On hearing the mournful wailing of the Banshee if she is seen as a stooped, weathered old woman, this heralds the death of a family member.
If you see her as a sweet, young woman it will herald your death…Many of us tend to think of the Banshee as a ghost, ghoul or spirit but she is in fact a fairy.
The name “Banshee” comes from the Irish “bean sídhe” or “fairy woman”, she is believed to be a remnant of the Tuatha Dé Danann, (the old gods of Ireland) who were diminished in their powers into Fairies.
Text Thomas Moore
Composed by Mark Hennessey
Mezzo Soprano – Michelle O’Rourke
Cello – Kate Ellis
How Oft Has The Banshee Cried
How oft has the Banshee cried!
How oft has death untied
Bright links that Glory wove,
Sweet bonds entwined by Love!
Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth;
Rest to each faithful eye that weepeth;
Long may the fair and brave
Sigh o’er the hero’s grave!
We’re fallen on evil days!
Star after star decays,
Every bright name that shed
Light o’er the land is fled.
Dark falls the tear of him that mourneth
Lost joy, or hope that ne’er returneth:
But brightly flows the tear
Wept o’er a hero’s bier.
Quenched are our beacon lights-
Thou, of the Hundred Fights!
Thou, on whose burning tongueTruth,
peace and freedom hung!
Both mute-but long as valor shineth,
Or mercy’s soul at war repineth,
So long shall Erin’s pride
Tell how they lived and died.
Thomas Moore