Apr 10, 2010

Banshee



In previous posts I have mentioned the odd synchronistic thing that happens to me with words. I’m still no closer to understanding what it means exactly when an unusual word repeats itself, but I feel prompted to share the current synchronistic word. The word is banshee.

Two books I just finished reading back-to-back both had the word banshee in them frequently. The first is Heather Graham’s Deadly Gift, which is about a banshee. I like Heather Graham’s writing style in general. Her characters are always likable, there is just enough passion and romance for those who like that sort of thing, and I love the supernatural twist she uses in her novels. Following that book, I read Impact by Douglas Preston. He referred to wind screaming like a banshee several times in the story. What a story it was! Probably highly unlikely anything like that (and no, I won’t tell you what THAT is) would happen, but I have a good imagination and am fairly gullible when I would like to believe something, so I was able to feel appropriately excited while reading. I have to give an extra star to Impact for being unique and not quite any one genre. I do enjoy reading things that have an unusual story.



Just as I was thinking about banshees, I stopped in at Facebook, where my brother had just posted a link to a YouTube video of Siouxsie and the Banshees! Well, banshee it is, then.

A visit to Wikipedia told me that banshee means woman of the fairy mounds. Next, I looked for images or posters of banshees and found the poster you see above, which doesn’t look exactly feminine to me – more androgynous – but I like the style.

Supposedly, a banshee can appear as an old hag or a beautiful young woman. She laments the passing of a famous person or can be heard singing or keening to warn of the death of someone. The quickening of spring must be a time when the fairies become more active. Maybe the windy nights of March and April carry the voice of the banshee telling us winter is dying.

Originally posted to Dunnea.net

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