cathbad, 'Do you see what it is that young girl is doing? It is your red clothes she is washing, and crying as she washes, because she knows you are going to your death against Maeve's great army.'"
-"Cuchulain of Muirthemne."
According to the myths and legends surrounding Cu Chulainn, the original washer at the ford would have been An Mor Rioghain according to some Celtic scholars, and still others give the Bean Sidhe's orgin to her counter part Badb, either way, the Bean Sidhe (a.k.a. Banshee) is one of the better know mythical beings of the Insular Celtic regions, especially Ireland and Scotland.
In the lore and myths An Mor Rioghain often appears as a crow according to most translations. A "battle crow" in fact which in Irish Gaelic would be "badb catha". This title is important to An Mor Rioghain's association with the Bean Sidhe - the crow brings death, and carries or leads souls to the realm of the dead, connecting An Mor Rioghain to the Bean Sidhe by the type of crow being depicted by the word "Badh".
According to folklore, the Bean Sidhe predicts the deaths of Milesian Irish family, these are the families whose names start with O’ or Mac, and it is said further still, that there is a "Bean Sidhe" for every branch of these families. The meaning of the Irish term "Bean Sidhe" is "woman of the sídhe" or fairy hill. The bean Sidhe predicts death of someone in her family, she can take many looks, a cloaked woman, crouched beneath the trees, lamenting with veiled face, or flying past in the moonlight, crying bitterly, and the cry of thus spirit is mournful beyond all other sounds on earth, and betokens certain death to some member of the family whenever it is heard in the silence of the night - usually a grey cloak and green dress, though I have also heard of them having different colors such as filmy in a white, hooded gown, sometimes just black - She could be an old crone, or a beautiful woman who dies young with long flowing hair, which was constantly combed during her keening in her "otherworldly" voice. Her eyes are said to be red and swollen from weeping. According to W.B. Yeats, the Bean Sidhe is sometimes accompanied by the Dullahan, a headless fairy coachman. It is also sometimes believed that on these occasions, the bean sidhe is also headless. It has been reported in 1807 that one headless banshee had frightened to death two sentries stationed at James' Park.
I have also heard that in 1938, the Giant's grave in Limerick, Ireland was being excavated, and the bones there in were being moved was the time of one of the largest mass reports of hearing the Bean Sidhe wail. Those who heard the crying throughout central Ireland, said that it sounded as if every Bean sidhe in Ireland was keening. It is said that when many Bean Sidhe gather to Keen, it is the prediction of something big, like the death of a well known and loved religious or political figure. This is some what unusual, but has happened in Ireland many times. Folk lore on The Ban Sidhe states, that when one of the "O' or Mac" families tied to the sons of Mildh immigrate to other countries, their families Bean Sidhe follows them to their new land, whether America, Australia, or where ever else.
A branch of the ancient race of the O'Gradys had settled in Canada, far removed, apparently, from all the associations, traditions, and mysterious influences of the old land of their forefathers. But one night a strange and mournful lamentation was heard outside the house. No word was uttered, only a bitter cry, as of one in deepest agony and sorrow, floated through the air. Inquiry was made, but no one had been seen near the house at the time, though several persons distinctly heard the weird, unearthly cry, and a terror fell upon the household, as if some supernatural influence had overshadowed them.
Next day it so happened that the gentleman and his eldest son went out boating. As they did not return, however, at the usual time for dinner, some alarm was excited, and messengers were sent down to the shore to look for them. But no tidings came until, precisely at the exact hour of the night when the spirit-cry had been heard the previous evening, a crowd of men were seen approaching the house, bearing with them the dead bodies of the father and the son, who had both been drowned by the accidental upsetting of the boat, within sight of land, but not near enough for any help to reach them in time. Thus the Ban-Sidhe had fulfilled her mission of doom, after which she disappeared, 'and the cry of the spirit of death was heard no more.
She is usually found alone, near the home of the soon to be deceased in deep melancholy. As the Leanan Sidhe was the acknowledged spirit of life, giving inspiration to the poet and the musician, so the Bean Sidhe was the spirit of death, the most weird and awful of all the faery powers.
www.clannada.org/gods_morrigan.php
www.fionabroome.com/celtic-magic/irish-banshee.htm
www.maryjones.us/jce/beansidhe.html
www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/ali/ali072.htm
www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html#Banshee
A lonely stream there is, afar in a lone dim land:
It hath white dust for shore it has, white bones bestrew the strand:
The only thing that liveth there is a naked leaping sword;
But I, who a seer am, have seen the whirling hand
Of the Washer of the Ford.
A shadowy shape of cloud and mist, of gloom and night, she stands,
The Washer of the Ford:
She laughs, at times, and strews the dust through the hollow of her hands.
She counts the sins of all men there, and slays the red-stained horde--
The ghosts of all the sins of men must know the whirling sword
Of the Washer of the Ford.
