My daughter Lisa is hosting a Mermaid Tea Party today on her blog, along with many other fabulous artists and people who have taken part in it.
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head and torso and the tail of an aquatic animal such as a fish or dolphin. Various cultures throughout the world have similar figures. The word is a compound of mere, the Old English word for "sea," and maid, in its usual sense. The male equivalent is a merman.
Much like sirens, mermaids would sometimes sing to people and gods and enchant them, distracting them from their work and causing them to walk off the deck or run their ships aground. Other stories have them squeezing the life out of drowning men while attempting to rescue them. They are also said to take humans down to their underwater kingdoms. In Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid it is said that they forget that humans cannot breathe underwater, while others say they drown men out of spite.
The sirens of Greek mythology are sometimes portrayed in later folklore as mermaid-like; in fact, some languages use the same word for both bird and fish creatures, such as the Maltese word 'sirena'. Other related types of mythical or legendary creature are water fairies (e.g. various water nymphs) and selkies, animals that can transform themselves from seals to humans.
I find it fascinating to learn about folklore and explore the many beautiful artworks that grace the sites of artists and designers, everyone creates their interpretation of mermaids or characters in time, its always a pleasure to see what people come up with, plus its very inspirational. My daughter Lisa inspires me everyday and I love to see what's brewing inside her head, come to life.
Last year she hosted a fabulous tea party at her house and did it all, the cooking, the baking, the party favors, the set up, the decorating and the drinks. She is a tea lover and has storage of packaed teas from her business,as well as art, print and design. Her teas are fabulous and she mixes them all, with delicious flavors.
Here are some photos from her party:
Here is a photo of one of the favors: Captured Jar Fairies: Little Obelia's Garden!
She also gave out handmade paper tea cups filled with treats, crowns and cupcake color candles.I hope you have enjoyed my post for The Mermaid Tea Party, now I'm off to swim some more!
All the Best!
Joan!
