In Disney animation, the image of mermaids can be said to be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, influenced by film and television works, most of our impressions of mermaids are harmless and sweet and lovely, but in various mythological systems, mermaids are not amiable, but are the existence that people avoid, because the appearance of mermaids often represents bad luck.
Atagatis
In Mesopotamian legends, she was known as Attagatis, one of the female gods of fertility.
According to local legend, Atagatis, a priestess in a temple (who held a high social status at the time), fell in love with a young man of low status, and after the two had a child, the young man died unexpectedly, and the grieving Atagatis committed suicide by throwing herself into the sea. God took pity on her attachment to love and turned it into a mermaid.
Although she survived, she lived in the sea, but could not return to shore to see her children, which was a punishment for her suicide. Attagatius evolved into a goddess protecting pregnant women and the children in their wombs.
Siren
In Greek mythology, mermaids become evil beings, it is said that there is a half-fish, half-human siren named Siren, according to legend, Siren is the daughter of the river god Ecrous, a beautiful goblin born from his blood, because of the defeat of the music competition with the muse, the muse pulled his wings, so that it could not fly, after losing his wings, the siren had to swim near the coastline, and then transformed into a mermaid, living on an island near the Strait of Messina, where two other sirens, Skira and Kalubudis, also lived, She always appeared on stormy seas, singing poignant and moving songs on the shore, seducing sailors to and from the sea, so that the ships they drove involuntarily sailed towards the reef on the shore, and it was precisely because the sea was already full of white bones.
Legend has it that after the Battle of Troy, Odysseus, the hero of the Trojan horse attack, led a triumphant fleet of ships about to pass through the strait where the Sirens were located, and Odysseus had him tied to a mast and ordered his men to plug their ears with wax. He also admonished them to ignore his commands and gestures as they passed through the Island of the Dead.
Soon Stone Island came into their sight, and Odysseus heard a charming song so fascinating that he struggled to untie himself and shouted to his entourage for them to sail towards the Kraken sisters who were singing on the lush meadow, but the crew ignored him. The seafarers steered the ship forward until finally they could no longer hear the song. Only then did they untie Odysseus and remove the wax from their ears.
The legend also mentions that Orpheus, the son of the sun god Apollo, who was good at playing the harp, also passed smoothly through the place where the Siren lived, and he actually overwhelmed the Siren's song with his own piano sound.
Mermaid & Isohime
In Japanese folklore, they call the creature "mermaids," and they are described as half-fish monsters with monkey heads, many sharp teeth in their mouths, covered in golden scales, and a voice similar to a lark.
The Japanese believe that the meat of "mermaids" is delicious and can live forever, and the eight hundred bhikshunis of Wakasa country in the Kamakura period lived for 800 years because they ate "mermaid" meat.
Japanese legend also has a mermaid-like yokai called "Isohime". Her lower body is fish-shaped, much like a mermaid, but her face is very different. With a mouth split to the ears, sharp teeth, and two antler-like things on its head, it is quite a scary Kraken. Hiding on the shores of fierce winds and waves, as soon as someone approaches, they ride the waves to attack, twisting the person's body from scratch. Isohime is a youkai that is about twenty to thirty meters long, so once she snipes, no matter how powerful a man is, he can't resist.
Mother of water
The coastlines of western and central Africa also bear a similar image of the goddess, known as the "Mother of Water", who looks like a black woman and also has a fish tail or snake tail.
Mother Water will try to lure adult men to her mysterious underwater palace, where she will teach them some secret arts (don't ask about the secret arts, that's what you think of), but after that time Mother Water will ask these men to be absolutely faithful and not to have sex with any other women. If they do, they will receive wealth and status; Instead, the men are punished accordingly, usually death.
Previously, Disney's live-action version of "The Little Mermaid", using black women to play the role of mermaids, was met with various crazy complaints from netizens, although I personally don't think Disney knows the mother of water, but black mermaids are not for nothing.
Merl
In Ireland and Scotland, these mermaid creatures are called "Mero", and in the legends of these regions, mermaids are not only female figures, but also male figures, but the male Marrow head looks more like a monster, only the torso can see some traces of humans.
The female merro is similar to the traditional mermaid, but more hideous, these merro have their own social structure, often wars with coastal fishermen, and at one point even developed to invade the interior.
Fish god Ornis
According to Babylonian mythology, many people on Babylon and the Mediterranean coast worshipped the mermaid god Onis and his wife Atagatis. Onis is usually depicted with a bearded head, a crown and a man-like body with a fish-shaped tail down the waist. Atagatius is the goddess of the moon and the female mermaid goddess.
Scorpion
There are also records of mermaids in ancient Chinese books, but they are generally called maiden, and this is the case in China's oldest natural history, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Hainai Nanjing.
The country of Boji, the country of Li'er, the country of Diaozhi, and the country of Beiqu are all south of the river. Note: Off the ear, the manganium is separated from its ear to make the droop as an ornament, that is, the ear is also in the vermilion cliff sea zhu; The carving inscription, the face of the dai, the body of the painting is scaled, that is, the maiden also.
Judging from the description, the appearance of the mackerel is a fish with a human head and four legs, and it is generally believed that the image of a mermaid in Japan was introduced to Japan from the mainland.
In Jin Zhanghua's "Natural History", it is also mentioned, and even describes an allusion to a maiden weeping pearl.
"There are mackerel people in the South China Sea, and the water dwells like a fish, and its eyes can weep beads."
The simple translation is that there is a mackerel in the South China Sea, which lives like a fish in the water, has been doing weaving work, and produces pearls when it cries (its tears are pearls).
In the Taiping Guangji, there are also records of mermaids, and they are more inclined to the image of mermaids as we understand them now. The mermaid is a beautiful woman in appearance and has a kind nature.
The sea mermaid, there are some in the East China Sea, the big one is five or six feet long, like a human, and the eyebrows, mouth and nose, claws, and head are all beautiful women, all of which are full. The flesh and skin are white as jade, scaleless, with fine hairs, and the five colors are light and soft, one or two inches long. The hair is like a ponytail, five or six feet long. The yin shape is no different from that of the husband and woman, and the widows in the sea are obtained and raised in ponds. At the time of intercourse, it is no different from people, nor does it hurt others.
In many ancient books, there are many records of mermaids, but the authenticity is unknown.
"Records of the Gods": Xie Zhongyu once saw women haunting the water, and there were fish from the waist down. It's a mermaid too.
"The Legend of the Wandering": Sealing the Daoist envoy Goryeo, seeing a woman in the sea sand, with a red mane behind her elbow. Ask. Oh, mermaids too.
"Foreign Matter": The mermaid resembles a human shape and is more than a foot long. Unbearable. Peel for mackerel, sawn timber into wood. There is a small wear on the item, and the gas comes out of it. In the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the mermaid paste is used as a candle, that is, this fish is also. Out of the East China Sea, there is now Taizhou.
Write at the end
In addition, there is Rosaka in Russia, Finned in Scandinavia, and Sedna of Inuit, all of which mention a creature similar to a mermaid.
Some people think that the Hindu Naga is also related to the worship of mermaids, although there are many similarities between the two, but Naga actually comes from the worship of snakes, and the source of mermaid worship is not the same.
Since ancient times, sightings of mermaids have always existed in all regions of the world, and in the legends of so many different cultures in the world, similar mermaid creatures have appeared, is it really just a coincidence?