A mermaid is a mythical sea-dwelling creature, often described as having the head and body of a woman and fish’s tail below the waist.
Whoever looks into the water sees his own image, but behind it living creatures soon loom up; fishes, presumably, harmless dwellers of the deep-harmless, if only the lake were not haunted. They are water – beings of a peculiar sort. Sometimes a Mermaid or Nixie gets ensnared in the fisherman’s net (1969:24).
The Stories of Mermaids have existed for thousands of years, from coastal settlements in Ireland to the landlocked Karoo desert in South Africa. Even in Poland, the Mermaid is an icon that dwells deep in the heart of Polish people, becoming the guardian of the polish capital.
Mermaids have stimulated our imaginations for centuries, inspiring the Arts from all around the world to try to capture her intangible image. This half-human and half-fish is not just a mystical, fanciful creation of human imagination. Behind the myths hides deeper meaning, representing everything from femininity and sensuality, to the power of the natural word and the realm of the unconscious.
The point of departure for these elaborations is the origin of the Mermaid.
The origin of the Mermaid
How far into humanity’s past do our stories of mermaids reach, is unknown. Archaeologists have found accounts in Mesopotamian mythology of Oannes, a male fish-god from over five thousand years ago.
One of the earliest mermaid legends appeared in Syria around 1000 BC when the goddess Atargatis dove into a lake to take the form of a fish. As the gods there would not allow her to give up her great beauty, only her bottom half became a fish, and she kept her top half in human form. Archaeologists have found Atargatis’ figure on ancient temples, statues and coins.
The historians believe the mermaid symbolizes the temptations of the soul, but for some philosophers is a metaphor of the unconscious.
From Mami Wata, Suvannamaccha to Poland and Dutch Minne.
Mama Wata (Mother of the Waters) from West, South and Central Africa embodies water spirits, there is no singular characteristic to her identity, nor a defined gender. Maai Wata’s gender is fluid, meaning she can sometimes appear as a man or woman. The spirit is worshiped for both their benevolence in offering beauty, healing and wisdom, and as a way of warding off natural disaster, so not much in common with the modern mermaid. Following Colonialism and the rise of the slave trade in the 1600s, the stories and beliefs of Mami Wata spread across the globe and remain an important source of spiritual connection with African communities seeking to reclaim their traditions and cultural identities.
In order to get closer to the modern symbol of the mermaid that we think about today, we must journey back to Ancient Greece and Roman mythotology. Whereas, Southeast Asian folklore includes the story of lovers: a mermaid princess, Suvannamaccha (meaning “golden fish”) and the hero Hanuman.
In my homeland, Poland, the first mention of a mermaid appears as early as 1390s, evolving from the Siren, a bird woman, adapted into a fishtailed mermaid. Remaining an integral symbol of Warsaw to this day.
It’s with, a broken heart that I must reveal the saddest story of the mermaid myth comes from Haarlem in the Netherlands. Where ‘Minne’ was tamed and forced into a restrictive role defined by patriarchal norms and expectations. (But this story should have own chapter, otherwise these elaborations will get to long.)
Hidden meaning
The realm of the unconscious and personal growth
Behind this story about the human-fish hybrid is more than just a fable. The notion of mermaids as an emblem of the transformative structure of the unconscious psyche and individuality. The sea is strongly associated with the vast expanse that lurks beneath conscious awareness, a watery abyss. We know the sea contains very dark places, like our unconscious, where all unacceptable desires and impulses are held. Furthermore, the mermaid is not only the representative form of the oceanic realm of the unconscious, but she traverses within, thanks to her fishtail; she’s adapted to watery conditions. Unlike a neurotic person who commonly experiences anxiety, depression, irritability, and self-consciousness, the mermaid surmounts her own neurosis.
Her human part is endowed with the capacity to overcome herself, to fend off monsters. But fending off the monster involves coming face to face with him as he returns our gaze. In Nietzschean terms, she overcomes herself by integrating her darkness, without allowing it to overtake her. Their half-human, half-fish form represents the merging of two worlds and the potential for evolution. The mermaid navigates what stultifies her, reaching beyond herself, surpassing her human predilection for regression and repression.
The look of the mermaid
We often associate mermaids, these mythical creatures, with a female human-fish hybrid. Of course, it was not always like that. The first mention of a mermaid from Warsaw describes a male figure. (Again, a separate topic).
Anyhow, she is usually depicted as female. This feminine imagery is powerful, hinting at qualities like intuition, sensuality, and a nurturing spirit. They flaunt their dominance, personifying independent, wild femininity, wanting to take complete control over the seduced man. They appear as ‘femme fatales’ all-powerful, destructive beings with transcendent and mysterious powers that flow from nature.
Although romantic “wonderful shapes of female-fish,” anthropomorphized in the images of the mermaids, are based largely on ancient and folk motifs, they embody the artistic visions and dreams of this era. The symbolism and meaning of mermaids have been modified throughout the centuries all over the world.
Sources
Royal Museum Greenwich.(n.d.). Mermaids and mepeople. Retrieved June 13, 2024, from https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-mermaid
Hawkwood.(2015,17 june). The mermaid of Haarlem. Shadows in Eden. https://shadowsineden.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-mermaid-of-haarlem.html
Aquarium of vulcan.(2012, 15 august). Mermaid https://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.com/2012/08/mermaid.html
PsychoCare.(n.d.). Osobowość neurotyczna- kim jest neurotyk? Retrived June12,2024 from https://psychocare.pl/osobowosc-neurotyczna-kim-jest-neurotyk/
Inkol, C (2018). Melusine Machine. Retrieved June 13, 2024, from https://www.shimajournal.org/issues/v12n2/g.-Inkol-Shima-v12n2.pdf
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