Merrow, not meow - Mermaid Myths Continued

Hi! Thank you for dropping in to Myth Perceptions where I'm sharing with you various myths and legends I've discovered while researching for my fantasy writing!

Sorry I'm late posting this month, friends. Continuing my research into mermaid myths around the world, I actually encountered a new "to me" myth - the Irish Merrow, thanks to one of my fav paranormal authors, Seanan McGuire.

In "One Salt Sea", half-fae heroine, October Daye, helps solve a kidnapping case involving the two sons of a Merrow and land Fae. If you haven't read any of the October Daye series, you should give it a serious look. You'll learn a LOT about the fae and October is an amazing character! 

So, what's a Merrow? A Merrow is an Irish mermaid or merman. Like most of the merpeople around the world, merrow are human looking from the waist up, fish from the waist down. The Merrow have a comb parting their green hair along crest of their heads and pale webbing between their fingers. They always wear magical red caps made, interestingly enough, of feathers. The cap is called a cohuleen druith which enables them to dive beneath the waves to return to their homes. The merrow often leave the sea to travel about on land, sometimes as small hornless cows or as lovely women wrapped in red capes. Without their cohuleen druith, they are stuck on land, making the caps their weakness. (I could find no explanation for the reason a mermaid would need help to go beneath the waves, and why a feathered cap.)

It is also said that they appear before storms and can capsize boats with careless disregard for the humans on board. Such actions can range from playfulness to fits of rage, but their fae nature makes them naturally careless of weak mortals.

The mermaids are beautiful creatures and enjoy dallying with human males. In the water, they can be wild and careless, but on land, they are gentle and affectionate, making them excellent targets for fishermen seeking amenable wives. If the cohuleen druith is hidden away, the merrow must stay on land, but if she ever finds the cap, she is inexorably drawn to return to the water, abandoning husband and family, never to return. Even with this threat of possible enslavement, female merrows actively seek human lovers and will lure men under the waves to live in enchanted pleasure.

The mermen are far less attractive with red eyes, rosy piglike noses, and gross bodies. They are said to be overly partial to whisky, hence the red noses and eyes. (This might also explain why female merrows are trolling in human "waters" for lovers, eh?) They will also capture humans, but to serve as slaves.

In conclusion, the merrow seem to combine several mythic forms--mermaid, siren, selkie--into one intriguing package topped with a jaunty red feathered cap.

Next month, I'll conclude the mermaid series with some general observations and conclusions. Hope you'll drop by.

Denise Golinowski is a reader and writer of fantasy and romance. Her newest enovella, Collector's Item, is available from  The Wild Rose Press.

Her first enovella, The Festival of the Flowers: The Courtesan and the Scholar is also available  through the Wild Rose Press. You can visit her blog at Golinowski's Gambol.

Let me sing you a song - The Rusalka

Hi! Thank you for dropping in to Myth Perceptions where I'm sharing with you various myths and legends I've discovered while researching for my fantasy writing!

Right now, I'm exploring various myths about Mermaids. Having recently spent a lovely Saturday enjoying a Ukranian and a Polish Festival, I am delighted to now share a Slavic "mermaid" myth--The Rusalkas.

Rusalka

Rusalkas are the Slavic form of mermaids, or naiads. Stories say that they are not creatures of their own, but the ghosts of maidens who die a violent death or suicide. The Rusalkas are described in various ways, sometimes with tails when they are lying in the bottom of rivers or streams, but usually with legs when they leave their watery homes to dance in the fields alongside the water or sit, singing, in trees to seduce young men to their deaths. The stories give them either green eyes or white eyes and long hair of either green or golden hue that is perpetually wet. Often, the Rusalka would leave the water to sit in a tree and sing songs or sit on the dock and comb her hair. Like a fish out of water, the Rusalka cannot live long without it, and it is said that if their hair dried out they would die. Their combs are how they call water to them.

There is a Czech opera about the Rusalka, which shares some similar elements as Hans Christian Anderson's famous story. However, in the opera, it is not the mermaid who dies, but the prince.

The Rusalka are said to be their most dangerous during a festival called Semik or Green Week which occurs on the seventh week after Easter. Traditionally, women would hang ribbons a birch tree as offerings to ward off the Rusalkas and swimming was strictly forbidden during this week. Green Week was also a traditional fertility festival and the birch tree would be "drowned" at the end of the week to bring rains to the fields. A wonderful example of sympathetic magic.

I hope you'll come back next month to find out what other types of mermaids I've encountered in my research. Until then, Blessed Be.

Denise Golinowski is a reader and writer of fantasy and romance. Her newest enovella, Collector's Item, is available from  The Wild Rose Press

Her first enovella, The Festival of the Flowers: The Courtesan and the Scholar is also available  through the Wild Rose Press. You can visit her blog at Golinowski's Gambol.

