Sirena

Lola's story

When I was a girl, my family took the bus to the beach in Batangas once a year. At night the fishermen pushed their bangka boats out onto the dark water, and my Lola told me about the sirena.

"She sits on the rocks when the moon is out," she said, "combing her long hair, with a tail that shines like a fish's. And she sings. Her song is so beautiful that the fishermen forget to row home."

"Then what happens to them?" I asked.

"Then their wives call them home for dinner," said my Lola, "very, very loudly." I laughed, but I still kept close to the shore.

Now we go to Rockaway Beach in the summer. Last year Didi, who loves to sing more than anything, stood at the edge of the dagat and swore she heard singing from the waves. So she sang back, as loud as she could, from right there on the sand, where her Lola could see her.

What people say

Stories of the sirena are told in fishing towns all over the Philippines. She is a sea maiden with the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish, and people say she sings on moonlit nights to lure fishermen out to sea. Some stories say she is a guardian of the fish and the reefs, and that she punishes people who take too much from the sea.

The sirena has a scaly cousin, the siyokoy: a fish-man with webbed hands, fins and gills. The name sirena comes from the Spanish word for mermaid, but stories of sea people in the Philippines are much older.

How to stay safe

Stay close to shore and always swim with a grown-up. And if you hear singing from the waves, enjoy the song from the beach. You can always sing back.