Editing Mermaid (section)

== Americas folklore ==
The [[Neo-Taíno nations]] of the [[Caribbean]] identify a mermaid called ''Aycayia''<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.conexioncubana.net/index.php?st=others&sk=pdef&id=a |title = Diccionario de Argot Cubano |publisher = Conexion Cubana |access-date = 24 April 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110930102913/http://www.conexioncubana.net/index.php?st=others&sk=pdef&id=a |archive-date = 30 September 2011 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bennett | first=Lennie |title=Four exhibitions woven into 'Textures' |url=http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/article680572.ece |date=10 July 2008 |website=Tampa Bay |publisher=The St. Petersburg Times |access-date=25 April 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201152219/http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/article680572.ece |archive-date=1 December 2008 }}</ref> with attributes of the goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree ''[[Hibiscus tiliaceus]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/hibiscus_tiliaceus.htm |title= Hibiscus tiliaceus&nbsp;– Hau (Malvaceae)&nbsp;– Plants of Hawaii |publisher= Hear.org |access-date= 24 April 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080508172241/http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/hibiscus_tiliaceus.htm |archive-date= 8 May 2008 |url-status= dead }}</ref> In modern Caribbean culture, there are a number of mermaids that are derived from West African originals and taken by slaves. These include Watramama in Suriname and Guyana, Mamadjo in Grenada, Yemanya or Yemaya in Brazil and Cuba, Erzulie in Haiti), and Lamanté in Martinique.{{sfn|Nies|2014|page=306}} There is a mermaid recognized as a [[Haiti]]an ''vodou'' [[loa]] called ''Lasirèn'' (from the French {{langx|fr|la siréne}}, "the mermaid"), representing wealth, beauty and romance, but also the possibility of death.{{sfn|Nies|2014|page=307}}

=== Iara and Ipupiara ===
In Brazilian folklore, the [[iara (mythology)|iara]], also known as ''mãe-d'agua'' ("lady/mother of the water") is a water-dwelling beauty whom fishermen are prone to fall prey to.<ref name="souza"/><ref name="herrera-sobek"/> According to eighteenth-century sources, she is a long-haired woman who enchant men by night, and those who scucumb die, "drowned by passion".<ref name="soares&silva&barbosa"/> Folklore also blamed disappearances of men on the Iara who lured them singing in the indigenous language.<ref name="soares&silva&barbosa"/> 

The ascribed hair and eye color differs depends on the tradition in various regions.<ref name="diana@todamateria"/> According to the tale of the Manaus tribe youth Jaguarari and the Yara, she has hair of the color of the [[Handroanthus|pau d'arco]] tree's flowers{{efn|yellow or white to pink, it is not clear.}} (var. green hair) and pink skin,{{Refn|hair of "pau d'arco" color and skin as pink as ''colhereira'' occurs in Affonso Arinos (1917) "A Yara",<ref name="arinos1917"/><ref name="tocantins1963"/> "pink skin and green hair" in the variant of the same tale in Dorson, Mercedes; Wilmot, Jeanne edd. (1997) "The Legend of the Yara" ''Tales from the Rain Forest''.<ref name="elswit2015"/>}} while she is black-haired according to some.<ref name="diana@todamateria"/><ref name="tocantins1963"/> Other commentators insist Iara is a "beautiful white woman who lives in a river",{{sfnp|Teixeira|1992|p=33}} reputedly golden-haired,<ref name="herrera-sobek"/> and blue-eyed<ref name="cascudo-alamoa">{{harvp|Cascudo|1962|loc='''1''': 25}}, "ALAMOA": "{{lang|pt|A pele, olhos e cabelos da Alamoa são as da convencional Iara, pele branca, olhos azuis , cabelo louro}}."</ref> though the blond, blue-eyed image was not attested until after the mid-nineteenth century, to the best knowledge of [[Camara Cascudo]].{{efn|The authority in question, Cascudo sees the influence of [[Gonçalves Dias]]'s "romantic indigenization".}}<ref name="cascudo-mae-dagua">{{harvp|Cascudo|1962|loc='''1''': 364}}, "IARA", cross-referenced to: {{harvp|Cascudo|1962|loc='''2''': 441–442}} "MÃE-D'ÁGUA".</ref> Cascudo in his earlier writing contended that though the Iara was rooted in two indigenous beings, the water-devil Ipupiara (cf. below) and the [[Boiuna|Cobra-Grande]], he also saw the combining of the Portuguese lore of the [[Enchanted Moura]] (moorish girl), who was obviously dark-skinned.<ref>Cascudo (1983) [1947], ''Geografia dos mitos brasileiros'', p. 134. Cited and summarized by {{harvp|Teixeira|1992|p=33}}</ref>{{efn|Cascudo's ''Dicionario do folclore brasileiro'' (1954) explores numerous other contributing European lore and indigenous water-myth.}} The Iara became increasingly to be regarded as a woman-fish, after the image of the European sirens/mermaids.<ref name="noguera"/><ref name="morais"/>

