#keening

But I accidentally made myself sad headcanoning a Sotha Sil shortly before the end of his life dearly regretful of his past decisions. And that made me remember this.

Keening was a vocal ritual artform, performed at the wake or graveside in mourning of the dead. Keens are said to have contained raw unearthly emotion, spontaneous word, repeated motifs, crying and elements of song.

The word keening originates from the Gaelic caoineadh meaning “crying”. The keening women (mnàthan-tuirim), paid respects to the deceased and expressed grief on behalf of the bereaved family.

Airiú, airiú, Phalaistín

Agus a leanbh

Tá tú ar shiúl uaim,

Agus airiú, Phalaistín

caoineadh mé tú

Airiú agus a leanbh

Phalaistín.

There are several stories in the Irish folklore record of a healing woman called Eibhlín Ní Ghuinníola. One of the things said about her was that she had a fairy lover who was seen with her when she was out gathering herbs.

In a commentary on the stories, Gearóid Ó Crualaoich says:

" … that a 'fairy lover' , a leannán sí was often seen with Eibhlín Ní Ghuinníola as she gathered plants. The Saol Sí, the fairy realm, is the ancestral cultural embodiment of that imaginative mythological and spiritual otherworld lying beyond the 'normal' ranges of human perception. It can, on occasion, manifest itself in figures like the leannán sí, as well as the Cailleach-goddess, or in the activities - and in the narrative of the activities - of those women who fulfilled the social roles of wise healer, keening-woman or country midwife. Such women, acting decisively in the face of affliction and life crisis, draw their autonomy and legitimacy from the tradition and the traditional narratives of the Cailleach-goddess and in the narratives of former occupiers of their own roles such as Eibhlín Ní Ghuinníola".