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La Sirena
Nos vemos, Dina Leor, y los sirenitos
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
Grateful, gracias, 16 year celebration !
Thursday, November 13, 2014
La Sirena-More Than Just a Name...
This month marks the 16th
year anniversary of La Sirena! In honor of this grand celebration, this week’s
blog post is dedicated to our store’s name: La
Sirena.
The word “sirena” is often
translated in two ways: siren or mermaid. Although some would argue that
the first is a perfectly acceptable form of translation, mermaid is actually a more accurate translation. Why? A siren most often
refers to the mythical creature formed as a hybrid of a half-bird and
half-human, female creature. They’re responsible for entrancing men at sea with
their beautiful voices/songs (often driving their ship into rocks). A mermaid, on the other hand, refers to a
creature that is half-human and half-fish, often female (but could be male),
she uses her beauty to allure men (similarly) to their death, though not
always. Mermaids, unlike sirens, are not always perceived as negative
mythological creatures. In Mexican folklore, mermaids possess a dual nature.
To illustrate what I mean,
I will draw on one example of the use of the mermaid in Mexican folklore:
Chalchiutlicue. Often represented as a mermaid, Chalchiutlicue is described not
as half-human and half-fish, but as half-human and half-sea serpent. She is the
goddess of water, rivers, seas, and storms (later also being attributed the
goddess of baptism). The paradox in her character arises in that she embodies
both life and death. She is the patroness of childbirth, but she is also
credited with bringing a flood that “purified humanity,” killing many.
There are undeniable parallels in this particular instance of the mermaid in Mexican folklore and Christian thought—the association of female to the serpent and a flood that rid the world of evil. The mermaid is a fusion of indigenous and Spanish-European cultures. Christopher Columbus is said to have spotted mermaids (an already existing phenomenon in the European world) on his arrival to the New World (explained as a misconstruction of the manatee). This myth of the mermaid, from that point forward was enlarged and appropriated by New World cultures, popularizing these new “fusion” legends and myths with new imagery and symbols being used in folk art.
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| The Mermaid in Folk Art Ceramics @ La Sirena NYC |
The word “sirena” is often
translated in two ways: siren or mermaid. Although some would argue that
the first is a perfectly acceptable form of translation, mermaid is actually a more accurate translation. Why? A siren most often
refers to the mythical creature formed as a hybrid of a half-bird and
half-human, female creature. They’re responsible for entrancing men at sea with
their beautiful voices/songs (often driving their ship into rocks). A mermaid, on the other hand, refers to a
creature that is half-human and half-fish, often female (but could be male),
she uses her beauty to allure men (similarly) to their death, though not
always. Mermaids, unlike sirens, are not always perceived as negative
mythological creatures. In Mexican folklore, mermaids possess a dual nature.
To illustrate what I mean,
I will draw on one example of the use of the mermaid in Mexican folklore:
Chalchiutlicue. Often represented as a mermaid, Chalchiutlicue is described not
as half-human and half-fish, but as half-human and half-sea serpent. She is the
goddess of water, rivers, seas, and storms (later also being attributed the
goddess of baptism). The paradox in her character arises in that she embodies
both life and death. She is the patroness of childbirth, but she is also
credited with bringing a flood that “purified humanity,” killing many.There are undeniable parallels in this particular instance of the mermaid in Mexican folklore and Christian thought—the association of female to the serpent and a flood that rid the world of evil. The mermaid is a fusion of indigenous and Spanish-European cultures. Christopher Columbus is said to have spotted mermaids (an already existing phenomenon in the European world) on his arrival to the New World (explained as a misconstruction of the manatee). This myth of the mermaid, from that point forward was enlarged and appropriated by New World cultures, popularizing these new “fusion” legends and myths with new imagery and symbols being used in folk art.
The mermaid
nevertheless remains a popular icon, representing beauty, femininity, and the
sea. Mermaids are part of the music, the art, the culture of Mexico. They are
goddesses of the sea, not in the sense that they are religious deities or
cultural gods but just in a simple, folkloric form—la diosa del mar. For Dina Leor, owner of La Sirena, the mermaid is
a memory, of her time in Puerto Vallarta, and a symbol of her love for the
ocean. When the name “La Sirena” popped up in her head, she described her reaction
as, “THAT’S IT!” And that really was it;
16 years later you can still find La
Sirena, a little piece of Mexico, here in New York City.
So, don’t miss out, stop on by: open daily from
noon-7pm!
***All images were taken at La Sirena and are objects
currently on sale***
Photos and Text by Lizz Melendez for La Sirena
For more
information on the subject check out the following:
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