Tag: mermaid mythology

The Legend of Mami Wata

Poster of Mami Wata printed in the 1880’s by the Adolf Friedlander Company in Hamburg

June 25th is the feast day of a powerful water goddess in African mythology. Her name is Mami Wata or Mamba Muntu in Swahili. Mami Wata means Mother Water. She is a water deity or mermaid. She is deeply rooted in the ancient traditions and culture of the coastal Southeastern Nigerians.

According to Nigerian tradition, Mami Wata is a fertility goddess and is associated with sex and seduction.

Like most mermaids, Mami Wata can seduce, bewitch, and intrigue humans. She is a beautiful creature, shrouded in mystery, yet beware, for Mami Wata is a vengeful mermaid and not one to be messed with.

There is a lot of symbolism of the items associated with Mami Wata and her followers would perform various ceremonies in her honor. The mirror represented the movement from the present to the future; her followers would create their own reality imagining themselves in the world of Mami Wata.

Mami Wata has many priests, priestesses, and mediums in Africa, America, and the Caribbean who worship her and praise her.

In Nigeria, her followers wear red and white clothing to represent Mami Wata’s dual nature. They wear regalia of a cloth snake wrapped around the waist. The shrines devoted to Mami Wata are finely decorated in various colors. They have bells, Christian or Indian symbols, dolls, incense, and remnants of past sacrifices made to Mami Wata.

Her followers use music to praise the goddess, using African guitars and other instruments, while dancing heavily. Mami Wata’s followers dance so intense, that they appear to be in almost like a trance-like state.

Sculpture of the African water deity Mami Wata. Nigeria (Igbo). 1950s

According to one legend, Mami Wata was very beautiful black woman with a voluptuous figure. She had long black hair, an entrancing gaze, a beautiful singing voice, and the lower half of her body was a tail or serpent. Like many other mermaids, Mami Wata enjoyed mirrors, jewelry, and intricate combs. Mami Wata is often depicted with by a large snake wrapped around her torso and it’s head on her breasts.

Mami Wata is known for abducting her followers or random people, while they are swimming or fishing. She takes them to her spiritual world and/or underwater. If her followers return back to the human world, their clothes are dry with a newfound understanding of the spiritual world.

In other legends, men or river travelers, discover Mami Wata by chance. She is grooming herself, by staring at herself in the mirror and combing her long hair. Once she notices the intruder in her territory, she flees, leaving her precious items behind. The traveler takes the items. She later returns in the travelers dreams, demanding that they return her things. If he returns her items, he must promise to fulfill her sexual faithful to her and will receive riches. If he doesn’t, than he will be plagued with bad luck and misfortune.

While the stories of Mami Wata vary, based on region vary, one thing is for certain, that the symbolism, meaning, and powers of Mami Wata have remained the same. She’s a powerful water goddess associated with fertility, wealth, the water, all while yielding sexual prowess and strength. She’s a water goddess that should be respected and feared.

Myths and Legends Pop Culture

Yasu Matsuoka

Yasu Matsuoka is a self-taught Japanese artist, who creates beautiful mermaid and mythology-themed art. He creates art for a variety of spaces varying from private collectors to art galleries to interior design installations.

Yasu Matsuoka’s digital illustrations are so unique, because they tell a story of his own imagination. His passion for fantasy worlds, mermaids, and stories is apparent in his work.

You’re instantly drawn to the world he’s created with its vivid colors and exquisite details. The juxtaposition of his pieces are reminiscent of classical paintings.

Yasu Matsouka also known as Yasu Art Studio on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter has gained a large following for his awe-inspiring fantasy art.

I highly recommend that you follow him. You won’t shell-gretic it!

Myths and Legends

Grimm’s Fairy Tale of The Nixie in the Mill-Pond

Post author By Christine Meram
Post date November 10, 2020
No Comments on Grimm’s Fairy Tale of The Nixie in the Mill-Pond

Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde to the fairy tale The Nixie of the Mill-Pond

The Nixie of the Mill-Pond was written by the Brothers Grimm and is included in their collection of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales that was published in 1857.

The Nixie of the Mill-Pond tells the story of a miller and his wife, who are on the brink of losing their mill farm. One day, a beautiful nixie ascends from the water and visits the farm, calling the miller by name. The miller confides in the nixie about the state of the mill farm and how he’s going to lose his livelihood and home. The nixie strikes a deal with the miller, that he will give him wealth, if he gives her whatever is born that morning. The miller assumes that the nixie is talking about a dog or farm animal, so he agrees to the hasty deal.

When the miller returned home, his wife had given birth to healthy baby boy. It doesn’t take long, for the miller to come to the realization that the nixie knew that his wife was giving birth to his son and that he owed the nixie his son. The miller and his wife are perplexed on what to do, since they don’t want to give the nixie their child.

