It’s a new day and a new newsletter. So welcome and welcome back to you all!
Welcome to In Search of Why 🤷♀️
My answers are your answers.
Today we ask a question that has been front of thought in many of the world’s greatest minds. How do I become a mermaid? 🧜♀️ Because of course, how better to escape the pressure of having to solve the world’s problems, than slithering off into the ocean and disappearing forever?
I can already hear people scoff.
“You can’t become a mermaid. Mermaids aren’t real.”
And they’d be wrong.
Let’s get into it…
What even is a mermaid? 🧜♀️
In traditional mythology, mermaids are portrayed as these half-human, half-fish creatures. Obviously with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish, because the reverse would be even more weird. I mean, who wants to see some fish-headed creature with human legs wandering around? I sure don’t…
Anyway
Mermaids 🧜♀️
Mermaid sightings were actually fairly common in ancient sailor folklore. They are generally imagined to be these creatures with sparkling multi-coloured tails, wearing seashells tied together into the world’s most uncomfortable bikini top.
They are also more often than not female. I am sure someone will have a reason for that, but I’m not going to get into it today!
So are mermaids 🧜♀️ real?
Yes. But not these ones.
Unfortunately there is not evidence to suggest that half-fish, half-human creatures exist in real life.
And those old school sailor stories?
They’re generally written off as myths, or they could be classic cases of mistaken identity. I’m not sure I’m entirely convinced by that second explanation. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t ever looked at a manatee or a dugong and thought there was anything human-like about them. This could be because I’ve never seen either in real life. But I have seen photos on Google so that totally still counts.
Photo by Maegan Luckiesh on Unsplash
So yeah, I hate to break it to you, but transforming into the mythical sort of mermaid sadly isn’t possible (yet), because those ones are indeed fictional.
However, before you despair, there is still an option for you: Embracing the spirit of the mythological mermaid, through ‘mermaiding’.
What is mermaiding?
Mermaiding is a form of performance art, where people wear, swim, and dive, while wearing mermaid 🧜♀️ tails*.
*Costume tails, not real ones
While it is a sort of water ballet, mermaiding shouldn’t be confused with synchronised swimming (even solo synchronised swimming).
While some mermaid performances might involve groups swimming in a synchronised manner, actual synchronised swimmers don’t wear tails. Though we never know where that sport is going to go, so it might become standard practice at some point at the future…
The mermaiding community has grown significantly over the last few years, with more and more people donning tails to explore their local swimming spots.
The major diving training instutition PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) even now offers a speciality course to teach the skills required to take on the challenge.
Photo by Bruce Christianson on Unsplash
These days, mermaiding even has a professional career track. More on that below!
Those involved in mermaiding, generally do refer to themselves as mermaids (or merfolk to be more gender neutral), they can also be referred to as water ballerinas, or simple as mer 🧜♀️🧜
What do you need if you want to be a mermaid?
I know the whole concept of mermaiding 🧜 probably seems simple. You chuck on a tail, jump in the water, and flap around a bit. But truthfully, there’s a lot more too it than that.
Firstly, you need to know how to swim.
Surprising I know.
Being able to hold your breath, and knowing other free-diving techniques is also pretty key. When we think of mermaids, we think of creatures swimming around in the water, not on the surface.
But as humans don’t have gills, but do require oxygen to survive, coming to the surface at some point is kind of non-negotiable. Regardless, the longer you can hold your breath, the longer you can stay underwater and be the mermaid you are...
One way of learning the skills required for mermaiding, is by training with experienced mermaids. Training with freedivers can also help, as there is a lot of overlap in the skill sets (as we all know, spearfishermen are basically mermen anyway….). Taking the formal PADI course could also help you get up to speed in the basics.
To fully transform into your mermaid persona, you will also need the right equipment. Goggles and masks 🤿 are common-place (to help you see underwater easier), as are wetsuits and weight belts (to keep you warm, and then to counter your boyancy and the boyancy of your wetsuit and enable you to get down from the surface).
Most important however, is the mermaid tail. And a monofin 🧜♀️
As the word suggests, a monofin is a single fin, into which both feet are inserted. This means the wearer has to hold their legs together, and do a sort of butterfly kick to move forwards. As swimmers out there will tell you, butterfly (dolphin) kick is generally faster than two legged kick, so the monofin does bring some speed advantages.
Then comes the best part, the tail.
As you can imagine, mermaid tails vary wildly in price, with the fanciest, most “realistic” looking tails costing thousands of dollars. They’re often made out of silicone, but can also be made out of similar fabrics to swimsuits (like polyester and spandex).
What is the history of mermaiding?
While you may think the whole ‘mermaiding’ thing is a modern concept, the idea of swimming around in a tail has actually been around for over a hundred years.
The first well known mermaids 🧜♀️ was Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman (born 6 July 1886).
The Australian was a woman of many talents, being a professional swimmer as well as an actress and writer. She was ahead of her times in many ways, being one of the first women to wear a one-piece swim suit 🩱
Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash
As someone who swims, I honestly don’t know how women used to manage in those atrocious pantaloon things back in the day. I guess they didn’t actually “swim” in them…
After doing fairly well in a number of swimming competitions in Australia, and breaking a series of records, Annette started to embrace her artistic side and performed mermaid-style acts at swimming pools and aquariums across Melbourne. These shows turned out to be popular, and in 1907 Annette performed a water ballet at the New York Hippodrome in a custom glass tank. It is because of this show, that she is often credited with inventing synchronised swimming. At the very least, Annette was key in making the sport popular.
Side note - I guess this might mean that mermaiding pre-dates synchronised swimming. It also means that solo synchronised swimming came before synchronised synchronised swimming. So maybe we shouldn’t really rubbish it….
Continuing to embrace her swimming and artistic skills, Annette starred in a number of Hollywood movies, usually playing a mermaid of some sort. We have to assume that Annette didn’t care in the slightest about shaking the world up, as she appear nude when she starred in the 1916 movie ‘A daughter of the Gods’, being the first major actress to do so on film. Her appearances eventually earned her a ⭐star⭐ on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
And just because all that clearly wasn’t enough, in her lifetime Annette also wrote several books and started her own swimwear line (featuring one-piece suits for women of course) 🩱
Honestly, I don’t know about you, but I am starting to feel a little inadequate…
Let’s change topic!
Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash
I want to be a professional mermaid. What can I do?
So you’ve done the training, and you’ve got the gear. But what can you do as a mermaid to actually get money?
Turns out there are a lot of options.
These days, professional mermaids make their living via many different ways:
Performing at events or venues - including children’s birthday parties and tourist attractions
Teaching mermaiding to other aspiring mermaids
Following in Annette’s footsteps and acting in aquatic-themed movies
Modelling or being a brand representative or other influencer
Competing - yes, mermaiding is indeed a sport and is part of the USA Artistic Swimming Association. While not in the Olympics (yet), there are several local and national competitions, and even a World Mermaid Championship.
Designing and selling mermaid gear
Or maybe by starring on a show like H2O Just Add Water
Till next time…