Mermaid Mythology

Finfolk

An amphibious people from Scottish folklore, finfolk move between land and sea, living comfortably in both. Finfolk are incredibly powerful sorcerers often calming seas or riling them up in anger.

Finfolk are generally in the Orkney and Shetland areas, they blend in with human like traits and fins draped on them like clothing. Finfolk are very strong and are renowned boaters, they can travel without sails and it’s even said that their boats can travel between Orkney and Norway in seven strokes of an oar.

Finwomen are born with tails and as they mature into adults their tails split in two and they remain beautiful unless they marry a finman. If a finwoman marries a finman they get uglier every seven years.

Fin men are born humanoid.

Finfolk live in findolkaheem in the winter, which is an underwater realm residing on the sea floor. They have coral houses, bright sea plants and lots of pearls. In the summer Finfolk live in hildaland which is the “hidden land”, a beautiful island that can sometimes be see through the fog.

Finfolk are amazing navigators and drive a hard bargain, but they are known to be fair. They often reward help with copper coins and rarely part with their silver as they hold it in high regard.

Finfolk men are said to kidnap women as their brides, a way to escape would be to throw as much silver as you can and run, as they will stop to get it. They also don’t like salt so that may work to.

Sources:

So

Then we realized, there is no way he’s making that much right??? So he has to be laundering money

So we did more math

Gaston is a professional hunter

The hourly wage of a top professional hunter in 2024 is 54$

So 54x8hours = 432$

So 432$ a day in 2015 is 325.62

Which converted to the Livres Tournois currency would earn him approx

8.7 grams of gold

And

645.9 grams of sliver

8.7 grams of gold is 717.24$

And

645.9 grams of sliver is 554.72$

Which is 1271.96$ a day

38,158.8$ a month

457,905.6$ a year

Therefore Gaston is well within his means to pay for the food of 66 chickens

And he’s in the top 5% of todays (2024) wealth

So a friend and I were looking into gaston and how many eggs he eats.

He eats 5 dozen eggs a day which is insane

But…

How many chickens would he need?

Doing the math

If chickens are healthy they lay approximately 1 egg a day

So doing the math 5x12 is 60

Therefore he’d need 60 hens for 60 eggs

It’s also recommended that you need 1 rooster per 10 hens so he would need 6 roosters

Great! We got to the bottom of that

But then.

How much food and how expensive is it to feed 60 chickens and 6 roosters.

We did a little more digging

Chickens eat 1/4th of a pound of feed a day so to feed 66 he would need 92 lbs a day to feed these chickens.

So then

How much money would that cost?

A 6 lb bag of chicken feed is 23.99$ so

92 divided by 6 = 15.3

15.3x23.99=367.84$

So we got to that in American dollars In todays currency

But

How much would it be back then?

We figured out beauty and the beast was based in 1740 France

So we had to find the currency

The currency was Livres Tournois

And sliver so we did the math

The inflation calculator

From 2024 367.84

To

2015 277.26

Then we went to the historical calculator

The equivalent of 277.26$ (1791-2015) in the year 2015

In the currency of Livres Tournois in the year 1740

Is

24.94370335962616

Which is

7.4 grams of gold

549.9 grams of sliver

Which then

Translated back to modern day money

In gold

610.06$

And sliver

469.65

Meaning in modern day times Gaston is spending

1079.11$ A DAY in chicken feed

And

1079.11x365

Is 394,094.15$ a year

ON CHICKEN FEED

Gaston was the 1 percent

HIIIII IM BACKKKK and this time delving into African Mermaid Lore!!

Mami Wata(Mother Water) is a water spirit who is sometimes depicted as a snake charmer, mermaid or both. And she is revered throughout Africa. Her depictions have been very much inspired by indigenous African spirits, Hindu gods and even European mermaids. Mami Wata is said to bring good fortune with money. Many enslaved Africans brought over the belief in her, and her connection to the arts and water. There is even more about her, that I will cover, in parts!

