I was exploring an antiques store down near the Jersey Shore, and saw this unusual mermaid. It caught my attention for the folk art style, but also the fact that it differs from most mermaid images in popular culture, where they have a woman’s face and upper torso and it’s only the human legs that are replaced by the fish body. In this case, the only human element is the head that is attached to a full fish body. So what is this thing and where is it from?
Of course I’d probably have my answer on the spot if I had just pulled the tag out from behind the piece hanging on the wall, but I didn’t do it at the time. A search now on this type of mermaid folk art suggests that it’s a style commonly found in regions in Mexico, such as Guerrero, and can be made from materials like painted copper, which is what this appears to be. I have to confess, I didn’t know before now that Guerrero is a state on Mexico’s Pacific coast, which has Chilpancingo as its capital, and includes the cities of Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, and Ixtapa, among others. I wonder if a “Guerrero style” might be tied to the fact that Guerrero is home to a significant pre-Hispanic history and a large indigenous population?
I’m also wondering why mermaids are popular images in Mexico, and it is suggested that it’s due to ancient indigenous mythology. In Aztec and other Mesoamerican cultures, “Chalchiutlicue” was the goddess of water, rivers, and the sea. Another potential source of this imagery is “La Tlanchana,”a pre-Hispanic goddess from the Metepec region who was described as a shapeshifting water deity whose lower body could change from human legs to the body of a snake or to a fish tail, depending on her mood.
I got a little bit of this Aztec and Mesoamerican culture when I visited Mexico and in particular the National Museum of Anthropology, and just researching this mermaid makes me want to dig deeper into learning more. I was curious to take a look at my pictures from the Anthropology museum to see if I saw any mermaids there, and I found this one, which I didn’t track down museum tag info at the time, but further research suggests that it is a “sirenas” (Spanish for mermaids), and is likely a traditional craft primarily associated with the town of Metepec, which is not in Guerrero, but rather than state of Mexico (in the country of Mexico).
