HANALEI — Do you believe in mermaids? Next time you go to the beach, look around — you may be up for a big surprise. Years ago, Britany Holmgren doubted mermaids exist, but that wasn’t the case with her 5-year-old
HANALEI — Do you believe in mermaids? Next time you go to the beach, look around — you may be up for a big surprise.
Years ago, Britany Holmgren doubted mermaids exist, but that wasn’t the case with her 5-year-old daughter, who believed so strongly in those beautiful sea creatures that she was sure she would eventually meet one.
The little freckled redhead looked for mermaid signs at every beach she visited with her mother, until one day they came across a message in a bottle, which led to a buried treasure and ultimately to a mermaid encounter.
“When my daughter first told me about mermaids I doubted her,” Holmgren said. “But she taught me how to believe, and because of her, I now know mermaids are real.”
Mermaids are said to have been around since the dawn of man. Last May, the Animal Planet aired a television special titled “Mermaids: The Body Found,” which suggests at some point in the evolutionary ladder, some humans took the oceans and evolved into mermaids.
Federal officials have neither denied nor confirmed existence of mermaids.
Following Animal Planet’s program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tried to quell rumors that “half-human, half-fish sirens of the sea” roam the oceans. The agency has even gone to the extent of, oddly enough, publishing on its official website that despite many cultural references throughout the globe, some going back 30,000 years, there is no real indication mermaids exist.
“No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That’s a question best left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists,” NOAA states.
Since that first encounter with mermaids, Holmgren has studied them in-depth and became a mermaid specialist. As a result, Holmgren has met several mermaids, and now helps others to meet and spend some time with the mermaids.
Meeting a mermaid, however, is not for everyone.
One must believe in them first. Only then, those magical creatures will allow themselves to be seen.
Knowing full well believing is key to success, Holmgren opened a business called I Believe in Mermaids. Once or twice a week, she teaches children — and their parents, too — all she knows about mermaids, and assists them on their own magical treasure hunt.
If the children are able to find a treasure chest full of odd trinkets the mermaids have collected in their adventures across the seven seas, they will likely be able to meet a mermaid. It’s all about believing.
Children who are fortunate enough to meet a mermaid often become speechless when they first catch a glimpse of a real mermaid or hear her singing.
Soon the children warm up and shower the mermaid with questions. The mermaid also asks the children questions, tells them about her life under the sea and engages them in something that could easily be one of the highlights of their childhood.
Besides taking home a treasure chest, the children leave with memories that will last a lifetime, memories they will be adding to bed-time stories they will tell their grandchildren years down the line.
Visit www.ibelieveinmermaids.com or call (808) 346-2555 for more information and rates.
