People have been writing about mermaids for thousands of years, and they remain incredibly popular in modern movies and TV shows. Almost every culture has had its own version of the mermaid legend. Sometimes they are sirens who try to lure people to their deaths in the sea. Other times, they go out of their way to be friendly, and they even want to become human.
Today, almost everyone has come to the agreement that mermaids in ancient times were most likely a figment of the imagination of sailors or that manatees, seals, and dolphins were mistakenly called mermaids. However, this does not make these legends any less fascinating, because who knows which legend about mermaids exists and which is made up.
1. Mermaid's Tears
In Scotland there is a small island, the shore of which is strewn with small grey-green pebbles, the locals call them "mermaid's tears". This name is connected with the legend about the love of a water maiden and a young monk, the mermaid visited her beloved in the monastery every day. The monk taught the girl prayers, and together they asked God to give her an earthly soul, prayed for the strength to leave the sea. But the requests were not heard, the mermaid was not able to leave the sea, unable to withstand the test, she sailed away from the island forever, bitterly mourning her fate. The tears rolling from her face turned into pebbles, which now strew the Scottish coast.
2. Mermaid's Jealousy
The legend tells a story that once happened in the county of Caithness (Scotland). A mermaid and a young earl fell in love with each other, and as a sign of this, the mermaid gave the young man diamonds, gold, and silver that she had found on a sunken ship. The earl accepted the gifts, but after a while he gave some of the jewelry to another girl, with whom he had an affair. And he forgot about the mermaid.
This act caused jealousy and anger in the soul of the mermaid. One day, when the young man went out to sea in his boat, she swam up to him and told him about the countless treasures hidden in the bay. The young man, at the mention of wealth, forgot about the past and could not think of anything else. At that moment, the mermaid miraculously put him to sleep and directed the boat to the nearest cave.
When the young man woke up, he found himself chained to a rock with golden chains, and
3. Ondina's Curse
This is an old German legend that says that the mermaid Ondina fell in love with a knight named Lawrence, and the love was mutual. Knowing that if she renounced her mermaid nature once, Ondina would lose her immortality, she nevertheless married her beloved. At the altar, the knight uttered an oath in which he swore allegiance to her: "The pledge of love and loyalty will be my every breath upon awakening in the morning."
A year later, their first child was born, but over time, the husband began to lose interest in his once beloved. One day, Odin found out that Lawrence was now swearing his love to another woman and cursed him: "You swore by your morning breath! Now know - you will be able to breathe while you are awake, as soon as you fall asleep, the breath will leave your body!"
Even now, "Ondina's Curse" is the name given to sleep apnea syndrome. People with this disease are able to breathe only during waking hours, and survive thanks to breathing apparatus.
4. Keask
The Keask is a mermaid from Scotland that is half woman and half salmon. Legend has it that if a sailor can capture a Keask, they will be granted three wishes. They have been known to lure people to their doom, as are most Siren legends. If you don't befriend a mermaid, the only way to kill them would be to destroy their shell.
Like the seal maidens, they can marry mortals, having shed their outer fish shell. Like the swan maidens, they can flee from their husbands, having restored the removed shell, but nevertheless, just like the selkies, they always show interest in their human offspring, protecting them during storms or guiding them to a better catch. For example, it is believed that all famous pilots came from such marriages.
The dark side of the Keask's nature is revealed in a tale published by George Henderson in his book "The Celtic Dragon Myth", where the mermaid swallows the main hero, but his beloved lures the mermaid to the shore by playing the harp, and the hero escapes. Then the Keask swallows the harpist herself, to save whom, the hero has to go through a classic fairy tale series: to finally defeat the Keask, you need to destroy her outer shell, also called the "Separable Soul" - "separate soul". And it is stored in an egg, which is hidden in a fish, which is in a duck, which is in a ram, buried under a house, standing in the thicket of the forest on an island in the center of the lake. Mackenzie in "Scottish Folklore and Popular Life" suggests that the maiden of the waves may have once been a sea spirit to whom human sacrifices were made.
If a sailor managed to find true love with a mermaid, she would turn into a human woman and walk the earth. In addition to three wishes, she would give good luck for the rest of his life. Some Scottish families even claimed that their lineage was descended from a mermaid and a human.
5. Chilean Royal Family at Sea
In Chile, the mythological king of the sea was called Millalobo, who was half man and half sea lion. Unlike most mermaid legends, where these creatures simply magically came into being, he was, unfortunately, the child of a human mother and a sea lion father.
Millalobo married a human woman, and they had a son named Pincoy, and two daughters, named Sirena and Pincoya. Sailors describe seeing the merman Pincoy when they were lost at sea, and he helped bring them back to shore. His sister, Pincoya, had long blonde hair and blue eyes. Tales describe her as the most beautiful woman in the world. She sits on a rock, or dances. If she faces the sea, it means that the fishermen will catch a lot of fish that year. If she comes to the shore, it means that they will struggle to find food.
Just like many ancient royal families, there's no way they had kids when it comes to continuing the mermaid gene pool. Not Game of Thrones, but Pincoy and Pincoya aren't just brother and sister... they're also husband and wife. According to one legend, Pincoya was spotted emerging from the sea holding a baby.
6. Triton
You probably recognize the name as Triton Ariel's father Little Mermaids. Disney borrowed this character from Greek mythology, the God of the Lake Tritonis. Triton was the son of Poseidon, and in his hands he held a shell, which he could use as a horn, as well as his magical trident.
