The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-08-31
The IRISH SvpERSTITIONS.
How the People of the Emerald
Isle Regard the Visitations of
Certain Birds.
THE HISTORIC BANSHEE.
Remnants of Candles Used at Wakes
are Aighly Prlzed for Scalds
and Burns.

and Burns.
Edgar l. Wakeman writes from Cash
el as follows: The superstitions of the
peasant folk of any country are not only
interesting with thought. feeling aud
belief. bu through them much OF the in.
ner history of people can often be
traced. Ireland is particularly rich in
these forgivable vagaries. a profound
book might be written upon them. Such
book would have much chronological
and sociological value In a single article
the merest reference to the quaint things
discoverable on this line of study among
the Irish people can only be made. For
in less than years contact with the
peasantry Of Ireland the number of
these odd things secured has been as
t0nishlng; but an interesting fact, at
least to myself, has been the gradual
change in my own superstition regard
ing Irish superstitions. When / first
began setting them down, confess that
they often seemed of a very savage and
grewsome character. Bat i gradually
came to know that however grimvisaged
the face of the one con6ding the weird
assertion of uncanny belief, that secretly
the masses of the peasantrY secuted and
aouted them all, save those of a tender
and winsome character. Indeed, among
the most unlearned of the peasantry
there is an exquisit vein of brightness
better than wit and more palpable than
humor which. rejecting the essential
slavery Of superstitious practices, In
sists on retaining the pleasure Of sub
scribing to the esuperstitions themselves.
Thus the quaint and weird things Whi ch
might seem nnaccount ntatbfs and repul-
sive to us have become lilhN3lAasof book
lore a folk and ireside lore sBdt of which
endless entertainment IS secured; and
underneath much of this there is deep
and earnest tenderness, such as all
hearts know, for many things without
apparent reason. that grow into lite
from ancestry, oft-repeated homeside
tale. beloved custom, and that mysteri-
Gus hallowing which comes from
changeless places and objects to men.
The single superstition of which every
one has heard, and which is almost
universal in Ireland, is of the banshee.
Bansidhe is the Irish name for this
wonderful creature, and it literally
means "the woman of the fairy man
siops." Her office is to announce a
coming death. For several nights she
appears, sometimes as radiant maiden,
sometimes as decreDit cd woman with
long, flowing hair, and walls her plain
tive lamentations for the approaching
death. If the demise is to occur bY ma
tural ailment the keeping" of
THE BANsHEE
is simply measured and pathetic; but if
accident or untoward calamity are to
be associated with it then her lamenta-
tions are loud and clamorous. But she
is easily disturbed and vexed, and if
ever frightened away will never return
during the same generation. This
would be calamity, for while the Irish
banshee favors no particular class, caste
or religion, she only comes to families
of long and respectable line. She comes
as friendly spirit to these, not as an
inimical one, and to be known as a
family deserving and possessing her pa
thetic guardianship is regarded as an
honor Of a very tender and sacred cha
racter. Many truly believe the banshee
70 be the spirit of some former member
of the family. In munster there is a
powerful queen of the banshee. Her
name is Clodhna, or Cleena, and her
powerful spells are we'll known to the
peasantry of the south. The coach a.
power or death coach" seems to stand
in something the same relation to the
peasantry as the banshee. This is a
black hearse with white plumes Of hu-
man hair, and it is always drawn by
the skeletons of departed friends. 1t
passes the house by night; in some in
stances thrice encircles it; and the
creaking OF its wheels may be plainly
heard. This is certain token of i'm
pending death; and where a family has
not the hardihood among its neighbors
to claim superior possession of ban
shee, the ''death coach" will pretty gen
orally be found as its substitute. The
weird superstition concerning the dead
are very many. Every twelfth night
the dead walk. They sit, too, upon
every tile of the house waiting to be
freed from purgatorY by prayer. The
most potent charm known to those given
over body and soul to superstition is
the hand of an unbaptized babe, taken
from the grave In the name Of the evil
sa 3 SSt ts -