Mermaid of Zennor

Last updated

The Mermaid of Zennor, by John Reinhard Weguelin (1900) The Mermaid of Zennor.jpg
The Mermaid of Zennor,
by John Reinhard Weguelin (1900)

The Mermaid of Zennor (Cornish : An Vorvoren a Senar) is a Cornish folk tale which originates in the village of Zennor. The legend tells the story of a mysterious woman who occasionally attended the parish church of Zennor; a young man followed her home one day, and neither were seen again. One Sunday, a mermaid appeared to a group of local sailors, asking that they raise their anchor to let her enter her home, and the villagers concluded that she was the same woman who had attended their church. The legend is associated with a carved bench-end in the church, which depicts a mermaid.

Contents

Background

Cornish folklore features numerous stories about merfolk, and decorative mermaid motifs are common in Cornish churches. [1] In Cornish legend, mermaids hold spiritual symbolism, and are viewed more positively than in many other cultures. In the Ordinalia , the dual nature of Christ is compared to that of a mermaid: "He might well be Half man and half God. Human is half the mermaid, Woman from the head to the heart; So is the Jesus". [2]

Legend

Cornish folklorist William Bottrell recorded the Mermaid of Zennor in 1873 when he visited Zennor. In his retelling, a beautiful and richly-dressed woman occasionally attended services at St Senara's Church in Zennor, and sometimes at Morvah. The parishioners were enchanted by her beauty and her singing; she appeared infrequently for many years, but never visibly aged, and no one knew where she was from. The woman became interested in a young man named Mathey Trewella, known as the best singer in the parish. One day, he followed her, and neither were ever seen again. [3]

The villagers wondered what had become of the two, until one Sunday a ship cast anchor about a mile from Pendour Cove. Soon after, a mermaid appeared, and asked that the anchor be raised, as one of its flukes was resting on her door, and she was unable to reach her children. [i] The sailors obliged, and quickly set sail, believing the mermaid to be an ill omen. When the villagers heard of this, they concluded that the mermaid was the same lady who had long visited their church, and that she had enticed Mathey Trewella to come and live with her. [3]

The Zennor Mermaid Chair Mermaid Chair 2013-09-11 - 1.jpg
The Zennor Mermaid Chair

A shorter account of the legend was related to Bottrell on a subsequent visit to Cornwall. The mermaid had come to church every Sunday to hear the choir, and her own voice was so sweet that she enticed Mathey Trewella, son of the churchwarden, to come away with her; neither was seen again on dry land. The famed "mermaid chair" was the same bench on which the mermaid had sat and sung, opposite Trewella in the singing loft. [4]

Textual history

The Mermaid of Zennor is associated with a carved bench-end in St Senara's Church which depicts a mermaid; the legend itself likely postdates the carving, [5] [6] although local tradition relates that the carving served to commemorate the tale and as a warning against the temptation of beauty. The carving has likely reinforced the legend, contributing to its popularity. [7]

The story of the mermaid is retold in later collections of Cornish folklore, generally following the original accounts collected by Bottrell. [8]

Analysis

The Mermaid of Zennor is unusual, in that the mermaid seeks to attend church, rather than being repulsed by Christian practice as is common in other northern European legends. The story bears similarities to The Mermaid Wife, [ii] although the gender roles are reversed: the mermaid is the captor, and the man is the captive. The ending of the story, where the mermaid asks for the anchor to be lifted, resembles another legend designated as Removing a Building Situated over the House of the Fairies; [iii] Ronald James suggests the Mermaid of Zennor is a mutation of this story, and that the final part may have also formed a separate legend. [9]

Adaptations

Literature

Poems based on the legend have been written by Vernon Watkins, [10] Charles Causley, [11] and John Heath-Stubbs. [12]

Craig Weatherhill wrote the Mermaid of Zennor into his novel Seat of Storms (Tabb House, 1997), giving her the name Azenor, as the previous tellings never name her.

Eileen Moloney published a book of the same title, illustrated by Maise Meiklejohn in 1946. [13]

The legend is linked to Saint Senara in Sue Monk Kidd's The Mermaid Chair , [14] which was adapted into a movie for Lifetime in 2006. [15] The adaptation of the tale by Monk Kidd has brought increased attention to the original folklore, particularly from a New Age perspective. [16]

In the 1948 movie Miranda, the titular Miranda's surname is Trewella and she was found at Pendour Cove, implying a connection to the Mermaid of Zennor. [17]

British writer Helen Dunmore was inspired in part by the Mermaid of Zennor when writing her Ingo Chronicles. The first book of the series, Ingo , published in 2005, begins with the story of the mermaid and the main story line is loosely based around the legend.

