#2600: on Lasiren : Smith adds

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Jennie Smith <jsmith@odin.berry.edu>
 
Lois E Wilcken wrote:

> Many say that the Haitian Siren is European, citing her name and her
> physical form as evidence.  A Haitian ougan told me she is Greek.  But
> Maya Deren points to a source (The Mythology of All Races, Hartley Burr
> Alexander, 1920) on the South American Orehu, a water spirit who abducted
> Arawaks, kept them anba dlo for a certain period of time, then sent them
> back to land with the sacred rattle of the priesthood.  This is
> remarkably like the behavior of Lasirenn.

I was told by a number of people in the Grandans that Lasiren is a 
beutiful "fanm endyen," with long, flowing hair.   

Jennie Smith
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Berry College
495010 Mt. Berry Station
Mt. Berry, GA 30149-5010
tel: 706-802-6730
jsmith@berry.edu