As you know, the majority of our earth is covered in water. Did you know that 95% of our ocean is undiscovered? So what really could be down at the bottom of our deep blue?
I’m sure you have seen or at least heard of the movie The Little Mermaid. Tales of mermaids have been around for thousands of years. Men have told these tales of beautiful and dangerous creatures who live primarily beneath the sea. So what is a mermaid?
A mermaid is a half-human, half-fish. The upper body consists of a human and from the hips down have scales and a fishtail. Their sighting was thought to be a bad omen, foretelling storms and rough seas. There are numerous folk tales describing mermaid's interactions with humans. Mermaids are generally described as having the upper body of a beautiful woman with long hair, and the lower half of their body from the waist down was that of a fish. In many of the classic descriptions, mermaids are to be found sitting on a rock just off the shore, combing their hair, singing sweetly, and admiring their beauty in a hand mirror. Their beautiful singing brings men into their clutches much like the classical sirens. Their unfortunate victims are either drowned, spirited to their world, or eaten in the depths of the sea.
In some tales, mermaids are benevolent and have the ability to grant the gift of magical powers, but usually, there is a high price to pay. As well as granting wishes, there are tales of mermaids intermarrying with humans, and creating hybrid children with magical powers.
But the question is, do they really exist?
Historically, there have been tales of creatures being part fish and part human for thousands of years. There have been several, actual recorded sightings of mermaids over the last few hundred years, even into the 20th century, especially in places where the old beliefs die hard.
One of the many actual recorded mermaid sightings happened in the Greenland sea on March 6, 2013.
Personally, I think this evidence seems true and not like any other recorded sightings that you can see on the internet.
Facts About Mermaids
The first mermaid recording was found in ancient Syria, in 1000 BC.
The recording was of a woman called Atargatis. Atargatis was a beautiful and powerful priestess who fell in love with a human shepherd boy with who she had a child with. An older Atargatis then tried to commit suicide, by throwing herself into the ocean to drown, but the Gods didn't let her die. Instead, the Gods changed Atargatis into a mermaid, with the upper body of a woman, and a lower body of a fish.
In the middle ages, mermaids were used to symbolize sin and seduction.
The Medieval church used mermaids and sirens to teach Christians about sin, salvation, and promiscuity.
The term 'Mermaid" literally means "Woman of the sea"
The old English word mer means of the sea and maid means woman, so combining the words mer and maid results in women of the sea.
Mermaids were often considered to be bad omens.
Legend says that if mermaids were spotted by sailors at sea, it usually meant that the sailor's voyage was heading for trouble.
A mermaid's kiss is pretty magical
It is said that he who receives a mermaid's kiss will have the ability to breathe underwater.
Mermaids were clairvoyants
Aside from being temperamental creatures, mermaids also have the ability to predict the future. Being able to see the future meant that they could predict when a ship would be near, and they could go off to lure the sailors.
Chinese mythological tales talk about mrmaids as wonderful, skilled and versatile beings, whose tears become pearls.
In 2011,i09 released an article talking about "Merphysics."
The article explains the physics behind how mermaids would experience the world, with emphasis on their senses underwater; seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling. One cool fact is that some mermaids might not be able to see the color red. Why? Because water absorbs red wavelengths. So, for mermaids living near the top of the water, this might not be an issue, as they will have evolved to see while they jump out of the water. But for those living deep down in the water and rarely surface, they have evolved to see red.
According to "The Secret World of Mermaids" compiled by Francine Rose, there are 15 species of mermaids.
In Spain, there is a famous legend about the "Sirenuca" from Cantabria, which is a mermaid that had once been a human.
Sirenuca's mother got fed up with her daughter not listening about keeping away from the cliff edge. In the end, the mother screamed "God grant that you become a fish", which turned her beloved daughter Sirenuca into a mermaid.
Source;
https://everythingmermaid.com/mermaid-facts/
https://stillunfold.com/omg/15-facts-about-mermaids-that-you-were-not-aware-about
I believe that mermaids exist, there's a lot of species deep in the ocean we don't know of. If there are humans on land with feet, there can be mermaids in the ocean.
Thank you for reading! ❤❤❤
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I don't believe that they did exist. But if they do, surely I will scare off that. Haha.