It is often argued that the legends of the Iara developed around the eighteenth century out of the indigenous myth of the {{interlanguage link|Ipupiara (monster)|pt|Ipupiara (criptozoologia)|lt=Ipupiara}} among the [[Tupinambá people]]. The Ipupiara was originally conceived of as a male water-dweller that carried fishermen to the bottom, devouring their mouths, nose, fingertips and genitals.<ref name="souza"/> European writers during the age of exploration disseminated the myth, but the {{interlanguage link|Pero de Magalhães Gandavo|pt|lt=Gandavo}} (1576){{efn|Pero de Magalhães Gandavo. ''História da Província de Santa Cruz'' (1576)}} included an illustration of "Hipupiàra" with female breasts. Subsequently the Jesuit {{interlanguage link|Fernão Cardim|pt|lt=Cardim}}{{efn|''Do clima e terra do Brasil'', 1584}} wrote that the "Igpupiàra" also consisted of females that look like women with long hair.<ref name="fonseca"/> Though somewhat vague in the case of Gandavo, Cardim had clearly injected Christian opinion which would readily relegate the role of emasculating men to the female kind.{{Refn|Fonseca<ref name="fonseca"/> invoking the ''[[vagina dentata]]'' concept and quoting {{cite book|editor-last=Walker |editor-first=Barbara G. |editor-link=<!--Barbara G. Walker--> |title=The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects |publisher=Harper & Row |date=1983 |page=328 |quote=Christianity made the vagina a metaphor for the gate of hell and revived the ancient fear-inducing image of the ''vagina dentata'' (toothed vagina) that could bite off a man's penis}}}} Later with the introduction of African slaves, the [[Yoruba myth]] of [[Iemanjá]] was admixed into the telling.<ref name="souza"/>

=== Alamoa ===
The Alamoa is a well known legend in the island of [[Fernando de Noronha]], northeast of the Brazilian mainland. An alluring half-naked woman, she who would seduced men by night, and the charmed lovers who followed her end up falling off the island cliff, off Pico hill.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://becodenoronha.com.br/blog/alamoa-a-lenda-da-sereia-de-fernando-de-noronha/|title=Beco de Noronha - Fernando de Noronha |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=becodenoronha.com.br |language=pt-br}}</ref><ref name="pessoa&sousa2022"/> Again, modern commentary paints her as a "beautiful white woman ({{lang|pt|linda mulher branca}})",<ref name="pessoa&sousa2022"/> which would be consistent with the name Alamoa being an older form of {{lang|pt|{{linktext|alemão}}}}, which now means "blonde, fair-skinned woman"{{efn|''alemão'' in the first instance means "German woman", but by transferrence, became a "fair blonde".}}{{Refn|One source considers Alamoa to be a corruption of the now standard ''alemão'',<ref name="pessoa&sousa2022"/> but others explain Alamao to be the more antiquated form.<ref name="proenca1969"/>}} whereas older literature describes her as [[fulvous]] or [[tawny (color)|tawny]] ({{lang|pt|{{linktext|fulva}}}}), though dressed in white<!--branco see quote-->, as according to {{illm|Francisco Augusto Pereira da Costa|pt}} (d. 1923).{{Refn|Costa ''Foclore'' (1908) apud Proença<ref name="proenca1969"/>}}{{Refn|Legend in verse, titled:"A Alamôa", narratated by a mother: "{{lang|pt|Não saias, meu filho.. Que podes topar, de noite a «Alamóa» /E' fulva donzella,―é a fada da ilha;... De noute passeia, vestida de branco}}"<ref name="costa1887"/>}} According to one telling, on Friday nights, the rock of Pico splits and emits a light beam, followed by Alamoa's appearance, attracting men; but she will then transform into skull<!--caveira--> and skeleton,{{Refn|The skull imprisons her victim according to modern commentary.<ref name="pessoa&sousa2022"/>}} resulting in disappearances, except cries of terror can be occasionally heard.{{Refn|Story according to the story {{illm|Olavo Dantas|pt}}.<ref name="cascudo1950"/>}} The Alamoa evidently maintains an underwater palace as well.<!--palácio submarino-->{{sfnp|Cascudo|1950|p=292}} These elements (skull, light, palace) are lacking in European (Dutch) lore,{{sfnp|Cascudo|1950|p=292}} though general similarity to Holland's mermaid has been suggested.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1950|p=289}}