It is difficult to find a person who has not heard of mermaids. But not everyone knows who and how could become a mermaid and how these creatures differed from other evil spirits. The book of the famous Russian ethnographer Dmitry Zelenin "Essays on Russian Mythology" contains a wealth of material concerning these colorful folklore characters.
The mortgaged dead
In Russia it was believed that a person who died not by her own death could become a mermaid. Such people were called “mortgaged” deceased, which meant those who died violent or premature death. Most often they were drowned women who died by accident, committed suicide or killed by drowning.
Suicide could have been committed by hanging. Such a deceased also turned into a mermaid. In ancient times, they also included the souls of the dead, over whom a terrible ancestral curse gravitated. Among the southern Slavs, it was believed that the souls of unbaptized babies who died prematurely also turn into these creatures.
Only small children or women became mermaids. Usually these were young unmarried girls for whom such an early death was something completely unnatural. Married women - even quite young - often died in childbirth. These cases were attributed to the category of natural death, and such deceased did not turn into mermaids.
The name "mermaid" itself was rarely used. Other names were more common (especially among the southern Slavs): "vodyanitsa", "leshachikha" (from the word "goblin"), "devil", "kupalka" and others. (tickle) to death.
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The appearance and disposition of mermaids
Mermaids were considered dangerous creatures with an unpredictable disposition. According to legends, the peak of their activity fell on deep night. The mortal women came out of the rivers and behaved quite noisily: they laughed, sang or clapped their hands. People tried to avoid places where mermaids were supposed to be present.
According to popular belief, these creatures could drag men seduced by their girlish beauty into the river and drown them. Often the drowned women sat on the banks and wept bitterly over their share. Mermaids were also caught combing their long luxurious hair. The deceased used iron combs for this.
Those who saw the mermaids described them as girls of unprecedented beauty with long, sometimes light brown, more often - green hair. Mermaids never braided their braids, they wore long, ghostly white robes, similar to a burial shroud. Their skin was deathly pale, almost translucent. The head of the crow was decorated with wreaths of willow twigs and flowers.
In Transbaikalia, mermaids were represented as girls with jet-black long hair. According to popular beliefs widespread in this region, they could be not only beautiful, but also scary, and also differ not only in evil, but also in good disposition.
Russian rituals
Of the most popular rituals associated with these creatures, one can name the farewell and funeral of shreds. The southern Slavs also had a widespread tradition of commemorating the souls of all prematurely dead - including mermaids - on Trinity week. This custom was called "Russian commemoration".
At this time, it was customary to leave a piece of bread or a bowl of honey for the mermaid at the edge of the field. They also left skeins of thread, ribbons or towels as a gift, tying them to oak branches. All these offerings were intended to appease the wicked deceased. It was also believed that these creatures love to go out on the night of Kupala. They, too, should have been appeased at this time with various gifts.
Vodyanitsy loved to walk in the fields and meadows. They could wander into the house, spoil the cattle or do other dirty tricks, so it was customary to escort them back to the rivers or into the forest. On the occasion of such "send-off" festivities with songs were arranged. The girls sang special songs, affectionately begging the mermaid to return to their river.
Sometimes seeing off the mermaids resembled the rites of the burning of Kostroma. A scarecrow in the shape of a girl in a long shirt was left in the field, where the waterworms usually liked to walk. In another interpretation, the stuffed animal was burned, which was associated with the funeral of a mermaid.