Mermaids – A Wonderful Creature of GOD
CASE: 1
Mermaids are one of the creatures that have been immortalized in people's minds and have fascinated the young and adults alike. The word mermaid came from the Middle English mere in the obsolete sense 'sea' + maid(en). It is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and torso of human female and the tail of a fish. Tales about their existence appeared as early as 1000 BCE in Assyria. One of the popular legend is that Alexander the Great's sister, Thessalonike , turned into a mermaid after her death and lived in the Aegean, asking sailors one question " Is Alexander the king alive". The correct answer would be "He lives and still rules", any other answer would spur her into a rage where she transforms into a Gorgon and harbor doom upon the ship and every sailor onboard. Even in popular culture, mermaids are depicted regularly in literature and film, likely due to the influence of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale, The Little Mermaid. But are these creatures just a figment of humans' imagination or are they real? Here is a photo of a mermaid mummy at Zuiryuji Temple in Osaka, which was bestowed to the temple as an offering from a Sakai-area trader in 1682:
This 30-cm-long mummy of a mermaid that can be found at Myouchi Temple in the city of Kashiwazaki in Niigata prefecture:
Another mummified mummy is preserved at Karukayado Temple outside the city of Hashimoto in Wakayama prefecture. "The 50-cm long mummy has fang-like teeth that protrude from its wide open mouth and both of its hands are raised to its cheeks, like the previous mermaid. Its lower body is covered in scales, and there appear to be the vestiges of fins on its chest, as well as a pair of nipple-like protuberances."
This last photo shows the mummy of a mermaid from the Shinto sect headquartered in the city of Fujinomiya near the base of Mt. Fuji. It was 170 cm in height and is the oldest and largest mermaid mummy, with 1,400 years for its age. The mummy has webbed hands with sharp claws and a 20-cm long tail.
CASE: 2
These images have been circulating via email, forums and blogs since 2006. They supposedly show a strange mermaid like creature found washed ashore. This variant claims that the mermaid was found on a Malaysian island. Alternative versions of the message relocate the discovery to other parts of the world. Yet another version of the message claims that the creature is actually of extraterrestrial origin: An alien was found by a fisherman in Teluk Bahang. Newspapers aren't allowed to publish it. Some may be seen it b4. I dont know the percentage of original. Don’t ask me what happen to the alien or where is the alien now either. I’m curious to know it as well. Not surprisingly, however, the mermaid is not a real, flesh and blood creature, but instead a sculpture by talented artist, Juan Cabana. A series of photographs of the mermaid can be found on the artist's website along with an entire menagerie of other strange and wonderful creations. Mr Cabana has sold this mermaid and other creations via eBay auctions under the name "Sea Mystery". According to information previously available on the auction website, the winning bid for the mermaid was recorded at $1,550.00 US. Cabana does not specifically state that his creatures are sculptures in his eBay descriptions. Instead, he creates fictional cover stories to go with the sculptures that include such information as how and where the particular creature was supposedly washed ashore and subsequently discovered. In an enlightening Small WORLD Pod Cast interview, the artist claims that he gives the items a cover story to create excitement about the sale and add an element of fun. He says that he at first made clear in his auction listings that he had actually made the objects but that approach "seemed like it was boring". Adding a story, he says, generates a lot more excitement. He assumes that most potential buyers will understand that the stories are tongue in cheek. Within the context of their original eBay listings, this assumption is not unreasonable. However, when the pictures and stories "escape" into cyberspace and get passed around out of their original context, they are apt to deceive many recipients. It should be noted that the images are taken from the eBay listings and distributed without Mr Cabana's permission or knowledge. The artist uses a variety of materials to create his mermaids and monsters, including animal skulls, fish and animal skin, steel, plastic and fiberglass. Folk tales and apparent sightings of mermaids have been around for centuries. Juan Cabana's mermaid joins a long line of fabricated mermaid carcasses that manage to tap into our deep-seated fascination for such creatures. Mr Cabana's exceptional talent at creating quite life-like creatures means that these mermaid images and the various descriptions that accompany them, are likely to continue circulating for a long time to come.
Regards, Kaushal Patel, kaushal312@gmail.com