A few years past I viewed
The Secret of Roan Irish, a movie shot near Donegal, Ireland that tells the tale of a Celtic legend of marriage to a Selkie, one who could transform from seal to human. I thought of that film this morning as my husband and I sat on the beach and watched a colony of grey seals bobbing in the Atlantic.
Irish mythology tells of selkies swimming in the water all day, but as evening comes, they remove their seal skins and hide them, becoming human. Selkies, who have dark hair and eyes with white skin, bewitch humans, who fall deeply in love. To keep a selkie from returning to the sea one must find the selkie's skin and hide it. However, selkies always yearn to return to the sea, and in keeping the selkie land bound, there is always the possibility of loss, because in doing so you keep the person you love from their true self. The seals we watched seemed to be watching us as well. They seemed human and it was easy to anthropomorphize their actions.
Many beachcombers stopped and observed these pinnipeds perform daily tasks, like surfing over sand bars and catchings fish. The wind, being a constant on the Atlantic coast, keeps one cool, so one can sit for hours, watching their machinations. The wind plays on the sand, drawing hypnotizing designs in the sand.
Pockets are filled with treasures, which are later sorted and arranged.
A few years past I viewed The Secret of Roan Irish, a movie shot near Donegal, Ireland that tells the tale of a Celtic legend of marriage to a Selkie, one who could transform from seal to human. I thought of that film this morning as my husband and I sat on the beach and watched a colony of grey seals bobbing in the Atlantic. 
Irish mythology tells of selkies swimming in the water all day, but as evening comes, they remove their seal skins and hide them, becoming human. Selkies, who have dark hair and eyes with white skin, bewitch humans, who fall deeply in love. To keep a selkie from returning to the sea one must find the selkie's skin and hide it. However, selkies always yearn to return to the sea, and in keeping the selkie land bound, there is always the possibility of loss, because in doing so you keep the person you love from their true self. The seals we watched seemed to be watching us as well. They seemed human and it was easy to anthropomorphize their actions. 
Many beachcombers stopped and observed these pinnipeds perform daily tasks, like surfing over sand bars and catchings fish. The wind, being a constant on the Atlantic coast, keeps one cool, so one can sit for hours, watching their machinations. The wind plays on the sand, drawing hypnotizing designs in the sand.
Pockets are filled with treasures, which are later sorted and arranged.
1 comment:
ohhhhhhhh i LOOOOVE THAT MOVIE!
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