Mermaid Syndrom | surreal mythological romanticism
A mermaid (Latin “mare” (sea) + maid(en)) is one of the most legendary aquatic creatures with the head and upper body of a human female and the tail of a fish. Various cultures have similar folklore figures. One of the first known mermaids was goddess Atargatis, the mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis. She fell in love with a shepherd and incidentally killed him in a fit of passion. Trying to quench her shame, she plunged into a lake with a wish to take the form of a fish. But the gods only half-granted her wish turning her into a mermaid.
Another example of a mermaid myth is the Russian rusalka. Rusalki (plural from rusalka) are the spirits of young unmarried women, either drowned or killed, who were cursed to live in a lake in the form of a mermaid. Like mermaids from other folklores, rusalki sing songs to enchant, entrap and possibly kill men. They can only be freed from the curse if someone avenges their murder. If rusalka marries Wodianoj (a male spirit of the water), she becomes a harmless demure creature. After “The Little Mermaid” fairytale was written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1836, mermaids have flooded the literature and film industry market. Andersen's version of a mermaid has become the standard since then, and a famous bronze sculpture was cast and placed in a Copenhagen harbour. Unlike the mermaid in this image, breaching out of a spindrift with a power of a whale, the Copenhagen’s mermaid is most shy and contemplative. Must be married, I’m telling you.
Sirenomelia Sequence [Mermaid Syndrome] is a very rare birth defect, characterized by an abnormal development of the posterior of the body when a baby is born with either a single leg or two legs fused together. Such physical deformity is found in approximately one out of every 100,000 live births (about as rare as conjoined twins). Because of numerous complications associated with this abnormality, babies who suffer from it usually die within a couple of days from birth. There is not a single conclusive answer to the etiology of sirenomelia.
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George Grie, September 2006
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Mermaid Syndrom | surreal mythological romanticism
Mermaid Syndrom | surreal mythological romanticism