Stories
about mermaids have been told throughout the ages. They are related in
symbolism to elementals and water spirits, and appear before storms and
disasters strike. Mermaids and mer-men are associated with things of the sea, and
like other popular story characters, mermaids have roots in ancient cultures. Mermaid means sea-maid or sea-woman.
Their history entwines with that of Helen and Medusa, and they are descendants
of the Ancient Mariners (circa 4000 BC). Ancient navigators were called Gorgons
and are the basis of the beautiful female figureheads carved on the prows of
ships, symbolic of a powerful Gorgon watching the sky and sea. Some stories describe
mermaids living underwater in riches and splendor, eloquent and cultured.
Mer-people
generally kept to the sea and rarely married mortals. When they did, they took
their wives from land to the sea. Some mermaids fell in love with human males,
who, then enchanted, did whatever they could to marry the beautiful
creatures.
Mer-people
speak the language of the sea and the language of land-dwellers. A Syrian story
records that if a mer-man and a human wife have a baby, the child will know the
language of both the Earth and Sea – that of farming and navigation.
In
early religions of the world there were images of gods that were half human and half
fish. In Syria they are called Kukullu,
which means fish-man. These fish-men
also show up in Mesopotamian and Babylonian history. Sumerians and
Assyrians depicted bearded human figures with a fish body hanging off their
head down the back to their toes like a
cape. Mer-people images and sculptures are found in Assyrian, Babylonian, and Mesopotamian art and temples. In Japan they are known as ninayo; Hispanic folklore describes water maidens as small
human-shaped beings with stars on their heads and golden hair (stars being
associated with knowledge of astronomy, and golden hair a symbol of the sun).
Legends
also says that by obtaining an object belonging to a mer-person, one can keep
them from returning to the sea until the object is returned to them or
retrieved; this refers to maidens kept for marriage. If you were in business, you
knew that captured mer-people could not refuse to keep a bargain they made, but
they were considered tricky and dangerous to deal with. Sometimes mer-people
were caught and held for ransom: Their wisdom and their knowledge of astronomy
and natural science were unsurpassed. Knowledge and wisdom of such great value,
worthy of a ransom, was that associated with navigation: astronomy, longitude,
currents, and mapping.
Many
legends and historic accounts tell of Faerie-Queen Melucine (circa 400 AD), a double-tailed mermaid
called a Siren. She was the daughter of Queen Pressine, and Elinas, King of Albania. Despite palimpsest
accounts of betrayal, abandonment, and
deformed children, many monarchies go to great lengths to have their
genealogies traced to her family.
The Little Mermaid, made popular by Hans
Christian Anderson in 1873, is a Faerie tale with roots in the history of the
ancient mariner culture. This, and other similar folklore, are legends of
courage - originally tales of adults willing to sacrifice themselves to protect
their children. Passed down through the millennia in legends and symbols, stories
about mermaids have become childhood favorites. These powerful elusive creatures
are still associated with water, and have come to express the concepts of the
unconscious and wisdom.
Article and artwork © 2011 Michelle Snyder,
author of The Lost Unicorn,
available with her
other books at Amazon. Visit her Blog: The Language of Once Upon a Time, sign up for her Premium Members Symbolism
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Author Bio: Michelle is an
author, speaker, columnist, blogger, and teacher. Her post-graduate degree from
the University of Wales is in the discipline of decoding ancient symbols. She
has been teaching art and visual language to students of all ages for 35 years,
and has written many books about decoding symbols. Her latest book is an
original fairy tale based on her research. Her artwork, inspired by her love of
symbols, has appeared in galleries from Massachusetts to California. Michelle
is co-owner of White Knight Studio with her husband
LOVE MER STORIES!!
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