Guest Blog and Book Contest- Rachel Vincent

I am so honored to have a guest blog today by Rachel Vincent.

My debut YA novel, My Soul to Take, is about a high school junior who discovers that she’s a bean sidhe when teenage girls in her area start dropping dead for no apparent reason. Since I began discussing the book online, I’ve run into an astonishing number of people who don’t know what a bean sidhe is.
Even when I add the common, anglicized spelling—banshee—some people still look confused. So I’m here today with your bean sidhe primer. A sort of cheat sheet, to make sure everyone’s on the same page, just in time for the release of the book. ;-)
First the definition: “Bean Sidhe” roughly translates to “woman of the faeries,” which basically means: woman who isn’t human. It’s a pretty broad category. Specifically, in Irish folklore, bean sidhes were female spirits who wailed to warn of the approaching death of a human and/or to mourn the dying.
Now the pronunciation: though most people just say “ban shee,” the proper pronunciation is actually “bahn shee.”
There are a lot of familiar beliefs about bean sidhes, but for the Soul Screamers series, I’ve altered and elaborated on the folklore for my own purposes, so even those who are familiar with the concept will hopefully find some interesting surprises in My Soul to Take. Below, I’ve made a list of the most common details in bean sidhe lore, and how they apply—or don’t apply—in the book.

In folklore: Bean sidhes wail only for one of the great Irish clans: the O’Briens, the O’Neills, the Kavanaghs, the O’Grady’s, or the O’Connors. At one point, having a family bean sidhe was almost considered a status symbol, if you can imagine that. ;-)
In My Soul to Take: Bean sidhe premonitions are not limited to any particular clans or families, but Kaylee’s last name—Cavanaugh—is my little bit of homage to the original legends.

In folklore: When a Banshee is caught, she is obliged to tell the name of the doomed.
In My Soul to Take: Kaylee isn’t running from anything but her own misunderstood abilities, so there’s no reason to try and catch her. But even if you could, she couldn’t tell you who’s about to die. Sadly, she can’t say anything while she’s wailing.

In folklore: Bean Sidhes often have long streaming hair and are dressed in a dark hooded cloak over a green dress.
In My Soul to Take: Kaylee dresses like any other teenager. She wouldn’t fit in very well in high school wearing a heavy hood and cloak, now would she? ;-)

In folklore: A bean sidhe’s eyes are bright red from weeping all the time.
In My Soul to Take: Bean sidhes don’t weep all the time—only when someone is very close to death. And even then, their cries are brain-scrambling screams, not actual tears. So Kaylee’s eyes are a very normal blue—at least as far as humans can tell. ;-)

In folklore: When several Banshees keen together, it means that someone very great or holy is going to die.
In My Soul to Take: If multiple bean sidhes were to wail at the same time… it would probably mean a very bad day for everyone involved, no greatness or holiness necessary.

In folklore: Bean sidhes mostly appear as either a young woman, a grand lady or an old hag.
In My Soul to Take: Bean sidhes can be of any age and any social status. They look human. Just like your mother or sister. So if you’re sitting on the bus on the way home from school and some girl starts screaming bloody murder… you better hope she’s not staring at you. ;-)

Thanks for having me, Andrea!

Thanks to Rachel Vincent, I have a copy of My Soul To Take to give away! (Read my review of it here--I LOVED it!)

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