Keening

Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning that is traditional in Scotland and Ireland.

The word “Keen” as a noun or verb comes from the Irish Gaelic term “caoineadh” which mean “to cry”.

Keening is not simply wailing. It is a controlled use of high-pitched singing of laments performed by women who are actually professionals, paid (usually in food and drink) to attend the wake.

Keening cannot be performed until the wake, when the soul is thought to have finally left the body.

The Catholic Church sought to ban keening, viewing it as pagan and undigified, in the seventeenth century.

The practice of keening is dying out these days.

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