Mythology is the set of myths of a culture, a religion, a people or another human group. The best known and most popular is the Greek mythology that gave rise to the Roman mythology and which has survived to this day in many works of art. However, in Europe other very important mythologies were developed, such as Scandinavian or Celtic. Drinking from the sources of Celtic mythology, we find the mythology or folklore of Scotland, and among the beings that populate it the Selkies .
Join us to know 10 Curiosities of the Selkies, the beautiful beings of mythology Scottish , whose stories and features will surely impress you. It was believed that they had the power of therianthropy , that is to say, that they could change shape from human to animal and from animal to human.
10 Curiosities of Selkies
1. The o the Selkie is a mythological creature that we find in Scottish folklore, especially in the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands , but also in the Faroe Islands , Iceland and Ireland.
2. The word "selkie" actually just means "seal" . According to the tradition of the Orcas and Faroe islands, they are the great seals, especially the "gray seal", which can be a "folk selkie".
3. A selkie is a mythological creature that has the ability to change its seal form to a human form simply by removing the skin.
4. In addition to selkies These wonderful beings are also known as silkies, sylkies, selchies and Folk selkies.
5. The selkies they do not usually live at the bottom of the sea like the "finfolks", the witches change marine shapes, but in rocky areas close to the water.
6. They should not be confused with newts or mermaids since they are not the same type of magical being in Scottish folklore.
7. To become a human being, he or she only had to take off the seal skin that formed its outer layer, although some legends claimed that this action could only be carried out when given certain conditions in the tides.
8. Other versions of the myth said that it was only every seven years when selkies had the ability to take human form.
9. What these mythological beings were really like, there were different theories: the main one said that they were condemned souls of humans who had sinned, another that they were fallen angels and also that they were beings formed in a supernatural way with the souls of men and women who had drowned near the coast.
10. According to tradition, The male selkies were of extraordinary beauty and with a great power of seduction. They conquered mainly married women who were not happy with their lives and especially the fishermen's wives who spent a lot of time at sea.
11. If a woman wanted to come into contact with a selkie, she had to shed 7 tears at sea.
12. Of the female selkies, it was said that they liked to leave the marine environment and become women on full moon and on feast days. They left their skin and went to the villages to dance and drink, but when the sun rose they returned to the sea.
13. If a human fell in love with one of them, he should faithfully wait for her on the seashore during the next full moons and before such a test of love, it is possible that the selkie was moved and agreed to leave the sea and marry him .
14. The legends tell that Selkies maidens are beautiful and very good wives as long as her husband retains the seal's skin, but many times they will be mired in melancholy because they will miss the sea.
15. There are hundreds of legends about selkies brides and wives from Ireland to Iceland.
16. The legends about female selkies they have many points of relation with the "Swan maidens" . Both tend to get rid of their skins or feathers to bathe and that moment is taken advantage of by a human male to steal and hide their animal cover and thus not being able to flee or swim, or flying, force them to stay with them and make them his wife.
17. Members of the Scottish clan MacCoudrum of the Outer Hebrides claimed to be descendants of the union of a man and a selkie. This legend arose to explain a hereditary abnormality suffered by many members of the clan: syndactyly . Syndactyly causes the skin to grow between the fingers giving the hands and feet a slight resemblance to the fins of the fish. As centuries ago there was no medical explanation or solution for this type of different physiological conditions, they were attributed to the influence of magical beings.
18. Folklorists and historians think that the origin of the belief in these curious mythological beings is in the Finns who arrived in their kayaks to the shores of many Scottish islands. The first Scottish settlers possibly had contact with Finnish or Sami women who traveled covered with seal skins and often married them.
19. Another theory about the origin of the selkies affirms that it is possibly a misinterpretation of something seen in the distance. As we have said, the Finns came to the shores of Scotland in kayaks and completely covered by seal skins to protect themselves from the cold. When the seal skins of the kayaks and those that they dressed got wet, the boat lost buoyancy and it was necessary to put them to dry. It is possible that the natives of the Scottish islands saw them removing their skins or lying down without clothes next to them on the rocks or the beach. This may have led them to believe that they were seals that took off their skin and transformed themselves into humans.
20. For a long time in the Shetland Islands, seals were avoided in a superstitious way, as it was feared that under the skin there could be a selkie .
Did you know the Selkies? Did you know that they were believed to be "shifters" ???? and that it was possibly Finns who came to the shores of Scotland covered in furs? If you want to know other shapes of world folklore, we invite you to read the post: Change shapes | 5 Mythological cases that could inspire J.K. Rowling .
Images: Siegfried Rabanser , User: pschemp , Carolyn Emerick