Music

The legend is the subject of the 1980 song "Mermaid" by Cornish folk singer Brenda Wootton. [18]

2011 saw the premiere of composer Leo Geyer and poet Martin Kratz's modern retelling of the legend in a chamber opera, [19] which was described by The Times as "imaginative and beautifully shaped" [20] in its second production by Constella OperaBallet at the Tête à Tête Opera Festival 2012.

In 2012 the legend was adapted by Paul Drayton for an opera commissioned by the Cornish company Duchy Opera. [21]

In 2014 singer/songwriter Martha Tilston released her album The Sea featuring the song "Mermaid of Zennor".

2015 saw the premier of "The Mermaid of Zennor" by Philip Harper, a work for brass band. [22] Commissioned for the Cornwall Youth Brass Band, it was chosen for the National Brass Band Championship regionals in the same year (second section). [23]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bottrell recorded two accounts: in one version, the mermaid told the sailors that she was returning from church, and anxious to see her children; in the second, she needed to dress her children for church.
  2. ↑ 'The Mermaid Wife' is a migratory legend described by Reidar Thoralf Christiansen, which involves a man stealing a magical item from a mermaid, preventing her from returning to the sea and thus forcing her to stay on land as his wife. [9]
  3. ↑ 'Removing a Building Situated over the House of the Fairies' is another migratory legend, in which the underground dwelling of supernatural beings is negatively affected by human activity above, often involving manure. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mermaid</span> Legendary aquatic creature with an upper body in human female form

In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ys</span> Mythical city of Brittany in western France

Ys, also spelled Is or Kêr-Is in Breton, and Ville d'Ys in French, is a mythical city on the coast of Brittany that was swallowed up by the ocean. Most versions of the legend place the city in the Baie de Douarnenez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selkie</span> Mythological creature

Selkies are mythological creatures that can shapeshift between seal and human forms by removing or putting on their seal skin. They feature prominently in the oral traditions and mythology of various cultures, especially those of Celtic and Norse origin. The term “selkie” derives from the Scots word for “seal”, and is also spelled as silkies, sylkies, or selchies. Selkies are sometimes referred to as selkie folk, meaning 'seal folk'. Selkies are mainly associated with the Northern Isles of Scotland, where they are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark of Cornwall</span> Husband of Iseault in Arthurian legend

Mark of Cornwall was a sixth-century King of Kernow (Cornwall), possibly identical with King Conomor. He is best known for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and the husband of Iseult who engages with Tristan in a secret liaison, giving Mark the epithet "Cuckold King".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spriggan</span> Legendary creature in Cornish faery lore

A spriggan is a legendary creature from Cornish folklore. Spriggans are particularly associated with West Penwith in Cornwall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Cornwall</span>

The culture of Cornwall forms part of the culture of the United Kingdom, but has distinct customs, traditions and peculiarities. Cornwall has many strong local traditions. After many years of decline, Cornish culture has undergone a strong revival, and many groups exist to promote Cornwall's culture and language today.

Robert Morton Nance (1873–1959) was a British writer and leading authority on the Cornish language, a nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zennor</span> Village in Cornwall, England

Zennor is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen. Zennor lies on the north coast, about 6 miles (10 km) north of Penzance, along the B3306 road which connects St Ives to the A30 road. Alphabetically, the parish is the last in Britain. Its name comes from the Cornish name for the local saint, Saint Senara.

Cornish dance originates from Cornwall, UK. It has largely been shaped by the Cornish people and the industries they worked in. In most cases, particularly with the step dancing, the dances were still being performed across the region when they were collected.

<i>Peter and the Piskies</i>

Peter and the Piskies: Cornish Folk and Fairy Tales is a 1958 anthology of 34 fairy tales from Cornwall that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders and illustrated by Raymond Briggs. It was the first in a long series of such anthologies by Manning-Sanders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pendour Cove</span> Beach in west Cornwall, England

Pendour Cove is a beach in west Cornwall, England, UK. It is about 1 mile northwest of the village of Zennor, and immediately to the west of Zennor Head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ia of Cornwall</span> Cornish evangelist, saint, and martyr

Ia of Cornwall was an evangelist and martyr of the 5th or 6th centuries, flourishing in the area of St Ives, Cornwall. She is said to have been an Irish princess, the sister of Erc of Slane.

Bucca is a male sea-spirit in Cornish folklore, a merman, that inhabited mines and coastal communities as a hobgoblin during storms. The mythological creature is a type of water spirit likely related to the Púca from Irish, the Pwca from Welsh folklore, and the female mari-morgans, a type of mermaid from Welsh and Breton mythology. Rev W. S. Lach-Szyrma, one 19th-century writer on Cornish antiquities, suggested the Bucca had originally been an ancient pagan deity of the sea such as Irish Nechtan or British Nodens, though his claims are mainly conjecture. Folklore however records votive food offerings made on the beach similar to those made to the subterranean Knockers and may represent some form of continuity with early or pre-Christian Brittonic belief practices.

