Irish Thought for December 14...

Irish Folklore

The Banshee

This female fairy or spirit is often considered to be a harbinger of death or a messenger from the Otherworld.  Her loud, sharp wailing is meant as a lament for the foretold death of a member of certain families in Ireland, those with most ancient lineages.  Her cries are also called keening, which comes from the Gaelic, caoineadh, meaning lament, and they are most often heard at night near the woods.  Although seen rarely, a banshee sometimes appears as a withered hag and sometimes as a woman of spectacular beauty.  There is no harm in seeing her...unless she is spotted in the act of keening, which is a certain sigh of a mortal's impending death.  Banshees are said to have followed the true Irish wherever they have settled on Earth.