✨️LET'S LEARN LOTERÍA✨️6 - LA SIRENA✨️

6: LA SIRENA (THE SIREN OR THE MERMAID)

Alright friends, I’m about to take you all on a journey – we are going to learn about a game first created in Mexico during the 1700s by the Don Clemente company, a game called lotería, or “lottery.” And while the direct translation of lotería is indeed “lottery,” the game is more closely related to Bingo.

There are fifty-four different cards in a lotería deck, each with a rather colorful and easily recognizable object, animal, or person. Each player receives a plaque with several rows of corresponding objects, animals, or people. When a card is drawn from the deck such as “La Maceta,” or The Flowerpot, the card-drawer will say the name of the picture, then its “grito” or saying (the grito for La Maceta is “El que nace pa'maceta no sale del corredor” or “He who is born to a flower pot won't leave the corridor” in English), and everyone that has the same picture of la maceta on their plaque would put down a bean or corn kernel or coin to mark that same picture. The game is won in either of two ways: in the first, the first person to get an entire row or column filled wins; in the second, the first person to get the entire plaque filled wins.

I give this information because lotería is first and foremost a party game. At least, that is what it was designed to accomplish. But for many Latinos like myself, we wanted a system of divination that felt particularly our own. There’s a certain shared history with tarot, and oracle is obviously open to all.

But lotería feels like home; it reminds of us of our childhoods, of carne asadas for every celebration big or small, of huge birthday parties where we’d end up sleeping rather peacefully on a chair next to our cousins in the living room by eleven while the adults partied outside until three in the morning. It’s a testament to how Latinos have taught one another to “not take life too seriously.” Lotería is a game. But it is also a reminder.

The sixth card in the fifty-four-card deck is La Sirena, or the Siren or the Mermaid (we’ll be getting into the differences shortly). The grito for La Sirena is “Con los cantos de sirena no te vayas marear” or “Don't get dizzy with the mermaid's song.” Note that the translations of “siren” and “mermaid” are used pretty interchangeably, though they do end up having slightly different meanings depending on which word you are using, and even by location of where the card is being read.

But before we get into geographical differences, I want us to start with the split translation of La Sirena – as either a siren or a mermaid.

To get started, let’s talk about the origin of the mermaid, as well as the siren.

Both creatures are rather old in origin, and stem from slightly similar as well as slightly difference myths and belief systems. In fact, there are some mistranslations across different stories, so these two words/creatures get mixed up pretty frequently. That isn’t the say they are exactly one in the same, but they do get used in similar contexts a lot. Mermaids, which originated mostly in European mythology, though there is some debate about this. Regardless, they are generally depicted as half-fish, half-woman (with the upper body being human) and are seen as kind, playful, and beautiful. Ariel from The Little Mermaid is one of the best representations of this version of the creature in popular media.

As for the siren, she originates in ancient Greece. This creature is sometimes half-fish, half-woman, but most often is mostly human with some fish or sea-related characteristics like gills and webbed feet. The most important thing to remember about the Greek siren is that she is generally not kind and is responsible for luring sailors to their deaths via the siren song (The Odyssey is a famous example).

Mermaids, generally, are the nice version of this myth, while sirens are the darker version.

However, as I mentioned, there is quite a bit of crossover between the two. We see this most often in African and African American folklore, as well as indigenous beliefs about bodies of water, which is where Latin beliefs about the creature usually fall as well. It is no mystery that many slaves being transported between Africa and the Americas were lost to the sea, and so there are plenty of traditions in the US, the Caribbean, and abroad that liken mermaids to slaves who died on their voyage across the ocean. And in Latin America, especially in Mexico and parts of the Southwestern US, mermaids are even thought to be found in freshwater lakes, rivers, and cenotes (see next paragraph). These mermaids are a lot more aggressive than the mermaids of European mythology, and in some cases, the myth of the mermaid is conflated or connected to legends of La Llorona through similarly shared bodies of water.

In the case of cenotes, which are seemingly random, usually smallish ponds or lakes hidden within the jungles and forests of Mexico (and elsewhere), these bodies of water are sacred to many. They are seen as portals to the underworld, and paranormal energies and happenings are said to flourish in cenotes. Some never venture into them, as most cenotes have no natural ways to climb back up onto land, and many believe that creatures from the underworld, like the mermaids, snatch souls. Others treat the cenotes as sacred ritual sites, conducting marriages and even births within the beautiful, blue waters.

