#irish-folklore — Public Fediverse posts

An Irish tragedy: The fall of Ferdiad at the hands of Cú Chulainn. Two great warriors, foster brothers, who trained together under the tutelage of the legendary warrior Scáthach.

In Scottish Gaelic, it's said that: Is caomh le fear a charaid, ach 's e smior a chridhe a cho-dhalt. ~ Dear is a kinsman, but the pith of the heart is a foster-brother.

#CúChulainn #Scáthach #IrishFolklore #Gàidhlig #Folklore #Ferdiad #MastoDaoine

Every Friday, I meet a member of the British Fantasy Society and peer deep into their soul (or, at least, a form they filled out). And to mark Beltane, we're checking in with the Queen of Dark Folkloric women, Ireland's own Tracy Fahey 🔮

https://britishfantasysociety.org/meet-tracy-fahey/

#horror #gothic #darkfiction #folkore #folkloricfiction #creativity #creativetoots #books #writers #writing #irishwriters #irish #irishfolklore

This is so good. Brings me back to simpler times. You never took the Bean Sí's Comb. Still holds true.

https://mastodon.ie/@North_of_Nowhere/116279261272316857
North_of_Nowhere - #IrelandCulture  #IrishFolklore

The Bean Sí's Comb (Banshee): Why You Should Never Pick One Up

https://roisinmallonart.com/blog/bean-si-comb-banshee-irish-folklore

I am happy to inform you that GNOME Files now properly supports the Dullahan's workflow. With this commit, any dúlachán can now properly peek around, without crashing due to incorrect head removal: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/nautilus/-/commit/cd1b54d03

#IrishFolklore #Nautilus #GNOMEFiles

The banshee in Ireland straddles the realms of ghosts and the fae, often seen as a spirit warning of impending death. Originating from tragic female figures, the banshee embodies both human emotions and supernatural qualities. #banshee #irishfolklore https://connectparanormal.net/2026/01/04/banshees-the-haunting-intersection-of-ghosts-and-fairies/

"Seekers of Wonder" by Elena E. Sottilotta pioneers the comparison of women's roles in Italian & #IrishFolklore & #FairyTales 1870-1920 collected / written by #WomenWriters Laura Gonzenbach, Grazia Deledda, #JaneWilde & #AugustaGregory

#IrishLiterature #IrishStudies #Folklore

Banshees

A banshee (Bean si in Modern Irish & ben side, in Old Irish, meaning “woman of the fairy mound,” or “fairy woman”) is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member. She usually does this by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Keening is a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic Celtic tradition. This is known to have taken place in Ireland & Scotland.

Banshees are strongly associated with specific Irish families. The belief is that the banshee is a family spirit attached to a particular lineage. Her mournful wail/cry is heard only by family members as a warning of an imminent death.

Another of the banshee characteristics is their unwavering attachment to certain Gaelic families such as the O’Neills, O’Brians, O’Connors, O’Grady, & Kavanaghs, among others. Some traditions hold that the banshee is the ghost. This is perhaps a mother of a famous poet/singer from the family who died tragically. In this sense, she’s an ancestral spirit tied to the bloodline & the land.

She appears or is heard only to mourn & warn the family of an impending death. Often before anyone has received news of it. This direct, specific role makes her an inherently familiar guardian or omen for that clan/family.

They aren’t family pets, the banshees presence is a known, if terrifying, part of the family’s history & destiny, linking her fate to theirs across generations.

A banshee is an autonomous entity, a powerful fairy-woman (bean sidhe) or ghost, isn’t under the control of any living person.

Sometimes she has long streaming hair, which she may be seen combing, with some legends specifying she can only be keen while combing her hair. She wears a gray cloak over a green dress. Her eyes are red from continual weeping. She’s sometimes dressed in white with red hair & a ghastly complexion.

In Ireland & parts of Scotland, a traditional part of mourning is the keening woman (bean chaointe), who wails a lament. This keening woman may be a professional, in some cases. The best Keeners would be in high demand.

Irish legends talks about a lament being sung by a fairy woman, or banshee. She would sing it when a family member died or was about to die. Even if the person had died far away & news of their death hasn’t come yet. In those cases, her wailing would be the 1st warning the household had of the death.

The banshee is also a predictor of death. If someone is about to enter a situation where it’s unlikely they’ll come out alive, she’ll warn people by screaming/wailing. This gives rise to the banshee also being known as a wailing woman. The banshee was also linked with the death coach. The banshee is said to either summon the death coach with her keening or travel in tandem with it.

When several banshees show up at 1 time, it usually indicates the death of someone holy or great. The story sometimes tells that the woman (though called a fairy) was a ghost. She’s often a specific murdered woman, or a man who passed away in childbirth.

