My informant is a 23 year old student who is heavily interested in mythology and myths of other cultures.

“Okay so there’s one little tidbit that I know. So in Ireland, kind of related to the banshees, is the death coach. The Irish is like um, “Cóiste Bodhar.” But it’s kind of, it’s driven by a headless horseman and once it comes, like once it leaves the heavens or comes to earth or whatever, it’s not allowed to return empty. So it has to uh… someone has to get in the death coach. It’s like, it’s a symbol for the inevitability of death – like banshees. That’s why I say they’re related. They’re both symbols of imminent death. So that’s the death coach – Cóiste Bodhar.”

In his own words, the informant explains why this mythology is important to him: “My knowledge of Irish folklore is important because although I’m not mainly ethnically Irish, I am partly. Ireland also has one of the most unique european mythologies due to their relative isolation.”

He learned this myth through research of his own volition.

Analysis:

My informant uses this mythology to connect himself to the culture he partly grew up in. His grandmother is completely Irish and tried to impart certain traditions and my informant and his relatives. He uses this folklore to further connect back to his ethnicity and he is heavily intrigued by mythologies of all kinds.