Years pass, the miller”s wealth grows, as does his son. Yet, the miller is still concerned about the nixie returning to collect his son.

The son became a skilled hunter and marries a girl from a nearby village. One day, the son shoots a deer and washes the blood from the deer in the mill-pond. The nixie snatches the son, taking him underwater with her.

The Nixie of the Mill-Pond illustration by H.J. Ford

When he didn’t return home, his wife becomes worried, and suspects that the nixie is behind his disappearance. She goes to the pond and calls out her husbands name and the nixie, begging for his return. She falls asleep at the waters edge and has a vivid dream, that she is climbing up a cliff and meets an old woman, inside a cottage. She wakes up the next morning, and does exactly what her dream had told her to do, so she goes up the mountain and finds a cottage with an old woman inside. The old woman, gives her a gold comb and instructs her to comb her hair at the pond’s edge on a full moon and set the comb on the water’s edge, once she’s done. Her husband rises to the surface, briefly, sorrowfully, then a wave drags him back into the water.

The wife is unsatisfied with having only seen a glimpse of her husband, so she returns to the old lady in the cottage. The old woman hands the wife a golden flute. She instructs her to play it on a full moon at the pond’s edge, just as before. She does as she’s instructed and places the flute on the sand. Her husband partially ascends from the depths of the pond and is once again, dragged down from a wave.

The wife visits the old woman at the cottage for a third time. She is desperate to be reunited with her husband. The old woman gives her gold spinning wheel and instructs her to spin flax under the full moon, until she had a full spool to place on the bank of the pond. The wife does as she’s instructed, and this time, her husband breaks free from the water, enraging the nixie. The nixie conjures a large wave to pull the couple into the water, but they escape.

The couple goes to the old woman for help and she transforms the couple into frogs. A flood transports the couple to the pond, where they are transformed back into their human forms, but are separated from each other. The couple become shepherds as a way to support themselves and are lonely and depressed without one another.

Many years pass, and the couple are reunited tending to their flocks, but do not recognize each other. One night, the man plays on the same flute, the very same song that she had played years ago at the pond. The woman begins to cry, overwhelmed with emotion and tells him the story of how she lost her husband.

Moments pass, and they finally recognize each other. They kiss and lived happily ever after.

Myths and Legends Pop Culture

The Mermaid of Zennor

A popular Cornish folklore is the Mermaid of Zennor. The mermaid is beautiful, but there is one detail about this legend that is distinct from other mermaid legends. The human is the one with the enthralling singing voice, not the mermaid.

The small town of Zennor in St. Ives, is known for two things: The Mermaid of Zennor and the Mermaid chair (located inside St. Senara’s Church).

The legend is about a beautiful, young woman, dressed in fine clothes, who attended mass occasionally at St. Senara’s Church, located in the small coastal village of Zennor. The mermaid named Morveren never aged, which baffled the parishioners, who had seen her attend mass for years, and would watch her from Tregarthen Hill. Morveren was the daughter of the sea king Llyr and resided in Pendour Cove, which wasn’t that far from St. Senara’s Church.

After many years, Morveren became smitten with Matthew Trewella, who was “the best singer in the parish”. Matthew was known for having the most beautiful singing voice and was incredibly handsome. She was so infatuated with him, that she only attended mass to see him sing.

The Mermaid of Zennor, by John Reinhard Weguelin (1900)

Matthew, eventually figured out that the beautiful woman, was a mermaid disguised as a human. It didn’t take long for Matthew and Morveren to fall in the love. Yet, one thing ached Morveren. She desperately wanted to tell Matthew, that she was a mermaid, since she couldn’t be with him on land, knowng that she had to return to the sea.

When Morveren told Matthew that she had to leave, he told her that he couldn’t live without her in his life. So, Matthew followed Morveren to Pendour Cove, where she jumped into the water and he did the same. It is said, that they lived happily in the sea.

Locals wondered what had happened to the happy couple, since they had simply disappeared.

Years later, when a mermaid appeared to sailors, asking for the anchor to be raised, since she couldn’t reach her children. The sailors kindly obliged and raised the anchor for her. It’s speculated that the mermaid they had seen was none other than Morveren, the mermaid who had lured Matthew to live with her in the sea.

Pendour Cove locals say on calm nights, Matthew’s sweet voice can be heard over the waves. That if his voice is high, the waters will be calm, but if it his voice is low, it will be rough waters. Even in the ocean’s depths, Matthew still sings his love and devotion to the Mermaid of Zennor, Morveren.

The Mermaid Chair and Alter at St. Senara’s Church in Zennor

But our story, doesn’t end there.

Inside, St. Senara’s Church at Zennor, there is a 15th century, medieval seat carved with a mermaid. The Mermaid Chair as it’s called, depicts a mermaid holding a mirror and comb. It is said, that the mermaid in the carving is the Mermaid of Zennor and that this was the very seat, that she would listen to Matthew sing at the parish.