Cruel Coppinger is a semi-legendary figure in Cornish folklore. Coppinger was a real person, but various legends grew up around him, lending him near superhuman powers and a fearsome reputation. He is portrayed as huge and fearsome Dane who after being shipwrecked off Cornwall became the leader of a feared band of smugglers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornish mythology</span>

Cornish mythology is the folk tradition and mythology of the Cornish people. It consists partly of folk traditions developed in Cornwall and partly of traditions developed by Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium, often shared with those of the Breton and Welsh peoples. Some of this contains remnants of the mythology of pre-Christian Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cormoran</span> Character of Cornish folklore

Cormoran is a giant associated with St. Michael's Mount in the folklore of Cornwall. Local tradition credits him with creating the island, in some versions with the aid of his wife Cormelian, and using it as a base to raid cattle from the mainland communities. Cormoran appears in the English fairy tale "Jack the Giant Killer" as the first giant slain by the hero, Jack, and in tales of "Tom the Tinkeard" as a giant too old to present a serious threat.

Saint Senara, also known as Asenora, Sinara, or Sennara, is a legendary Cornish saint with links to the village of Zennor on the north coast of Cornwall, UK. The Church of Saint Senara, Zennor is dedicated to her, and according to legend her name inspired the name of the village of Zennor along with local features like Zennor Head and Zennor Quoit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Senara's Church, Zennor</span> Church

St Senara's Church, in Zennor Churchtown, Cornwall, England, UK, is the parish church of the parish of Zennor. It is in the Deanery of Penwith, Archdeaconry of Cornwall, and Diocese of Truro. It is dedicated to the local saint, Saint Senara, and is at least 1400 years old, though it was rebuilt in the 12th century. It is a Grade I listed building.

Robert Trewhella was a railway engineer from Cornwall, England.

William Bottrell (1816–1881) was born at Rafta, St Levan in Cornwall on 7 March 1816. He contributed greatly to the preservation of Cornish mythology. Both he and Thomas Quiller Couch contributed folk stories of West Cornwall for Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England, published in 1865.

References

  1. ↑ Haroian 1989, p. 1.
  2. ↑ Haroian 1989, pp. 1–2.
  3. 1 2 Bottrell, William (1873). Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall. Vol. 2. Penzance, England: Beare and Son. pp. 288–289. OL   5517506W.
  4. ↑ William Bottrell, Stories and Folk-Lore of West Cornwall, Third Series (F. Rodda, Penzance, 1880).
  5. ↑ Waugh 1960, p. 82.
  6. ↑ Kingshill, Sophia; Westwood, Jennifer (2012). The Fabled Coast: Legends & Traditions from Around the Shores of Britain & Ireland. Random House. ISBN   9781409038450.
  7. ↑ James 2019, p. 101.
  8. ↑ Frederick Ignatius Cowles, The Magic of Cornwall (Heath Cranton, 1934).
  9. 1 2 3 James 2019, pp. 99–101.
  10. ↑ Watkins, Vernon (1962). The Ballad of the Mermaid of Zennor (PDF). London: Faber and Faber.
  11. ↑ Causley, Charles (2012). The Mermaid of Zennor. Orchard. ISBN   978-1408319543.
  12. ↑ Heath-Stubbs, John (1954). "To the mermaid at Zennor". A charm against the toothache. Methuen.
  13. ↑ Moloney, Eileen (1946). The Mermaid of Zennor. Illustrated by Meiklejohn, Maise. Edmund Ward.
  14. ↑ Hayward 2017, p. 113.
  15. ↑ Hayward 2017, p. 123.
  16. ↑ Hayward 2017, p. 127.
  17. ↑ Hayward 2017, p. 62.
  18. ↑ Boy Jan ... Cornishman, (1980), Burlington Records, BURL 005, sleeve notes
  19. ↑ "The Mermaid of Zennor".
  20. ↑ Finch, Hilary (20 August 2012). "Mermaid of Zennor / The Yellow Dress at Riverside Studios, W6". The Times.
  21. ↑ "Mermaid's tale for children and adults". Cornish Guardian. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  22. ↑ Harper, Philip (6 January 2015). "A new magnum opus for @TheCYBB for premier at Easter. The Mermaid of Zennor.pic.twitter.com/lM54iTYRze".
  23. ↑ "Home – National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain". nationalbrassbandchampionships.com.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.