Friday, December 17

Tails, within or beside

Mermaids around the World

Throughout time and around the world, there have been tales of mermaids. As Early as Babylon, there are tales about mermaids. Oannes or Ea, the sea-god was depicted as a merman. The Syrian moon-goddess, Atargatis, for the Philistines Darceto was a mermaid. Polynesians had Vatea who was the common image of the mermaid. The early British know them as Merrymaids. The Irish knew them as Merrows or Muirruhgach. Along Scandinavia, they have the Havfrue (merman) and the Havmand (mermaid). The Norwegian mermaid known as Havfine was believed to have very unpredictable tempers. The Germans knew the Melusine as a double-tailed mermaid. Denmark has its shares of single tailed and double tailed mermaids. They are depicted in their fountains.
In Asia, there are number of tales of mermaids too. The Japanese had Ningyo, a mermaid with only the head as human. For the Philippines, was have a two-tailed mermaids called the Mambuburog.

Nobody knows the origins of mermaids. They have been around since civilization began. Mermaids are depicted differently in different places. One thing is common, a part of these creatures are human while the other half is fish. Whether a product of crossbreeding or mutation, the mermaid image have symbolism. There is some human-ness in mermaids. It may be the emotions.

The usual depiction of the other half of a mermaid is commonly a female. This can represent the Femme fatale that banned the worshipping of mermaids. Early Christianity depicted females as sinful. Her usual items on hand were combs and mirrors, emblems of vanity.

The side of the fish is the representation of freedom. To be able to swim into the vast ocean unbridled is freedom only some can imagine. We can also say that the union of the upper half and the fish half is a symbol of life. Water as represented by the fish is the source of life. It is where life began and life is sustained by water.

We can also say that the image of the mermaid represents Christianity. Christ depicts the church as female while he is the represented by the fish, Ictus. The union of the church and God is the mermaid.

There are mermaids around the world. Perhaps they are a race, hidden away from the world or perhaps just creatures that coexists with us. One thing is certain. There are mermaids on earth. Within us or among us…

No comments:

NaNo Stats