Mermaids.

Beautiful. Mysterious. Captivating. Her scales catching the light of the sun reflecting off the water. With a quick flick of her tail she’s able to move deeper into the ocean. Leaving the surface, and the rest of the unsuspecting dry world above. If they knew of her beauty and the world that lay below the surface one only knows the changes that would be in store. 

      Whether introduced to them through Disney’s Little Mermaid or Nickelodeon’s H2O everyone knows what a mermaid is. However, they may not be the naive gorgeous sea creature that so many view them to be.  

      Over the years there have been many myths and stories of mermaids. The idea of mermaids was first mentioned in Assyria, 1000 BC. A goddess named Atargatis fell in love with a mortal. By accident she ended up killing him. In her grief the goddess jumped into a lake. Unable to hide her beauty completely she took the form of half fish keeping her divine beauty. 

      There are many different ideas of mermaids. The popular view is that they are natural beings with magical and prophetic powers. They are mortals with no souls. Another way they tend to be referred to is sirens. Sirens are described to be dangerous to men. It is believed that they would lure them to their deaths. Their songs would bring the men to their watery graves inviting them to live beneath the surface with them. Being hypnotized by their songs they would try to follow them forgetting the one unfortunate consequence that drowning brings. 

      Each culture also has their own idea of what a mermaid is; and how they interact with mortals. The Greek believe they were Seiren. Like stated before they would tempt sailors with their songs. Songs filled with promises of living between the two worlds land/sea; and even maybe life/death. In China mermaids are viewed as wonderful, skilled and versatile. It’s even thought that their tears would turn into pearls. Even Christopher Columbus has notes of seeing mermaids during his discovery of America. Columbus claimed to have seen three mermaids in his journey. However, they were not at all beautiful as many pictures. He claimed that they had the faces of men. Finally, Christians believe that mermaids are monsters. They believe that their seductive singing is equivalent to the deadly sin of lust; and their weapon. 

      Now the point of this article isn’t to make you fear the idea of mermaids. Not even to change your view on them. All the stories of them aren’t as bad as they may seem. In fact, Yemaja can be depicted in the form of a mermaid. Mermaids can be symbolized as life and fertility in the ocean. 

      The ocean is a beautiful seemingly never ending place.  Only about 5%, to this day, is discovered of it. For all we know beneath the surface a whole new world lays. Mermaids and even Atlantis could lay on the floor of the sea. But maybe it’s a good thing that it is just out of our reach.