• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

A Field Trip Life

Books, places, and books that take you places

  • Home
  • About
  • Places
  • My Author Site
  • Review Policy
  • Contact Me

H is for Haiti

April 9, 2016 By Claire Annette Noland 10 Comments

H is for Haiti

H

 

In Haiti there is a powerful mermaid named Lasiren. She is one of three powerful water spirits, sometimes considered sisters. One is cool and calm, one is passionate and angry, and Lasiren is a blend of the two. Lasiren is a part of the Vodou tradition and its practitioners believe that the mermaid’s spirit may enter the body of a female follower and bring good luck. Haitians who believe in Vodou swim in the ocean with their heads above water so that they won’t be captured by Lasiren.

Haiti Lesiren flag

When enslaved Africans were taken to the Caribbean, they brought their stories with them. The story of Lasiren blends African and French mermaid tales with Caribbean culture. You can learn much more about her here. Below is an example of Haitian recycled steel drum art:

haiti steel drum art

Also in Haiti, Christopher Columbus reported seeing three mermaids in 1493. He said that they were “not as pretty as they are painted, for somehow in the face they look like men.” They were probably manatees.

H engraving-of-columbus-standing-on-ship-A

 

H is also for Harry Potter. Do you remember the merpeople in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? These are the kind of images that cause nightmares!

harry potter merperson

From Harry Potter: The Creature Vault by Jody Revenson. Publisher: Harper Design [October 28, 2014].

Isn’t the world of mermaids wild?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blogging A to Z, Books, Mermaids Tagged With: a to z blog challenge, Christopher Columbus sees a mermaid, H is for Haiti, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Lesiren Haitian mermaid

« G is for Greece and Guam
Field Notes on the A to Z Blog Challenge »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JazzFeathers says

    April 9, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    Intersting. I’ve never known any of this.
    Thanks for sharing 🙂

    @JazzFeathers
    The Old Shelter – Jazz Age Jazz
    JazzFeathers recently posted…Honky Tonk (AtoZ Challenge 2016 – Jazz Age Jazz)My Profile

    Reply
  2. Andrea says

    April 9, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    Interesting how mermaids are often considered to be sisters, no matter which part of the world we go! I didn’t know Colombus saw mermaids, fascinating! Great read, thank you for your post!

    Andrea from Damyanti’s D Company #atozchallenge https://musicwordsblog.com/

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      April 11, 2016 at 4:40 am

      Sister stories are always interesting – look at the popularity of Frozen!

      Reply
  3. Shilpa Garg says

    April 9, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    This made for such an interesting and fascinating read 🙂
    Shilpa Garg recently posted…Hope #AtoZChallenge @AprilA2ZMy Profile

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      April 11, 2016 at 4:40 am

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  4. Tarkabarka says

    April 9, 2016 at 6:48 pm

    I thought the Harry Potter mermaids were creepy, but somehow made a whole lot of sense 🙂 Also, Columbus mistaking manatees for mermaids is kind of hilarious. I love manatees 🙂

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    The Multicolored Diary
    MopDog
    Tarkabarka recently posted…H is for Hatred (or rather, against it)My Profile

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      April 11, 2016 at 4:39 am

      I think the Columbus story is pretty funny, too.

      Reply
  5. Linda Ann - Nickers and Ink says

    April 11, 2016 at 9:41 pm

    Intriguing H entries! Don’t know much about Haitian culture, so I found this interesting.

    Visiting from the A-Z Challenge. I’m doing SEVEN of my blogs this year for it! Whew!

    Here’s one:
    Kicking MS to the Curb

    Reply
    • Claire Annette Noland says

      April 12, 2016 at 5:16 am

      You must never sleep! I have lupus but try to pretend that I don’t. Thanks for helping me to understand MS better.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. N is for Nigeria and Noah! says:
    April 16, 2016 at 5:23 am

    […]  cultures. Lesiren in Haiti can be traced back to Mami Wati. (You can read my  post about her here.) Here is a chart showing the variations of Mami […]

    Reply

Join the Discussion! Cancel reply

Please submit your comment with a real name.

Thanks for your feedback!

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Hello. I’m Claire Annette - reader, writer, teacher, and field trip planner extraordinaire. Here at A Field Trip Life you will find ideas for adventures large and small and the kids’ books that inspire them. Sign your permission slip. Let's go!

Connect With Me!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Join the Fun, Subscribe to a Field Trip Life Monthly!


(We will never spam you)

Search

Categories

  • 2020 Debut Crew
  • Adoption
  • alphabet books
  • Biographies
  • Blogging A to Z
  • board books
  • book maps
  • Book Travel
  • Bookish Field Trips
  • Books
  • Celebrate
  • Chapter Books
  • Christmas Books
  • Citizen Science
  • Cybils Awards
  • easy readers
  • Evie's Field Day
  • Family
  • Farm Fresh
  • Field Trips
  • Food
  • Inspirations
  • Library Love
  • Mermaids
  • Multicultural Children's Books
  • picture books
  • Picture Books
  • Places
  • Uncategorized

MCBookDay-white-21-300x234



Follow on Instagram
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No posts found.

Make sure this account has posts available on instagram.com.

Copyright © 2020 · FieldTripLife · All Rights Reserved
Designed by: iBoost.co