PC: ANNE STOKES 

Going back to Europe for a second, I wanted to cover Great Britain. Mermaids have been entangled in British folklore for centuries. Probably the earliest depiction of a mermaid from Great Britain comes from Norman England in 1078 by Saxon stonemasons. Mermaids were seen as an unlucky omen, with both creating disaster and telling of it. Although in certain regions mermaids were considered kinder to humans. This is very short, and I apologize, I will have an update super soon for y’all, covering a different part of the world. 

https://justhistoryposts.com/2017/03/24/mythical-creatures-medieval-mermaids/?msclkid=34d55397cf5811ecaf2aea75cec50ca4

https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/mermaid-myths-from-around-britain/?msclkid=34d4fd3fcf5811eca30d5028817b1725

The japanese mermaid, whilst mermaids are known for being half human half fish, beautiful women in some cultures, in Japan Ningyo are half fish, with a monkey type mouth, fish like teeth and golden scales. They say when eaten its flesh is delicious and anyone who eats it will live longer than usual. In Japanese folklore, they say that if a Ningyo is caught they will cause misfortune and storms. Some folklore states that Ningyo are able cry tears of pearls and tell the future, and in others Ningyo are able to shapeshift and less nice, they turn into more appealing versions and lure men into the sea. 

https://www.kcpinternational.com/2017/04/the-folklore-of-japanese-mermaids/#:~:text=In%20Japan%2C%20mermaids%20are%20often,a%20skylark%20or%20a%20flute.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/magical-mermaids-japanese-folklore-005755

https://japanesemythology.wordpress.com/toyota-mahime/ningyo/

The Rusalka aren't technically mermaids, or at least they aren't what mermaids would typically be thought of as. Rusalka are essentially beautiful young women who enjoy enticing men. Rusalka come from the Slavic pagan folklore and are akin to Celtic mermaids and Sirens. Their main purpose was to give life to the forest and fields. When they would come to dance in the moonlight every spring, they rarely interfered with the lives of men. In modern times the myth of the Rusalka changed to harassing men instead of fertility like the originated from. 

The pagan water nymph occurred naturally, however the Rusalka came from dying tragic and violent deaths, usually death by drowning. Some myths are that Rusalkas are unclean souls that killed themselves by jumping into a lake or river. Unlike most mermaids/sirens, Rusalkas have legs and can walk around on land.

https://eno.org/discover-opera/explore-more/a-guide-to-the-slavic-folklore-of-rusalka/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/rusalka

https://meettheslavs.com/rusalka/

Hello! I forgot to post links to my Melusine post earlier today! Sooooo here they are! 

https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2015/10/the-tale-of-m%C3%A9lusine.html

https://jannaludlow.co.uk/Angelique/Melusine_Alternatives.html

Lorelei, the German legend of a beautiful maiden who decided to throw herself into the Rhne River over a lover who was cheating on her. She was afterwards transformed into a siren who lured fishermen. The name Lorelei comes from an old German and celtic word that means murmuring rock. It is said that her voice can be heard bouncing off the rocks, and the lovely sound of her voice and her beauty are known to cause sailors to have accidents. 

http://mermaidsofearth.com/mermaid-statues-mermaid-sculptures/public/the-lorelei-statue/

https://www.oq.com.au/loreleimyth/

Also known in Gaelic as maighdean na tuinne (maid of the wave) or maighdean mhara (maid of the sea), she is said to have the upper body half of a beautiful woman and the tail of a salmon. She is found in the sea, as well as rivers and streams. She is able to grant wishes if captured. Often she will marry a human man, or she may be promised to a man, and any sons they have are destined to become amazing sailors. Eventually though, the water calls her back. In some legends, she will will swallow the man whole, or his wife if he is already married. The only way to stop her is the destruction of the Ceasgs soul, usually in the form of an egg or other magical object, to return the person to safety. 

(I´m sorry for my butchering of the native language also I´m sorry for the late update) 

A merman or mermaid  who needs a magical cap to transition from deep water to dry land. During the time of ancient Celts, Merrow were described as beatiful women who were swimming in the sea. The surface of the water hid the tails of these supernatural creatures. Sailors and fishermen found the merrows irresistible, especially when they would comb their hair. Merrow applies to both male and female of the species, and they were said reside in Tir fo Thuinn, or The Land beneath the Waves. 

Merrow men were said to be so ugly that female Merrows would not take them as mates. Not as much is known about the male merrow, except that they were said to be jealous and envious of humans appearances and they were lonely so they would take the souls of drowned sailors and keep them captive under the sea in revenge. 

Female Merrow however were beautiful and preferred the company of human men. In order to keep the female merrow on land it was said that the human needed to take the cap of the merrow before they were enchanted by the song or held captive underneath the sea. The cap holds the power of the merrow and allows them to live under the ocean. 

Written accounts of merrow luring Irishmen to their deaths occur all the way back to the ancient Annuals of Ireland. Legend suggests that at Killone Abbey in Country Clare, an Merrow swam up to the cellars to steal wine, she was caught and killed, but before she died, she dragged herself back to the lake and every 40 years the lake turns red as a reminder. 