There are other geographical differences between some mermaids/sirens within the same countries and belief systems. For instance, in the Southwestern US, mermaids are often seen as swamp-dwelling, lazy or extremely relaxed fish-like people. They’re not generally aggressive, and many believe that they are based on or even are manatees. Even the mermaids that Christopher Columbus claimed to see are likened to early manatee sightings. Even still, many of these same people who believe in swamp mermaids believe in sea mermaids, despite not having close access to the beach. Another example is mermaid beliefs in the Caribbean, which combine her aggressive, sailor-killing tendencies with the grief of the slave trade. And then in places like the Southwestern US, mermaids and sirens appear along the Rio Grande and other border crossings where migrants often gather.

La Sirena is another card highly linked to duality – on one hand, we have the violence of drowning, of manipulation, of being lured to one’s death. On the other hand, we have beauty, grace, as well as the emotion of water and the grief that comes with that. There is a sort of feminine energy to La Sirena, yet these are tendencies each and every one of us can and does hold. Each and every one of us is of the water, is made of water, and so La Sirena asks us to feel whatever it is we need to or must feel.

In the upright position, I read La Sirena in a more graceful sense – elegance, dignity, the ability to see the beauty in things, and the aesthetic life we build for ourselves. I do not translate her as mermaid OR siren, but rather both or neither or either depending on the occasion. Sometimes, the mermaid is the kinder read, and sometimes, the siren is the kinder read. Either, an upright La Sirena tells me that there is work to be done and the work itself will be beautiful, rewarding even, if we take moments to pause and really look around. She does things creatively, passionately, and playfully, seeing things with childlike, new, and fresh eyes. She is a being of perspective, as there is really no up or down in the water, only the space to move freely.

In the reversed position, La Sirena is dragging us to our deaths – whether that be of our own making, or through the influence of others, remains to be seen. La Sirena reversed is a warning, an alarm telling us that the siren song is calling us to a place we are not going to want to be. It might initially look beautiful, the opportunity may be everything you ever thought you hoped for, yet… it is a trap, ready to ensnare you in ways that will be very difficult to break free from. Reversed La Sirena asks us to take off the rose-colored glasses, to face harsh truths, and to do so without our tail tucked between our legs. The sea is beautiful, bountiful, alive, but she will also drag a ship down into her depths without a moment’s notice.

Depictions of La Sirena are incredibly fun. Let me explain – if you look at Xelena González’s design (picture one), you’ll notice a beautiful, dark-haired woman with a red fish tail for legs. Her arms are very obviously covering her exposed chest, and she is reaching gently outward – reaching for the things she knows she’s worked hard for. In the Don Clemente version (picture two), we also have a dark-haired half-woman, half-fish, the same red tail, and a similar gentle pose. The main difference with the “vintage” Don Clemente deck is the exposed breasts. In newer versions of the Don Clemente deck, the pose remains exact, but the mermaid is wearing a seashell bra instead. As the game got popularized and brought more into the US, parents began to grow uncomfortable with the exposed chest, and so changes were made. Yet, in my redesigned deck (picture three), I have made a few changes: one, the mermaid’s tail is green rather than red, and she is not reaching out, but is sitting upon a wave while she looks ahead gracefully. While I did like the original red tail, I wanted to soften La Sirena a bit, and I thought changing her tail color would be a good way to do that. I do know that, unfortunately, this makes the iconic La Sirena silhouette that is used in popular Mexican media a little less recognizable.

Well, that’s about it on La Sirena! Thanks for reading this week’s lesson in you did. As a reminder, please try to buy lotería game decks and packages from Mexican and Latine sellers as often as possible to support la raza. Playing lotería as a game is completely open, and I highly encourage anyone to try it! But using it to make money through divination without being Latine yourself is considered cultural appropriation.

Thanks again for reading everyone! I’ll be back next Tuesday with the history and interpretation of card 7 ✨️

And as always, if there are any questions, please feel free to ask below ✨️