Mermania: The Little Book of Mermaids

YOU’LL SEE THE WOMAN IN

the logo

is a two-tailed mermaid,

THOUGH THE GRAPHIC HAS CHANGED CONSIDERABLY SINCE 1971 WHEN IT FIRST APPEARED AND SHOWED A LOT MORE SKIN (AND SCALES).

The company’s name came before its logo.

STARBUCKS CAME FROM MR STARBUCK, FIRST MATE OF THE PEQUOD IN HERMAN MELVILLE’S CLASSIC MOBY-DICK.

TO CONTINUE THE MARITIME THEME, ADVERTISING CONSULTANT TERRY HECKLER CREATED THE ICONIC MERMAID

logo we know today.

IF TOURING CORNWALL (FOR ITS MERMAID LORE, IF FOR NO OTHER REASON), YOU’LL WANT TO AVOID THE

Doom Bar

WHERE THE RIVER CAMEL MEETS THE SEA. LOCAL LEGEND ATTRIBUTES ITS CREATION TO A MERMAID’S REVENGE FOR HER DEATH AT THE HANDS OF A SAILOR. TRUE OR NOT, MANY A SHIP HAS BEEN DESTROYED ON THIS SANDBANK.

IN JAPANESE FOLKLORE,

eating Ningyo

(mermaids)

IS SAID TO GRANT LONGEVITY.

‘The water spirits were known under such names as oreades, nereides, limoniades, naiades, water sprites, sea maids, mermaids, and potamides. Often the water nymphs derived their names from the streams, lakes, or seas in which they dwelt.’

– THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES, MANLY P. HALL (1928)

IN 2009, SEVERAL

independent reports of mermaid sightings

IN THE SMALL TOWN OF KIRYAT YAM, ON THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST OF ISRAEL, LED TO AN OFFER OF

$1 million

FOR THE LUCKY PHOTOGRAPHER WHO MANAGED TO CAPTURE THE CREATURE ON FILM.

So far the reward has gone unclaimed.

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Many who grew up enchanted by Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid are surprised to find how dark and even gruesome the Hans Christian Andersen version of the story is. Those who dive deeper into the history and mythology of mermaids will find many elements they recognize in the Danish author’s fairytale. Many mermaid stories are tales of suffering and woe, betrayal, and revenge, often ending unhappily ever after, with many an abandoned family. Still, there are cultures that celebrate mermaids as symbolizing good luck, and the themes of rebirth and second chances run across cultures.

A multiplicity of meanings and traditions has grown out of different cultures coming into contact with each other and interweaving their beliefs. More surprising than the variety is the universal quality of the polymorphic figure – the fact that so many half-woman half-fish stories seem to have emerged independently.

The modern version imagines mermaids who want a chance at life, but in myths the mermaid incarnation is often a drowned woman given a second chance.

The waters around Ireland were once home to Liban, a half-salmon woman who had survived the flood that killed her family by transforming into a mermaid. Captured after a long underwater life, she was given the name Muirgen (‘sea-born’) and ascended to heaven.

Fish women

IN EARLY MESOPOTAMIAN ART WERE CALLED KULITU.

IN SCOTLAND, BEAUTIFUL WOMEN KNOWN AS

Selkies

turn into seals when they enter water.

ON LAND, THEY SHED THEIR SEAL SKIN, BUT THEY’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO RETURN TO THE SEA WITHOUT IT. SOME LEGENDS SAY THE

‘Seal Fairies’ emerge on Midsummer Eve.

THE AFRICAN WATER SPIRIT,

Mami Wata

(MUMMY WATER), IS OFTEN DEPICTED WITH A SNAKE OR CROCODILE ADDED TO HER FISH–WOMAN BODY. SHE IS A HEALER BUT CONTAINS AN ELEMENT OF DANGER, LIKE OTHERS IN THE WATER SPIRIT TRADITION.

She’s said to like shiny baubles.

ENSLAVEMENT AND TRANSPORT OF AFRICANS AT THE HANDS OF EUROPEAN COLONIZERS LED TO A SHARED TRADITION ACROSS THE SEA WHERE, IN THE CARIBBEAN, FOR EXAMPLE, LA SIRÈNE CLOSELY RESEMBLES MAMI WATA.

BEFORE THE FAMILIAR HALF-HUMAN HALF-FISH IMAGERY CAME INTO POPULARITY,

water gods

WERE SHOWN DRESSED IN THE

skins of fish.

In the Gocta waterfall

in Peru,

A MERMAID, A FISHERMAN, AND HIS WIFE FOUND THEMSELVES IN AN UNFORTUNATE LOVE TRIANGLE WHEN THE MERMAID NOT ONLY BOOSTED

the fisherman’s catch but added a little

bit of gold, too.

ON THE RIVERBANKS OF RUSSIA, STRANGE CREATURES CALLED