Mermaids

Recently I've been thinking a lot about mermaids.



Above: mermaids used as heraldic supporters.

Mermaids are mythological creatures that feature in the folklore of the south of the county. Once you start looking for evidence you see portrayals of them everywhere. Sightings of mermaids have occurred regularly since the 14th century, although there is no hard evidence that they exist (and I should put on record that I do not believe in their existence).

Therefore we need to ask: why are people claiming to see these human-fish hybrids?

Are they fantasists and liars? Are they mistaken? Or is there a deeper anthropological need that is satisfied by repeating traditional mermaid folktails?



Above: the mermaid pub is some miles inland from the coast, but alongside a deep freshwater creek. The building is older than it looks, and has for centuries been a centre for the singing of sea shanties and the exchange of drunken stories. Did the mermaid legends result from inebriated boasting of the most salacious kind (the mermaids are always beautiful sirens with flowing golden hair and well-developed breasts).



Above: the folklore provides a good brand identity for this fish and chip shop. There is always a queue in this shop, and the chips are delicious. The Greenland halibut is incredibly good.



Above: representations of mermaids feature regularly in local fetes and pageants. This mermaid effigy has a brassiere of green shells. The creatures are always female.



Above: I was looking round this small remote church last year, which is inland but associated with the placename Seabrook. As you can see, the building contained an impressive set of ornate oil lamps. No-one could explain how old the lamps were, or who put them there (I would guess they were seventeenth-century).



Above: if you look closely at the lamps (you might have to click on the image to enlarge it) you can see that the design includes little mermaids. What are these half-naked mythological figures doing in a Christian church? When you consider how prudish the Victorians were, you would expect them to have been covered up in some way.



Above: probably the mermaid legends in the south of the county are related to the presence of seals along the county's coasts. Foundation myths associate the local people with these beautiful mammals, and anthropomorphic projections would have led (over time) to creation-stories that placed the coastal villages under the protection of hybrid human-seal/fish denizens of the sea. It is also quite likely that local sailors, drunk on rum and spending days without female company, could see these animals and fantasise they were women.