The Banshee in Irish Folklore: Folklore, history, gender and belief

Uncover Ireland’s legendary death messenger, the Banshee and her link to grief, folklore and the lives of women in Irish history.

With Q&A.The Banshee, or Bean Sídhe, has haunted Irish folklore for centuries, warning of death through her eerie cry.

But who is she actually? A fairy, a ghost or a surviving echo of Ireland’s pre-Christian past? Many believe the Banshee comes from older Irish beliefs about the spirit world, especially stories of powerful supernatural women that existed in Ireland before Christianity.

She also reflects something deeper: what Irish society expected of women, and how those expectations changed over time.In this talk, historian Dr Gillian Kenny traces the Banshee from medieval sources through to twentieth-century family memory.

We’ll dive into details such as why she was believed to follow certain Irish families or why she so often appears combing her hair.

We’ll also look at how her cry connects to ‘keening’, an old Irish mourning tradition where women sang laments for the dead at funerals.

Blending folklore, history, gender, and belief, you will walk away with a richer understanding of how Ireland imagined the supernatural, mourned its dead, and remembered the women who stood at the edge of both.