
Say It Right: Bean Sídhe (Banshee)
How to say Bean Sídhe — "ban-SHEE," the Irish behind "banshee": literally the woman of the fairy mound.

How to say Bean Sídhe — "ban-SHEE," the Irish behind "banshee": literally the woman of the fairy mound.

How to say Púca — "POO-kuh," with a long oo. The shapeshifting Irish spirit that is cousin to Shakespeare's Puck.

How to say Mabinogi — "mab-in-OG-ee," with a hard g. The Four Branches of medieval Welsh tale, and why the title's meaning…

How to say Cú Chulainn — "koo KHUL-in," the Hound of Culann. Why that ch is a throaty loch sound, not a…

How to say Samhain — it is "SOW-in" (rhymes with cow-in), not "Sam-hane." Why the mh trips everyone up.

How to say Sidhe — it is simply "shee," the Irish word for a fairy mound and the Otherworld folk who dwell…

The Hound of Ulster who defended a province alone: birth in Compert Con Culainn, glory in the Táin (Lebor na hUidre c.1100),…

The spectral riders are a pan-European motif — Germanic, Norse, Welsh, English and French — not one Celtic myth. Who leads the…

The Irish goddess of sovereignty, war and prophecy — as she appears in Cath Maige Tuired and the Táin — kept distinct…

Separating the medieval Irish evidence for Samhain from the Christian Halloween lineage and the 20th-century neopagan Wheel of the Year — carefully…