In the 1960s there was a report of a sighting of a Merrow woman in Kilconly Point, Kerry. In 1936 there was a reported sighting of two Merrow men in Renvyle County Galway. Martin Heanue and Thomas Regan were approached by a bearded Merrow who attempted to grab their scabbard, one of the fishermen went to hit the Merrow when the other stopped him, there is a superstition that if you hit a merrow with your oar you would die within the year. 

In some folklore tales, the Merrow were said to have webbed feet and green flowing hair, they sang beautiful songs, but not to lure sailors to their watery deaths, but to be entranced by their voices, for love. 

Catch of the Merrow

By Tomas O Carthaigh

The waves in time give up the sight

Of the Merrows catch that fishes at night,

The tears that washes the faces with grief,

Wash them anew bittersweet relief

At least their flesh is among their own again

To be laid with forefathers and remembered then,

The Merrows of life misfortune or folly

Or pressures too great for a person to carry

No creature is it as once believed to be

Still the Merrow takes her share to the waves

Of the Sea.

https://www.beachcombingmagazine.com/blogs/news/the-irish-folklore-of-the-celtic-merrow

https://symbolsage.com/the-merrow-mythology/

If anyone has a civilization/culture they want me to talk about I’d happily do so! Just send me an ask or send me a message and let me know!

Also, while yes this is a mermaid lore and myth page, if anyone has any artwork they’ve done of mermaids of any kind, I’d love to see it and post it on my page!

well that’s the gist of that! Sorry for the break, we just talked about mermaids is Greek mythology, next we will go to Ireland/Scotland, a jump from the ancient world I know, but I’m not really trying to do this in chronological order lol

As I have been talking about Greek mythology, I am going to talk about sirens. Sirens, in Greek mythology, were seen as half bird half women that would lure sailors to the deaths. They are the daughters of the river God Achelous and a muse. If anyone were to survive their singing the were fated to die, so when Odysseus survived their singing, they threw themselves into the water and drowned. 

Because of the strong belief of Sirens in Greece, it spread to other European countries such as the Roman empire, where the myth of sirens got turned into sea dwelling creatures, and got mixed up with mermaids. However they were still known as the chaos causing, dangerous creatures, even in mermaid form. 

I know this blog is about merfolk mythology and such but I just wanted to bring up sirens because many people are under the impression that mermaids and sirens are the same, which they aren't, at least, they didn't start out the same or similar, there might be some creature out there that is a mermaid that can lure humans away from their boats with singing and drown them, but they did start out as birds. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Siren-Greek-mythology

https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Creatures/Sirens/sirens.html

Nereids, also known as sea nymphs, were portrayed with fish tails and at times with legs. There were 50 Nereids, all who had the father and mother Nereus and Doris. The Nereids were goddesses of the sea and protectors of sailors and fishermen, the each represented some facet of the sea, whether it be sea foam, or sand. The Nereids lived at the bottom of the Aegean sea, in a silvery grotto with their father. They were depicted riding on the back of dolphins and other sea creatures, and as beautiful young maidens. Their name is derived from the Greek word for wet, Neros. Nereus, often known as the old man of the sea and the father of the 50 Nereids, was depicted as a human with a long fish-like tail. He was son of Pontus, a personification of the sea, and Gaea the earth Goddess. Nereus was not the first sea god and was living around the same time as Oceanus. Oceanus, the titan God of the sea, while Poseidon was the God of the sea, Oceanus was looked at as the deity who physically represented the sea. He is the oldest of the titan offspring, and has over 3000 Oceanids and 3000 river Gods. After the titans were overthrown, even though Oceanus did not get involved in the war, Poseidon took over as the God of the sea. Nereus and Oceanus were moved to the wayside a bit. Poseidon is the brother of Zeus, and one of the oldest sea deities. Often times he is depicted in a four horse chariot riding over the waves with a trident.Triton, the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, was merman and a demigod of the sea. According to the Greek poet Heisod, he resided at the bottom of the sea in a golden palace with his mother and father. Sometimes in depictions there were many Tritons, not just one. Triton also carries a trident and was known as the messenger of the sea. Once he was more established in Greek mythology Triton established himself as ruler of the sea, and had a race of mermen and mermaids named after him called Tritons. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nereus-Greek-god

https://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Nereides.html

https://mermaidsofearth.com/on-the-origin-of-mermaids/

https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Poseidon/poseidon.html