According to legend, sailors got lost on the lake and Triton helped them by creating a piece of land that is now called the island of Thira. The sailors were able to rest while Triton explained to them how to return to the open sea.
Of course, not all of Triton's deeds were positive. When livestock went missing, or sailors died at sea during a storm, many assumed Triton was to blame. People knew they had no chance if they tried to go head to head with the god, so the best they could do to appease his wrath was to drink a cup of wine to him on the shore as an offering of peace.
7. MAMI Vata
MAMI Wata is an African mermaid goddess who is seen as a compassionate healer and mother to all water creatures. Stories of her spread across the continent and eventually were brought to the Caribbean. There, MAMI Wata was sighted in lakes, rivers and on the ocean shore. She was often seen holding a water snake around her shoulders. They say she can transform into a woman, a fish or a mermaid, depending on her mood.
Today, people are still fascinated by the legend of Mamie Wata. Statues and souvenirs with her image are sold in souvenir shops. There are even religious groups named after her to glorify the goddess, where an individual follower is called a “child of Mamie Wata.” They claim that “Mamie Wata” is the name of a collective of a dozen water deities. Followers claim that they see the Mermaid Mamie Wata in their dreams, and she calls them to undergo spiritual purification.
8. Mermaid Finfolk
In Scotland and Ireland, they believed in the “finfolk,” which were mermaids who lived in an underwater kingdom called Finfolkenheim. On the island of Hildaland, they would appear for a moment before disappearing, making it impossible for humans to find them. The Finfolk were shapeshifters, so they could transform from a fish into a full human, or swim like a mermaid. Stories that Finfolk men and women were very beautiful attracted people. If they managed to find a person to be their lover, they could suck the youth out of them and live forever. So if someone was kidnapped or if sailors were lost at sea, they were blamed on the Finfolk, who they believed were captured as sex slaves.
However, if the Finfolk married within their own kind, the “finwife” was doomed to assume the guise of an older woman in order to find work on the land to earn silver to keep them alive. They described the characteristics of the “finwife” as an old, unmarried woman who bred cats and practiced witchcraft. Apparently, this is just one of the many ways people have tried to accuse single old women of being witches throughout human history.
9. Two tails of the siren
Have you ever wondered why Starbucks has two tailed mermaids as their logo? The original image comes from 7th century Italy. It was one of many illustrations in the Otranto Cathedral in Italy, which is located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The mermaid was included alongside images of biblical stories like the Tree of Life, as well as images of the Egyptian Sphinx and Alexander the Great. It was meant to represent the exchange of religions, philosophies, and ideas that were exchanged during the Middle Ages. Some believe it is based on the legend of Melusine, a French water spirit who was said to have transformed into a human woman or a siren with two fish tails.
Over the years, many artists have copied the image of the two-tailed siren. Starbucks claims that they were inspired by a 16th-century Scandinavian woodcut of this mermaid. Apparently, the reason why they chose this image as their coffee logo is because they wanted their coffee to be as seductive as the mermaid.
10. Iary
According to Brazilian legend, Iara was a brave, intelligent girl living in the Amazon. She was a warrior who could fight better than her own brothers. She was so well liked and respected in society that her brothers' accomplishments paled in comparison. Their jealousy was so strong that they killed her and threw her body into the Amazon River. The Moon Goddess took pity on her and brought her back to life as a mermaid.
Becoming a mermaid, Iara spent the rest of her days taking revenge on man. Every time a man drowned in the river, people blamed it on Iara. Later, a man named Jaraguari came across Iara and they fell in love. He told his mother about a beautiful mermaid he had met while fishing in the Amazon River, and he decided to join her in the underwater life. Some believe that since then, her evil spirit has finally found peace.
11. Jamestown Mermaid
You may remember John Smith from the story of Pocahontas, and his involvement in the colonization of Jamestown, Virginia. During his journey by sea, he claimed to have seen a beautiful woman with green hair swimming near his boat. When she dove underwater, he noticed that she was actually a mermaid.
Admittedly, this has been the subject of much historical debate, with many people believing that John Smith never made this claim publicly, and writers telling stories of their voyages of creative freedom. Even so, it was not only time travelers colonizing the New World who claimed to have seen mermaids. Today, these sightings are considered to be misrepresentations of manatees.
12. The Dutch Mermaid
In 1403, a dam in the city of Kampen in the Netherlands cracked, opening it to the sea. The water began to flood the river. After making repairs, the citizens of Kampen claimed that they saw a mermaid swimming in the city's river. At first, the people were scared, but the woman continued to swim, untouched. The people eventually decided to capture this woman and bring her back to land, where she turned into a man with two legs. She could not speak, but they took her away and forced her to go to church and become a Christian. She tried to break free and jump into the water several times, but someone always stopped her.
Some historians believe that it was a woman who was never a mermaid at all. She was deaf and mute, and she really enjoyed swimming.
13. Jiaoren
In Chinese folklore, Jiaoren were not just beautiful mermaids. They were highly skilled craftsmen who could weave a beautiful white fabric called “dragon yarn” that could not get wet. It was said that if a mermaid cried, her tears would turn into pearls. During the Jin Dynasty, one story tells of a mermaid who emerged from the water and decided to sell the dragon yarn to a human.
If someone was kind to her and gave her a place to stay, she would thank them by crying into a jar, filling it with precious pearls. Throughout history, there are several accounts of high society people claiming to own canvases made from dragon yarn made by a mermaid.
