Monday, December 21, 2009

Day XXI - Banshee

Ominous wailing,
Female spirit foretells doom,
Irih mourning call.



A sign of death in Irish mythology and folklore, the Banshee is a female spirit that wails or cries to warn of tragedy to come. Celtic tradition has the weeping ghostly woman - either beautiful or an ugly hag depending on the tale - giving ill omens and portents to noble families through the form of melancholy singing or sad low-howling. Should a human see the spirit of misfortune or hear her caterwauling outside their house, they know that the end is nigh. The mortality forecaster for noble Celtic families is said to live in fairy-mounds and may also be able to take on animal-form and appear as a weasel or crow. Regardless, the sorrowful sound of the Banshee is bad news.

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