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Banshees
A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is connected to the mythologically important tumuli or "mounds" that dot the Irish countryside, which are known as (singular ) in Old Irish. Dictionary of the Irish Language: síd, síth': "a fairy hill or mound" and ben' Description Sometimes she has long streaming hair and wears a grey cloak over a green dress, and her eyes are red from continual weeping.Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 14–16. . She may be dressed in white with red hair and a ghastly complexion, according to a firsthand account by Ann, Lady Fanshawe in her ''Memoirs''. Lady Wilde in ''Ancient Legends of Ireland'' provides another: The size of the banshee is another physical feature that differs between regional accounts. Tho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banshee
A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is connected to the mythologically important tumuli or "mounds" that dot the Irish countryside, which are known as (singular ) in Old Irish.Dictionary of the Irish Language: síd, síth': "a fairy hill or mound" and ben' Description Sometimes she has long streaming hair and wears a grey cloak over a green dress, and her eyes are red from continual weeping.Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 14–16. . She may be dressed in white with red hair and a ghastly complexion, according to a firsthand account by Ann, Lady Fanshawe in her ''Memoirs''. Lady Wilde in ''Ancient Legends of Ireland'' provides another: The size of the banshee is another physical feature that differs between regional accounts. Thoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keening
Keening (Irish: Caointeoireacht) is a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic Celtic tradition, known to have taken place in Ireland and Scotland. Keening, which can be seen as a form of sean-nós singing, was performed in the Irish and Scottish Gaelic languages (the Scottish equivalent of keening is known as a coronach). Keening was once an integral part of the formal Irish funeral ritual, but declined from the 18th century and became almost completely extinct by the middle of the 20th century. Only a handful of authentic keening songs were recorded from traditional singers. Etymology "Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish and Scottish Gaelic term ("to cry, to weep"), as well as ("gentleness, pleasantness, beauty"), and references to it from the 7th, 8th, and 12th centuries are extensive. Probably at the origin of "couiner" in French. Melody and text The tune and lyrics rely on the repetition of a couple of basic motifs which can be variably e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Folklore
Irish folklore ( ga, béaloideas) refers to the folktales, balladry, music, dance, and so forth, ultimately, all of folk culture. Irish folklore, when mentioned to many people, conjures up images of banshees, fairies, leprechauns and people gathering around, sharing stories. Many tales and legends were passed from generation to generation, so were the dances and song in the observing of important occasions such as weddings, wakes, birthdays and holidays or, handcraft traditions. All of the above can be considered as a part of folklore, as it is the study and appreciation of how people lived. Definition What constitutes Irish folklore may be rather fuzzy to those unfamiliar with Irish literature. Diarmuid Ó Giolláin, for one, declared that folklore was elusive to define clearly. Bo Almqvist (c. 1977) gave an all-encompassing definition that folklore covered "the totality of folk culture, spiritual and material", and included anything mentioned in Seán Ó Súilleabháin's ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyhyraeth
The cyhyraeth () is a ghostly spirit in Welsh mythology, a disembodied moaning voice that sounds before a person's death. Legends associate the cyhyraeth with the area around the River Tywi in eastern Dyfed, as well as the coast of Glamorganshire. The noise is said to be "doleful and disagreeable", like the groans and sighs of someone deathly ill, and to sound three times (growing weaker and fainter each time) as a threefold warning before the person expires. Along the Glamorganshire coast, the cyhyraeth is said to be heard before a shipwreck, accompanied by a corpse-light. Like the Irish banshee and the Scottish Cailleach, to which the cyhyraeth and the Gwrach y Rhibyn are closely related, the cyhyraeth also sounds for Welsh natives dying far from home. Etymology The etymology of the term is unclear. The first element could be from Welsh ''cyhyr'' "muscle", "tendon", "flesh", but this is uncertain. An alternative possibility is that ''cyhyr'' is from ''cyoer'', from ''oer'' "co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bean Nighe
The (Scottish Gaelic for 'washerwoman' or 'laundress'; ) is a female spirit in Scottish folklore, regarded as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. She is a type of ( ga, bean sídhe, anglicized as "banshee") that haunts desolate streams and washes the clothing of those about to die. is the French word under which these "night washerwomen" are perhaps best known. She is also called , 'the little washer', , 'little washer of the ford', or , 'little washer of the sorrow'. Legends The , also known as the Washing Woman or Washer at the Ford, is seen in lonely places beside a stream or pool, washing the blood from the linen and grave-clothes of those who are about to die. Her characteristics vary depending on the locality, and differing traditions ascribe to her the powers of imparting knowledge or the granting of wishes if she is approached with caution. It is said that (the plural of ) are the spirits of women who died giving birth and are doomed to perform thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh
''Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh'', or ''Triumphs of Torlough'' in English, is a historical account written in the 14th century in Irish by Seán mac Ruaidhrí Mac Craith, the chief historian to the Uí Bhriain dynasty.Moore, Norman. It depicts the wars between the Irish Uí Bhriain and the English de Clares for control of the Thomond region of Ireland, drawing from contemporary sources for details. Though it has been praised for its accuracy and historical value, it is not a strictly scholarly work: it incorporates verse as well as prose, and includes fantastical elements such as the banshee in the historical events it describes.Westropp, Thomas. "Normans" Content Historical material ''Cathreim'' is written mostly in prose, describing the wars between the Irish and the English in Thomond , now mainly County Clare. The time period spanned by this work stretches from 1194 to 1318. Specific, highly significant events in the work are portrayed in verse. It is split into two volumes: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
More Irish Than The Irish Themselves
"More Irish than the Irish themselves" ( ga, Níos Gaelaí ná na Gaeil féin, la, Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis) is a phrase used in Irish historiography to describe a phenomenon of cultural assimilation in late medieval Norman Ireland. History The descendants of Anglo-Norman lords who had settled in Ireland in the 12th century had been significantly Gaelicised by the end of the Middle Ages, forming septs and clans after the indigenous Gaelic pattern, and became known as the Gall or "Old English" (contrasting with the "New English" arriving with the Tudor conquest of Ireland). The Statutes of Kilkenny, 1366, complained that " ... now many English of the said land, forsaking the English language, manners, mode of riding, laws and usages, live and govern themselves according to the manners, fashion, and language of the Irish enemies". In 1596 the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–13 January 1599) whilst employed as part of the English administration in Ireland, paraphras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elias Owen (Welsh Cleric)
Rev. Elias Owen MA, F.S.A. (2 December 1833 – 19 May 1899) was a Welsh cleric and antiquarian whose works include ''The Old Stone Crosses of the Vale of Clwyd'', 1886 and ''Welsh Folk-Lore'', 1896. Family Owen was born in Montgomeryshire, probably in the village of Llandysilio, the third child and eldest son of James Owen (ca.1806–1886) and Susannah Morgan (1805–1868). His father was a farmer and one of the first 12 constables in the Montgomeryshire Constabulary. James Owen was the father of at least 15 children, nine by his first wife, Susannah, and five by his second wife, Mary Morris (ca.1848–ca.1921). Elias Owen married Margaret Pierce (1839–fl.1901) on 2 August 1858 at St. David's Church, the Welsh chapel in Brownlow Hill, Liverpool; she was the daughter of Eleanor and William Pierce, a quarryman. They had 13 children: * Edwin James Owen (1859–1928), who became the vicar at Brithdir, near Dolgelly, Merionethshire. * William Pierce Owen (1860–1937), who play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leinster
Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanc ..., the historic provinces of Ireland, "fifths" of Leinster and Meath gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled both, thereby forming the present-day province of Leinster. The ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties of Ireland#2.1 Pre-Norman sub-divisions, counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has prompted further sub-division of the historic counties. Leinster has no official funct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aibell
In Irish legend Aibell (sometimes Aoibheall (modern Irish spelling), also anglicised as Aeval) was the guardian spirit of the Dál gCais, the Dalcassians or Ó Bríen clan. She was the ruler of a ''sídhe'' in north Munster, and her dwelling place was Craig Liath, the grey rock, a hill overlooking the Shannon about two miles north of Killaloe. Aibell also had a lover (called Dubhlainn Ua Artigan) and a magic harp (of which it was said " oever heard its music did not live long afterwards").Matson, Gienna: ''Celtic Mythology A to Z'', page 1. Chelsea House, 2004. Name The name Aoibhell may come from Gaelic ''aoibh'', meaning "beauty" (or ''aoibhinn'' "beautiful"). Alternatively, as a theonym it could be derived from Proto-Celtic *''Oibel-ā'', literally "burning fire", which may have been a byword for the notion of "ardour"; the Romano-British equivalent of this Proto-Celtic theonym is likely to have been *''Oebla''. A variant name for the character is Áebinn.James MacKillop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Francia, West Franks and Gallo-Roman culture, Gallo-Romans. The term is also used to denote emigrants from the duchy who conquered other territories such as England and Sicily. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. These settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian Viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia following the Siege of Chartres (911), siege of Chartres in 911. The intermingling in Normandy produced an Ethnic group, ethnic and cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seán Mac Ruaidhri Mac Craith
Seán mac Ruaidhri Mac Craith ( fl. 14th-century) was an Irish historian known as the author of ''Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh''. Biography The Meic Craith of Thomond were a learned family who had close ties to Clare Abbey, an Augustinian foundation. They were historians and poets attached to the Uí Bhriain kings and earls of Thomond. Another family of the name, not known to be related, were natives of Termon McGrath, Lough Erne. Magrath's ''Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh'' is an account of the wars fought between two branches of the Uí Bhriain kings in the 13th and 14th century, ending with their successful defeat of the Anglo-Normans at the Battle of Dysert O'Dea in 1318, which kept Thomond free of English influence for over two hundred years. It is also notable for one of the earliest references to the Banshee in Irish literature. Modern editions of the ''Caithréim'' are based on two surviving sources - Royal Irish Academy Ms 23 Q 16, a large fragment on vellum written in 15 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
