Names Around the Seven Seas
| LATVIA | NARA |
| IRELAND | MERROW |
| JAPAN | マーメイド |
| CARIBBEAN | AYCAYIA |
| BRAZIL | IARA |
| RUSSIA AND UKRAINE | RUSALKA |
| IRAN | پری دریایی |
| POLAND | SYRENA |
| DENMARK | HAVFRUE |
| INUIT MYTHOLOGY | ᓴᓐᓇ |
| FRANCE | SIRÈNE |
| CHINA | 美人鱼 |
| HAITI | LASIREN |
| ESTONIA | MERINEITSI |
Throughout history,
mermaids
have been known by many names:
AQUATIC HUMANOID
KELPIE
LIMNIAD
NAIAD
NERIAD
NIX
OCEAN NYMPH
OCEANID
SIREN
SPIRIT
SPRITE
SYLPHE
UNDINE
WATER NYMPH
Mermaids have been known to live for up to
three hundred
in their aquatic form.
TRADING FINS FOR LIFE ON LAND TENDS TO SHORTEN THEIR LIFESPAN DRAMATICALLY, PLUS IT OFTEN MEANS
giving up their voices along with their tails.
IN RETURN, THEY’RE GRANTED A TERRESTRIAL ROMANCE, OR
perhaps even a soul.
SADLY, IT’S SAID THAT
don’t have souls;
ONCE THEY DIE THEY SIMPLY
turn into
sea foam.
IN BIBLICAL TERMS (TO MISQUOTE GENESIS),
‘For sea foam
thou art, and unto sea foam
In the waters off
THE PORT OF HISTORIC NYHAVN, IN
Copenhagen,
LIES A WELL-LOVED BRONZE STATUE OF
The Little Mermaid,
MADE BY EDVARD ERIKSEN, WHOSE WIFE POSED FOR THE SCULPTURE.
IN 1909 A BREWER NAMED CARL JACOBSEN (THE FOUNDER OF CARLSBERG BEER) COMMISSIONED THE WORK AFTER FALLING UNDER THE SPELL OF A BALLET VERSION OF THE FAMOUS FAIRYTALE. ALTHOUGH MOST GAZE ON
the statue with love
FOR THE QUIET SUNBATHER NEAR THE LANGELINIE PROMENADE, SHE HAS SUFFERED VARIOUS ATTACKS. IN 1964 THE BELOVED STATUE LOST ITS ORIGINAL HEAD. AN AMPUTATION, ATTEMPTED BEHEADING, AND EXPLOSION FOLLOWED. SHE HAS BEEN RESTORED EACH TIME, THOUGH, AND
continues her watch.
Mermaids
CAN SYMBOLIZE ETERNITY, FERTILITY,
beauty, desire, freedom,
Tales about mermaids
began to appear
IN THE MESOPOTAMIAN KINGDOM OF ASSYRIA.
MERMAIDS HAVE BEEN ENCHANTING HUMANS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
Stories of merfolk
STRETCH BACK THROUGHOUT HISTORY AND ACROSS CULTURES. IN THE
Babylonian period
(1800–600 BCE), EA, THE GOD OF THE SEA (IN GREEK, OANNES), HAD THE
lower body of a fish and the upper body of a human.
THE CREATOR OF THE
live mermaid show
AT WEEKI WACHEE SPRINGS, FLORIDA, WAS
‘Fish Man’ Newton Perry,
A US NAVY VETERAN WHO HAD ONCE TRAINED NAVY SEALS TO SWIM UNDERWATER IN WORLD WAR 2. ALTHOUGH THE
city of Weeki Wachee
WAS NOT INCORPORATED UNTIL 1966, PERRY OPENED THE THEATRE IN OCTOBER 1947. AS OF 2008, THE LEGENDARY FLORIDA ATTRACTION IS NOW
a state park.
The name
Weeki Wachee
COMES FROM THE SEMINOLE TRIBE OF NATIVE AMERICANS WHO CALLED THE SPRING WEEKIWACHEE
(winding river).
Explorer Christopher Columbus reported seeing
three mermaids
IN THE OCEAN OFF THE COAST OF WHAT IS NOW THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, IN JANUARY 1493. HE SAID THEY ‘CAME QUITE HIGH OUT OF THE WATER’ BUT WERE ‘NOT AS