Explaining The Banshee, Ireland 1986

we have as our next guest a lady who's going to talk to us about the banshee I checked before we came on the air to find out were there any people in our audience who had actually ever heard a banshee and to my amazement several of them said they did now you've all heard phrases like whinging like a banshee and the wind was howling like a banshee and you've all heard about the image of the woman sitting on the Rock combing her long hair and all of that sort of thing and I have always believed that it's a load of all rubbish myself I don't believe in any of these things but then you know that if you've seen the late show and read the radio program down Through The Years anyway our next guest is an expert on these things she's a lecturer in the folklore department at UCD and her recently published book was based on a thesis about the very subject of the Banshee the Irish death messenger it's known as would you welcome please Dr Patricia licet there she is now now I want to tell you in passing that Patricia is also a barrister and she's also has two all- Island medals because she's a clear woman but she was captain of the Dublin camogie team believe it or not one two all-ired medals and she was first in Ireland in her law exams and she studied the Irish language and Irish folklore and then she that's how she became interested in it real brainy woman she is real brainy woman the Banshee the Irish Supernatural death messenger what what is what is it Patricia what is it well the Banshee is an omen of death and she's supposed to cry it's supposed to be a woman who's supposed to cry for certain families in Ireland what families well they're very special families and not any old family she cries for sort of thing you know there are families who were supposed to be Irish they're the anglo-norman families the burns for example she's supposed to cry for the burns you know she's manager we're on the list and what other families does she cry well she cries The Murphys the Kelly's you name it sort of thing so the whole thing is if you hear the Banshee crying it's it's an omen of death yes in certain families and who hears her well the members of the family themselves can hear her but more often it's the neighbors who hear her it's something that's heard in the community it's the people sort of for who know that somebody is dying in certain house in the in the community and uh they're listening out for the Banshee of course because I know that this particular family is supposed to be followed by the banshee and it's mostly The Neighbors in fact who hear the banshee and what's sort of a sound from your research does she make well it's a very it's a very lonesome sound as one cork woman said I never heard anything so lonesome before it's a long Lonesome cry it's a benign sort of sound you know it's a sound of somebody who's interested in the family who's sort of sorry that somebody in the family is going to die one of the family sort of thing you know and then she only heard in Ireland Patricia type of deathmaster as well in Scotland now for example which of course you'd expect in Gaelic Scotland and she's the woman who washes at streams and rivers washes clothes and you find this to a certain extent in Ireland as well particularly in in Galway actually it's a very rich tradition in Galway and the tradition differs in different parts of Ireland you know it's not all the same all over Ireland you know in with the banshee and she's not even call the Banshee all over Ireland either for example if you live down in Wexford now you'd know that she was called a bow down in Wexford and in Carlow and parts of Wicklow yeah if you live in Waterford you talk about the vibe if you lived in Kilkenny you'd probably talk about the bohinta uh in mid temporary and parts of Limerick you talk about the van Crete which describes what she does she cries basically and a North Mayo as well she's called benjinta so we're not all the same that's the keys now has she ever seen well she is she's people say that I've seen her you know and uh mind you in Cork and carry that they don't see her at all down there from what I can make out from my research you know so they're different down in County but we always knew the wear anyhow but certainly in the badshi tradition they're very different and because of the fact that she's not supposed to be seen down there there are very few descriptions what she looks like but in the rest of Ireland yes she can she can be seen and she's supposed to be a small woman that's the general description there are variation she's a small woman with long hair generally white or gray hair an old woman a small woman dressed in an outdoor garment which is generally a cloak and you don't see her feet sort of thing and she's sort of crying their way to herself you know and in the eastern part of Ireland East monster and Leinster in particular she's combing her hair and she's supposed to have a comb and she's combing her hair and this is a very very rich tradition it's very different actually that's a hardly enough let me interrupt you getting out of the car yesterday in a car park beside another car something funny about this is very serious I saw on the ground a comb now the odd thing is the odd thing is that I would never dream of picking up that coal and that must be from my childhood because I remembered and I knew you were coming out tonight and I remembered why don't I pick that coma what is this thing about not picking up a comb ever is that part of autism Deeds you know and there's a com there's a legend called the comb Legend this is something that's grown out of the man tradition in areas where she Combs her hair and people I've talked to in in Dublin would say you know we were always told as children don't pick up a comb that's the band she's called right particularly for the broken tooth in it yes because she was supposed to have very long hair she was always combing it so she broke the teeth from the core Museum and it was a way to stop children actually picking up Combs they might find on the street because people have said it to me later the other evening you know we were always told that don't pick up a call that's right and it's applied all over Dublin so there was a kind of a practical side to it very practical side to it in that sense and in other senses as well you know because and and do people now do you find from your work do people still believe in the Banshee as much as they did well they still believe in it I don't think as much as they did because I think tradition many Traditions are are dying out for very many reasons you know but certainly there there is belief in the banshee and it's very hard to quantify it's very hard to measure it because you have actually to be in a debt situation you see before you can actually get people to admit that they believe in it very much well Kathleen or or what's your name did you say you saw the Banshee no I didn't say I said my mother did she swore it on on kick him Lord no inch core an inch core and she did yeah she did and it was the host that she was supposed to be sitting on you know on the on the led the window LED was O'Neill you know I always understood that she followed the O's not the matches yeah as I say by Owen Mac um your mother say she looked like she said she was a small little woman in black with long white hair and she was call me and she was moaning and groaning or whatever it is and was your mother sober at the time but doesn't couldn't tell you enough um well there would have been a doubt it would have been a dose but the Mammy now that was different you know so so I mean an inchicore is not it's renowned for many things as well I know but not for Banshees yes it is known for many things yes who's the other lady said she saw that video yeah where did you see the band I didn't see her okay I heard her oh I heard her when I was 17. well and I she was crying at the top of the driveway to the house where we lived and where was that in Malahide that's extraordinary I was still in the urban area yeah yeah and it was the most terrifying sound I ever heard I never heard anything like it before and I never hoped hear anything like it again it was just terrible I heard it and I felt it it was it's hot no no it wasn't an animal I I no animal could make the sound it made it was absolutely terrible is that the phrase you hear again and again it is no animal or human could keep crying for such a length of time as this particular cry went on for and the fact that it you could sort of compare it to something but you know any tradition people always say it wasn't that because it made the hair stand on my head I got shivery there was something unnatural about it does anybody believe in this thing I I find it very hard line three hello line three good evening hello line three no hello line three yes okay hi um my mother was actually a burn call upon and I'm a Kelly are you there I am indeed I can hear you yes yeah my mother told us that went to a girl she saw the Banshee in filmingham she it described her a little old gray-haired woman combing her hair now my mother died last January 's men and a few days before before she died I was dreaming that in her house looking out the window saw the the in the garden call me her hair and I would like to know yeah I have no doubt about this is there any significance in the dream of the reality well certainly I mean the the it fits the tradition with regard to the small woman sitting down and combing her hair mind you I haven't come across the fact that somebody dreamed about her before you know yeah but uh certainly it's very much in keeping with the tradition particularly in the East violent and you never approach her at night do you seriously you do you still clear and what is the basis of that now well it's the best you you let me you let her alone and she let you alone as the saying goes and now is look never followed anyone that interfere with the Banshee yes but they're not picking up the coma has a had a hygienic connotation to it what would that kind of change well the connotation is that generally speaking in Tradition in belief systems that uh this the other world is left alone if you leave the other world alone it will leave you alone you don't interfere with supernatural beings if if you're watching this program on your own somewhere in a dark house we hope you're enjoying yourself very much

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Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 03 2023