Ondine(PG-13: 2010)
* Rated: 5 stars out of 5 * Starring: Colin Farrell … Syracuse; Alicja Bachleda … Ondine; Dervla Kirwan … Maura; Alison Barry … Annie; Marion O’Dwyer … Nurse – Dialysis; Tony Curran … Alex; and many more. * Director: Neil Jordan * http://www.ondinefilm.com/ *
A modern Irish lyrical faerie tale about a fisherman named Syracuse who pulls up a stunning woman in his net called “Ondine”. Her name means “She who came from the sea” and begins to believe his daughter’s theory that Ondine is a selchie or mermaid, a seal woman who in Celtic myth is believed to be able to become human by taking off her seal coat in order to pursue love with a human. They begin to treat Ondine like she is a selchie as many oddities in the situation, the events, and the tale is mystical and tragic. Whenever Ondine is aboard the fishing vessel and sings her siren song, his nets are filled with bounty. It becomes a torrid love affair that turns out to have an even crazier origin of truth. Beautifully woven tale embedded in myth. Brought tears to my eyes and edge of your seat excitement. Why can’t I pull up a beautiful selchie like that in my fishing nets? Amazing plot, storyline, and cinematography.
A rich realm of characters in faerie lore, mermaids, and mermen have consumed popular myth through the ages, including fantasy, entertainment, and imagery. Mermaids (and the male form “Mermen”) are a race of Faerie that consist of human-like mythological aquatic creatures that are depicted with a human head and torso attached to the tail of a fish. They are related to sirens, selchies, naiads, and sea nymphs.
Their names come from the Old English root “Mere” for “Sea” and “maid” for “woman”. Caribbean tales of mermaids appear as the Aycayia – with attributes similar to the Goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree. Voodoo lore speaks of the Lwa La Sirene, the lwa of wealth and beauty, and the Orisha Yemaya. Other names are “Mami Wata” (Africa), “Jengu” (Cameroon), “Merrow” (Ireland/Scotland), “Rusalkas” (Russia/Ukraine), “Iara” (Brazil), “Oceanids, Nereids, Naiads” (Greek), “Sirena or Siyokoy” (Philippines).
In folktales, mermaids were similar to sirens in that they often sang to enchant passersby, distracting them and causing them to walk off the deck of their ships and ground their ships. Some horror tales depict mermaids squeezing the life out of drowning men or carrying them down to their underwater realms, thereby drowning the men by either not realizing humans can’t breathe water or drowning them out of spite.
The first mention in the lore of Mermaids appeared around 1,000 B.C.E. in Assyria with the story of the Goddess Atargatis, who accidentally killed her shepherd lover. To bring him back, she jumped into a lake and transformed into a fish, but the waters wouldn’t conceal her divine beauty, thereby forcing her into the form of a ‘mermaid’ – human above the waist, fish below the waist.
Around 546 B.C.E., the Milesian philosopher Anaximander stated that mankind came from an aquatic species and, thereby, from merfolk. Greek legend places Alexander the Great’s sister Thessalonike as a mermaid upon her death. 2nd century C.E. Lucian of Samosata wrote about mermaids in the Syrian temples – notably Derketo and Hera Atargatis. Many Arabian Nights tales talk of Sea People such as Djullanar the sea-Girl or Abdullah the Merman, who can breathe water, interbreed with humans and create aquatic half-breeds. In the British Isles and Ireland, there are many tales of Mermaids and Mermen in local lore and legend – mainly from Fishermen (1800s).
Seeing them was considered an unlucky omen – foretelling disaster or provoking it. Some were described as monsters as large as 2,000 feet in size. It is believed that Mermaids can swim up rivers to freshwater lakes and that they often appear as drowned victims when presenting themselves to humans they are attracted to. Some lore portrays merfolk as helpful, teaching humankind cures for diseases.
Claims of sightings range from British Columbia to Ireland to Java. In the 19th century, P.T. Barnum displayed the “Fiji Mermaid” in his taxidermy exhibit, which was proven to be a hoax. There is a rare congenital disorder called the “Mermaid Syndrome,” where a child is born with his/her legs fused together combined with reduced genitalia that occurs as often as conjoined twins (1 out of 100,000 births and usually fatal due to kidney and bladder complications).
Today, many movies feature “mermaids,” from Aquaman and Pirates of the Caribbean to The Little Mermaid.
Disney’s Animated Classic: The Little Mermaid Throughout film and cartoons, the mythos of the mermaid has enchanted us all, including the popular character “Arial”, aka “The Little Mermaid”.
The Lure (NR: 2015) – A tale of two mermaid sisters in the 1980’s venturing into Warsaw, joining a band called “The Lure” with one falling in love with a human and ready to give up her tail for legs, and the other creating a buffet of humans in the city.
Habitats:Mermaid Cove at Carrick-A-Rede in Antrim, Northern Ireland:
