The tradition of keening at funerals

briany

Keening is where a person (a woman, usually) will wail in grief and sorrow for someone who has recently passed. It was a tradition long-associated with funerals in parts of Ireland & Scotland that appears to have died out in the mid-20th century. Sometimes the keeners would be professionals hired for the purpose rather than people related to the deceased.

Just wondering if anyone can elaborate any more on this tradition.

dubhthach

the word is a borrowing of "caoineadh" into English. It wouldn't surprise me if the practise persisted longest in the Gaeltacht (it's mentioned in literature such as Cré na Cille by Máirtín Ó Cadhain which was first published in 1949.

KidMeNotA1

The last I remember was about 1950, in the Gaeltacht of N.W. Donegal. It seems to have died out about this time, but was common until then. An appointed woman would begin the caoineadh and some others join in, mostly related to the dead. It was deemed a mark of respect if there was a lot of caoineadh done at the grave.

verycool

This is a tenuous link, but is there any relation to this and "wake" where it's believed that they would wake up the deceased.

Or is that another old wives tale?

tabbey

verycool wrote: »

This is a tenuous link, but is there any relation to this and "wake" where it's believed that they would wake up the deceased.

I always assumed that the word "wake" came from the practice of staying awake with the deceased.

I confess to being very unaware of such matters.

sbsquarepants

briany wrote: »

Keening is where a person (a woman, usually) will wail in grief and sorrow for someone who has recently passed. It was a tradition long-associated with funerals in parts of Ireland & Scotland that appears to have died out in the mid-20th century. Sometimes the keeners would be professionals hired for the purpose rather than people related to the deceased.

Just wondering if anyone can elaborate any more on this tradition.

I seen it (on telly) in Hong Kong professional mourners hired to have a good auld whinge on the day of the burial.
It's bat shít crazy if you ask me - some traditions dying out is nothing but a good thing!

pedroeibar1

The custom of ‘lamenting’ is not confined to the Gaels, it is ancient and worldwide. Laments are contained in Beowulf, in the Hindu Vedas, in Greek texts and in the Jewish Tanakh (which became the Christian Old Testament). Even today the Arab women ‘keen’ and the orthodox Jews still rend their clothes.

It is said that the old Gaelic caoineadh/keen took a basic vocal format – the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, crying for the bereft, etc. There was a ‘leader’ – the bean caoineadh and followers. Sometimes a chorus was sung/wailed by all present.

My great grandmother was popular with the ‘shawlies’ in Cork’s Coal Quay and I’ve been told that when she died (1940’s) a group of them came to the house to keen her and it was seen as a mark of respect.

In verse form possibly the most famous caoineadh is ‘The Lament For Art Ó Laoghaire’ by his widow, Eibhlín Dhubh Ní Chonaill. He was killed in 1773. That lament was kept alive by a professional bean caoineadh and subsequently written down which is how we have it today.

Peregrinus

The tradition of the bean sí, a female spirit who wails to herald the death of a family member, obviously refers to the custom of keening. Anybody can have a woman keen to mark his death, but you're obviously a person of quality if you have a fairy woman to keen for you.

BuboBubo

It did happen. My late grandfather told me all about it when I was a child. Its amazing how some traditions die out (pun unintended).

There were women especially assigned to the job. Their only requirement was to wail and cry at the funeral. Keeners! It was common in Carlow anyway (his home county), I regret not asking him more questions and writing/recording his stories whilst he was still alive.

whisky_galore

Peregrinus wrote: »

The tradition of the bean sí, a female spirit who wails to herald the death of a family member, obviously refers to the custom of keening. Anybody can have a woman keen to mark his death, but you're obviously a person of quality if you have a fairy woman to keen for you.

A similar one in Scotland, the bean nighe,who wash the blood stained clothing of those who are to die (usually by violent means) in streams.

artanevilla

verycool wrote: »

This is a tenuous link, but is there any relation to this and "wake" where it's believed that they would wake up the deceased.

Or is that another old wives tale?

Wake is just another word for vigil.

Peregrinus

artanevilla wrote: »

Wake is just another word for vigil.

Yup. Wake and watch both ultimately come from the same root. Wake as a verb originally meant to be on watch; then, to refrain from sleep in order to watch, or to be on watch while others sleep; still later, simply to be awake or alert. Only quite late on did it come to mean the act of rousing someone else.