We've all heard the stories of the Bean Sidhe, be it of strict Irish Folklore, or our more Americanized version of the lore. Here in the west, our visual of the Irish Bean Sidhe usually derived from the 1958 film Darby O'Gill and the Little People, wherein the bean sidhe is a frightening figure who can steal a person's soul away. This is certainly not the original version of the fairy woman's lore, in fact some folklorists regard her as the forerunner of the Guardian Angel, and a friendly spirit who offers guidance and forewarning to her family. Some people think her to be the ghost of someone who died some tragic and/or brutal death at the hands of a loved one, or family member, and that her song is her curse on his/her descendants. It is not certain whether she is a friend or an enemy to the chosen family to whom her warning is conveyed. Her cry often comes from a spring, river or lake with which her name is connected.
"Then Cuchulain went on his way, and Cathbad that had followed him went with him. And presently they came to a ford, and there they saw a young girl thin and white-skinned and having yellow hair, washing and ever washing, and wringing out clothing that was stained crimson red, and she crying and keening all the time. 'Little Hound,' said Cathbad, 'Do you see what it is that young girl is doing? It is your red clothes she is washing, and crying as she washes, because she knows you are going to your death against Maeve's great army.'"
-"Cuchulain of Muirthemne."
According to the myths and legends surrounding Cu Chulainn, the original washer at the ford would have been An Mor Rioghain according to some Celtic scholars, and still others give the Bean Sidhe's orgin to her counter part Badb, either way, the Bean Sidhe (a.k.a. Banshee) is one of the better know mythical beings of the Insular Celtic regions, especially Ireland and Scotland.
In the lore and myths An Mor Rioghain often appears as a crow according to most translations. A "battle crow" in fact which in Irish Gaelic would be "badb catha". This title is important to An Mor Rioghain's association with the Bean Sidhe - the crow brings death, and carries or leads souls to the realm of the dead, connecting An Mor Rioghain to the Bean Sidhe by the type of crow being depicted by the word "Badh".
According to folklore, the Bean Sidhe predicts the deaths of Milesian Irish family, these are the families whose names start with O’ or Mac, and it is said further still, that there is a "Bean Sidhe" for every branch of these families. The meaning of the Irish term "Bean Sidhe" is "woman of the sídhe" or fairy hill. The bean Sidhe predicts death of someone in her family, she can take many looks, a cloaked woman, crouched beneath the trees, lamenting with veiled face, or flying past in the moonlight, crying bitterly, and the cry of thus spirit is mournful beyond all other sounds on earth, and betokens certain death to some member of the family whenever it is heard in the silence of the night - usually a grey cloak and green dress, though I have also heard of them having different colors such as filmy in a white, hooded gown, sometimes just black - She could be an old crone, or a beautiful woman who dies young with long flowing hair, which was constantly combed during her keening in her "otherworldly" voice. Her eyes are said to be red and swollen from weeping. According to W.B. Yeats, the Bean Sidhe is sometimes accompanied by the Dullahan, a headless fairy coachman. It is also sometimes believed that on these occasions, the bean sidhe is also headless. It has been reported in 1807 that one headless banshee had frightened to death two sentries stationed at James' Park.
I have also heard that in 1938, the Giant's grave in Limerick, Ireland was being excavated, and the bones there in were being moved was the time of one of the largest mass reports of hearing the Bean Sidhe wail. Those who heard the crying throughout central Ireland, said that it sounded as if every Bean sidhe in Ireland was keening. It is said that when many Bean Sidhe gather to Keen, it is the prediction of something big, like the death of a well known and loved religious or political figure. This is some what unusual, but has happened in Ireland many times. Folk lore on The Ban Sidhe states, that when one of the "O' or Mac" families tied to the sons of Mildh immigrate to other countries, their families Bean Sidhe follows them to their new land, whether America, Australia, or where ever else.
A branch of the ancient race of the O'Gradys had settled in Canada, far removed, apparently, from all the associations, traditions, and mysterious influences of the old land of their forefathers. But one night a strange and mournful lamentation was heard outside the house. No word was uttered, only a bitter cry, as of one in deepest agony and sorrow, floated through the air. Inquiry was made, but no one had been seen near the house at the time, though several persons distinctly heard the weird, unearthly cry, and a terror fell upon the household, as if some supernatural influence had overshadowed them.
Next day it so happened that the gentleman and his eldest son went out boating. As they did not return, however, at the usual time for dinner, some alarm was excited, and messengers were sent down to the shore to look for them. But no tidings came until, precisely at the exact hour of the night when the spirit-cry had been heard the previous evening, a crowd of men were seen approaching the house, bearing with them the dead bodies of the father and the son, who had both been drowned by the accidental upsetting of the boat, within sight of land, but not near enough for any help to reach them in time. Thus the Ban-Sidhe had fulfilled her mission of doom, after which she disappeared, 'and the cry of the spirit of death was heard no more.
She is usually found alone, near the home of the soon to be deceased in deep melancholy. As the Leanan Sidhe was the acknowledged spirit of life, giving inspiration to the poet and the musician, so the Bean Sidhe was the spirit of death, the most weird and awful of all the faery powers.
www.clannada.org/gods_morrigan.php
www.fionabroome.com/celtic-magic/irish-banshee.htm
www.maryjones.us/jce/beansidhe.html
www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/ali/ali072.htm
www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html#Banshee
