I really enjoyed getting to celebrate Halloween in class with everybody who dressed up. As an homage to the origins of this beloved holiday, I chose to dress up as a Selkie from the legend in our Penguin Book of Mermaids. Upon reading these stories, which cover both Scottish myths and Irish legends, I was struck at the way these women, either as mermaid or seal, are taken against their will and forced to become mothers, especially in the case of Tom Moore and his Selkie bride.

Although this version ends with the seal woman kissing her children goodbye, and returning to the ocean, there are versions in which she drowns her children in her attempt to take them to sea. This reminded me of the story I grew up with, La llorona, about a weeping woman who is abused and abandoned by her husband, and in a sort of mercy killing, drowns her children in the river and herself. She haunts lakes and watery spaces and weeps for her children.

These two myths from completely separate parts of the world, position the water as both a danger to humans, and a power beyond our comprehension, that a mermaid could prefer returning to it, than to life on land. These stories discuss the limited options that women have in cases of abuse, forced marriage, or marital rape, which is to leave by any means. It deeply contrasts to the Grey Selchie (male) having custody of his child, but the mothers having to leave their children behind in an act of desperation.

I appreciated that in the Penguin version, when she leaves, her children and descendants are marked by webbed feet and the ability to swim. Through her, the Ocean becomes a part of their DNA. Their relationship with their mother becomes one with the Ocean. This physical mark of the relationship with sea creatures on humans bodies, reminds us of the deep connections with the Ocean we are capable of having, if we respect it´s autonomy.