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H is for Haiti

April 9, 2016 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

Previous Post: « G is for Greece and Guam
Next Post: 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

    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 🙂

    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

    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

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