One Fish, Two Fish - Two Ancient Mermaid Myths

Hi! Thank you for dropping in to Myth Perceptions where I'm sharing various myths and legends I've discovered while researching for my fantasy writing, and for you!

For the next few months, I'll be exploring various myths about Mermaids.

Last month, I talked a little about Hans Christian Anderson's The Littlest Mermaid. While I was digging around my memories of the story and researching to find more details, I discovered a reference to two of the "first" mermaid myths--The Myth of Atargatis--and another similar myth about Thessalonike.

Image by Virginia Lee

Atargatis is a Syrian or Aramaic goddess. Several sources call her the mermaid goddess. She was a fertility and protective goddess. One popular myth involves her falling in love (or being cursed to love) a human male. When he dies (or disappears), she casts herself into a lake to become half-human/half-fish. Her followers will not eat fish nor doves (doves are sacred to her daughter).

Image Source - Greek Reporter

Thessalonike is another ancient mermaid myth however my research discovered that she was a historical figure who also has evolved into a myth. Historically, Thessalonike was half-sister to Alexander The Great. During her life, she went from near forgotten daughter to sequestered princess to Queen of Macedonia. It's a very convoluted story, but a fascinating read in the Wiki. The myth is Very Different.

It is said that Alexander the Great bathed his half-sister, Thessalonike's hair with water that would make her immortal. When he died, Thessalonike was so stricken with grief, she threw herself into the sea and became a mermaid. It was her tradition to inquire of passing ships: Is Alexander the King alive? Wise sailors would reply: He lives and reigns and conquers the world. Then she would let them pass. Those who did not reply properly would face her wrath in storm and shipwreck. 

I have to wonder why she would pose a question to which she knew the answer and then punish those who spoke the truth. Not very sporting of her.

I am fascinated by the fact that both of these "original" mermaid stories are not that far from Hans Christian Anderson's mermaid story. (Obviously he did his homework too, eh?) Both cast themselves into the sea to die, or transform and the impetus--love. If I can lead you one step further, I would offer the observation that the sea these female representations are throwing themselves into can be viewed as a representation of emotions (represented by the element of water). And they all lose themselves in the sea of their emotions, becoming something else all together. I leave it to you to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing, for them or for us.

Well, I'll end it here and welcome your comments. Please come back next month when I'll be exploring another batch of mermaid myths here at Myth Perceptions.


Denise Golinowski is a reader and writer of fantasy and romance. Her newest enovella, Collector's Item, is available from  The Wild Rose Press

Her first enovella, The Festival of the Flowers: The Courtesan and the Scholar is also available  through the Wild Rose Press. You can visit her blog at Golinowski's Gambol.

Mermaids - Before Ariel or Love Gets You in the End

Mermaids - Half Woman, Half Fish, Totally Intriguing

So many lovely myths to explore.
So many strange tales to share.
Where do I begin?
Where else?

The Little Mermaid

However, not the cute version beautifully illustrated by Disney, but with the original story by Hans Christian Andersen.

The Litte Mermaid Statue, Copenhagen - Wikipedia

When I was young, one of my favorite books was The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen.

Cover Image from Amazon.com

On the cover, it had this marvelous hologram of the mermaid swimming under the sea and inside were many two-page dioramas illustrating the story using these wonderful puppets. I spent many an hour reading and re-reading the story. One summer, my mother, sister, and I even planted our own gardens a la The Little Mermaid, filling them with our personal choices of flowers.

Interior Page Image from Amazon.com

But Hans Christian Anderson's story is not the same story as the one Disney popularized with it's darling Ariel. His story (beautifully portrayed in this book) is darker and tragic. The ending is less Happily Ever After and more selfless sacrifice is rewarded.

The little mermaid sacrifices all in hopes of winning love--her voice, her home, her family. Her transformation is accompanied by excruciating pain, and the price of failure is death. When she loses her love, the prince, to another woman, she is offered an opportunity to save herself, but only if she kills the prince. She cannot and casts herself into the sea. Instead of dying, she is transformed into a spirit of the air (angel) in recognition of her selflessness.

Interestingly enough, some of the earliest stories of mermaids involved an Assyrian goddess, Atargatis, who fell in love with a human. When she accidentally killed her lover (details unknown), she transformed herself into a mermaid. Talk about your story reversals, eh?

I'll be diving more seriously into mermaid myths around the world next month, so please come back to visit.

Denise Golinowski is a reader and writer of fantasy and romance. Her newest enovella, Collector's Item, is available from  The Wild Rose Press

Her first enovella, The Festival of the Flowers: The Courtesan and the Scholar is also available  through the Wild Rose Press. You can visit her blog at Golinowski's Gambol.