Chances Peak Mermaid – An Easter Legend Made in Montserrat
Cute little baby ducks, chicks, bunnies, and lambs are nice and friendly symbols of Easter. They speak to new life, purity, and a bright future; concepts in line with the promise of spring and the resurrection. Montserrat’s Chances Peak Mermaid, though, speaks to a good bit more…
An Easter Mermaid?
Most people probably don’t associate mermaids with Easter. In Montserrat (and elsewhere in the West Indies), though, they’re right up there with Peter Cottontail. At least they are for enterprising adults keen on achieving financial independence, that is.
In Montserrat, this Caribbean legend has its roots in olden times. I’m talking way before the Soufriere Hills erupted in the 1990s.
Back then, as its name implies, the Soufriere Hills were a series of volcanoes. The 1990s eruptions, though, caused the hills to coalesce, in large part, forming a new set of lava domes and higher peaks than ever before.
Anyway, the tallest peak prior to the 1990s was called Chances Peak. Its elevation: 3,002 feet. At its summit there was a lake. In it, according to legend, there lived a mermaid.
Taking a Chance With the Chances Peak Mermaid
The Chances Peak Mermaid, though, was no ordinary mermaid. She possessed the power to make you rich for life!
Financial independence, though, was not something that she gave away easily.
First, you had to cross paths with her at the right date and time. That date, of course, was Easter. The time: before dawn.
So yeah, you had to climb the 3,000+ feet to the top of Chances Peak in the dark of night. That’s a good bit more challenging than leaving a basket outside for the Easter Bunny to fill with eggs and candy while you sleep comfortably in your bed.
As for task #2, it involved a bit of thievery.
As the story goes, the Chances Peak Mermaid had a comb. It was a very special comb that she must’ve really cherished as you had to steal it in order to earn the lifetime’s worth of riches.
That’s not all, though.
Once you had the mermaid’s special comb in your possession, you had to rush down to the sea before being caught.
Accomplish all that, and you’ll be rich for life!
Gone With The Past + Volcanic Blasts
Sadly, though, the legend of the Chances Peak Mermaid, like Chances Peak and Chances Lake, are all things of the past. The huge changes that the 1990s eruptions effected on the landscape in and around Chances Peak effectively killed off this colorful old tradition.
If you’re ever in Montserrat during the Easter Season, though, I hope that you’ll remember the mystical mermaid while enjoying views like this toward the Soufriere Hills and what’s left of Chances Peak. At the very least it’ll add an interesting new dimension to your Easter celebrations.
Who knows? Maybe it’ll even bring you good luck.