In some parts of Leinster, she’s referred to as the bean chaointe or ban nigheachain (“little washerwoman”) or nigheag na h-ath (“little washer at the ford”). She’s seen washing bloodstained clothes or armor of those who are about to die.

In Welsh folklore, there’s also a similar being known as the cyhyraeth. The cyhyraeth gives a disembodied moaning voice before the person’s passing.

Some sources suggest that the banshees Laments only the descendants of pure Milesian stock of Ireland. The Milesians were the final race to settle in Ireland. The original belief appears to be associated with a number of ancient Irish families. According to tradition, a banshee wouldn’t lament or visit someone of Saxon or Norman descent or those who came to Ireland later.

Most, not all, of the last names associated with banshees have the “O” or “Mc/Mac” prefix. That means people with the last names of Goidelic origin. This means a family native to the Insular Celtic lands. Rather than those of the Norse, Anglo-Saxon, or Norman.

There are some exceptions to the banshee lore. A banshee may lament a person who’s been gifted with music & song.

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#AngloSaxon #BanNigheachain #Banshees #BeanChaointe #BeanNighe #BeanSi #beanSidhe #BenSide #Celtic #Cyhyraeth #DeathCoach #Gaelic #Goidelic #InsularCeltic #Ireland #IrishFolklore #Kavanaghs #keening #KeeningWoman #Milesian #ModernIrish #Norman #Norse #OBrians #OConnors #OGrady #ONeills #OldIrish #Poet #Saxon #Scotland #ScottishFolklore #Singer #WelshFolklore

Fionn mac Cumhaill

" ... he heard far off in the deepening gloom the first notes of the fairy harp. Never such music was made by mortal hand, for it had in it sorrows that man has never felt, and joys for which man has no name, and it seemed as if a man listening to that music might burst from time into eternity..."

The High Deeds of Finn and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T. W. Rolleston

#StephenReid #IrishFolklore #illustration #art #FionnMacCumhaill #FinnMcCool #mastodaoine

Lovely to be part of such a fab, folklore-filled window display @chaptersbookstore.bsky.social 📚💕 #dublin #mythologymonday #booksky #nature #IrishFolklore #customs #beliefs #myths #legends #gardening #spéirghorm #buylocal #bookchatweekly

In Ireland, sheets were once rinsed in a saffron infusion. This was believed to strengthen arms and legs during sleep... #IrishFolklore #MythologyMonday 🎨Fragment from a Minoan fresco from Santorini "The Saffron Gatherers"

@oldoakgames first 5E supplement, "Beyond the Woods": Wander through ancient ruins and face monsters from Irish folklore in the lands of Tír Nascath on Kickstarter by award-winning game designer Emmet Byrne. https://tinyurl.com/sn4zwc9a #OldOakGames #D&D #DungeonsAndDragons #5E #EmmetByrne #Folklore #IrishFolklore #Kickstarter #Crowdfunding

#Fairytaletuesday

Morrigan (also known as Morrigu), revered as a formidable deity in #Irishfolklore, embodies the Irish war goddess archetype and is one of the Triple Goddesses.

She is intricately associated with fate, particularly foretelling doom and death in the chaos of battle.

Morrigan frequently appears in the form of a crow, ominously flying over the battlefield. #NiftyBucklesFolklore

🎨 Iren Horrors

A folk tale in Donegal tells of all the fish voting on a king and electing the herring. The plaice was upset, and that's why its mouth is crooked

#folklore #fish #Ireland #Donegal #IrishFolklore

My first review of 2025, A Fix of Light by Kel Menton, coming out February 6th. Loved this little gem of a book. Check out my review:

https://markkieltywriter.com/2025/01/06/book-review-a-fix-of-light-by-kel-menton/

#LGBTQ #Fantasy #IrishFolklore @littleislandbks #Octobooks #Octocon #MastoDaoine #YA #IrishLit

Bread in Irish folklore, and the "hungry grass", from Bríd Mahon's book Land of Milk and Honey

#folklore #Ireland #bread #food #mastodaoine #IrishFolklore #books #BrídMahon #IrishHistory

According to Irish folklore, the banshee is a type of female spirit whose terrible, mournful cries serve as a warning that a death will soon occur. The name banshee can be translated as "woman of the mound" or "fairy woman." #MythologyMonday

🎨 : William Henry Brooke

#Folklore #Banshee #Ireland #IrishFolklore #WilliamHenryBrooke

In the Irish folktale of 'The Wonderful Tune,' Maurice Connor was a blind piper whose playing was so marvelous that one day it so enamored a woman from the sea that she came up onto the shore to propose marriage and make him the "King of Fish." #MythologyMonday

#Folklore #Folktale #IrishFolklore

Cú Chulainn ties himself to a standing stone to die on his feet, facing his enemies.

Illustration by Stephen Reid (1904)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aided_Con_Culainn

#CuChulainn #IrishFolklore #folklore #art #illustration