Welcome to A Field Trip Life! Here’s the monthly round up of notes from the field:
During the month of April I linked up with many other bloggers who participated in the A to Z Blog Challenge. We wrote thematic posts with each day starting with a consecutive letter of the alphabet.
My 2016 challenge theme was Living in a Mermaid World and I found far more mermaid material than I could ever hope to use. I kept finding more and more mermaid legends, books, films, songs,and art and will keep on researching.
When most people think of mermaids they usually think of Disney’s version of The Little Mermaid. Many mermaid stories are far darker with tales of luring victims beneath the water, sabotage, and trickery. Other stories portray mermaids as victims who came ashore but had important items stolen which forced them to live on land – that is until they discovered their hat, tails, or skins and were able to return to the sea.
Mermaids could very well be the most diverse characters in the world of folklore, legend, and mythology. They are found wherever there is water and their legends have traveled and transformed as they combined with tales from other cultures. It is interesting to learn about the similarities and differences.
I had many choices for most letters but unfortunately couldn’t fit them all in. Here are a few things you may enjoy:
If you would like to take a mermaid field trip, you can visit the Dive Bar in Sacramento, California. I went with my daughter and her friends and was fortunate to see Mermaid Rachel who is not only the Dive Bar’s head mermaid but is also an illustrator. You can read about her in this interview conducted by Mermaid author Carolyn Turgeon.
P is for Pinterest and I have two boards featuring mermaids. Mermaids – Read All About Them highlights books featuring mermaids (mostly kid lit) and Mermaids from A – Z showcases everything else. I’ll be updating these so follow along.
There are Mermaid Statues all over the globe. A great map was put together by Mermaids of the Earth where you can also find additional mermaid information.
The American Museum of Natural History had an exhibit a number of years ago on Mythic Creatures. Becoming Mermaids was a part of this show and there is a great overview of the origins, mythology and legends of mermaids on their website.
Do you want to be a mermaid? You can attend Mermaid School!
I wrote about Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida for the letter W. They actually have a Mermaid Camp where you can perform!
You could also try the L A Mermaid School or the Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy.
Did you know that a group of mermaids is called a pod? There are pods of merfolk all over the world and they have their own Merfolk Network.
Looking for a movie featuring Mermaids other than the Disney version? Buzzfeed has a list of Thirteen Iconic Mermaid Movies.
Why do you think mermaids fascinate so many people?
![A-to-Z Reflection [2016]](https://afieldtriplife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/A-to-Z-Reflection-2016.jpg)
This was my third A to Z Blog Challenge. I continue to be surprised by the amount of time consumed by the challenge. I read some great blogs and have discovered a number that I will continue to follow. I enjoyed being on Co-Host Pam the Unconventional Librarian‘s team and working along with Parul at Happiness and Food, Rajlakshmi at The Twinkle Eyed Traveler, and Shalini at Something’s Cooking and Tale of Two Tomatoes.
I held my first blog giveaway and the winners of some fun mermaid items are:
Cynthia at Read is the New Black
Jazz Feathers at The Old Shelter
Trina Grillo at the Grog Blog
If you participated in the challenge this year, what were your easiest and most difficult letters?
I really enjoye dyour challenge, I’m happy I found you rblog.
We tend to think to mermaid in a very steretyped way, I think. As it seems to be true for many legends, folklore is often more divers and darker.
Well, done 🙂
You were highly creative with this challenge, Claire. Like you I had more choices for a few letters and I will soon write my recap with them. A little swamped with the revision of my new YA novel. Good job again.
What an interesting choice of topic. Why are people fascinated by mermaids? I suppose it’s the idea of freedom we imagine would come with gliding through the water.