@ Lars
A very interesting topic to collect on stamps!
I Googled: "mermaid as ship's figurehead" and found many links to carved mermaid ship's
figureheads selling for $109 to $369. It seemed that this was a popular subject to use on
the prow of old ships.
The Dutch believed that the spirit of the figurehead was thought to be the protector of
the ship and all who sailed on her. If the ship sank the spirit of the figurehead would
guide all the sailors' souls to the Land of the Dead. To sink without this spirit condemned
the sailors' souls to haunt the sea forever.
So there is apparently an great deal of legends and beliefs surrounding these symbolic
protectors. The fact that Copenhagen Denmark has "The little mermaid" located where she
is, may have a similar tho hidden purpose, but only in part, and not the primary reason
for that location.
I see that bronze, and like to think that she is searching the horizon for sailors lost,
who can't find their way home.
I think we would all enjoy to see a few of your pages Lars.
"Scott just says Mermaid, but I wonder if it is a specific legend. That may help answer my related question in a different post.
I believe this is Michel 3648 and Yvert 3431. Do any other catalogs detail the specific legend?"
Found in a post on Stampboards:
....... designed by Polish graphic artist Mieczysaw Wasilewski (1942- ), printed by lithography, and issued by Poland on May 5, 1997, Scott No. 3339.
Note: In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural: rusalki) is a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwells in waterways. In the middle of the night, rusalki come out of the water and dance in the meadows. Handsome men passing by are enchanted by rusalki songs and dancing, and are then led away by the rusalki to the river bottom and to their deaths.
"The SG World Catalogue lists what I think is the same stamp as #3686. It is described as Wars, Sawa and mermaid-siren."
That's it! Wars and Sawa were twins and part of a story about how Warsaw, Poland got it's name! There are many variations of this story, sometimes Wars was the fisherman and Sawa the mermaid, sometimes Wars and Sawa were husband and wife with newborn twins, sometimes Wars and Sawa were the twins, but the ending is always a fisherman freeing the mermaid and she then protects Warsaw from then on. Perfect!
TuskenRaider wrote:
"The fact that Copenhagen Denmark has "The little mermaid" located where she
is, may have a similar tho hidden purpose, but only in part, and not the primary reason
for that location."
The statue in Copenhagen represents Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) from the story by Hans Christian Andersen who was Danish.
"I think we would all enjoy to see a few of your pages Lars."
I hope to publish most of it soon, but I'm trying to sort things out still. It's hard to develop a coherent narrative.
Ningpo wrote:
"In Slavic mythology, a rusalka (plural: rusalki) is a female ghost, water nymph, succubus, or mermaid-like demon that dwells in waterways"
That's actually a very good deduction, and absent the listing in SG I might be inclined to lean that way as well. Fortunately I have a rusalka since Central Africa was kind enough to put Ilia Repine's painting "Sadko" on a stamp.
Nikki,
I like the two images. They definitely highlight the two different types of mermaid creatures in mythology. Often the sea-based mermaids were benevolent, while the fresh-water mermaids are deceptive and deadly.
tomiseksj wrote:
"There appear to be at least two legends depicted by the stamp."
This stamp was issued as a pair with another stamp depicting another legend, but this stamp in nicely explained by SG.
Thanks oldmanemu, and thanks to everyone else for their inputs!!!
Lars
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