A water spirit is a kind of
supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
being found in the
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...
of many cultures:
African
Some water spirits in
traditional African religion
The traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptur ...
include:
*
Mami Wata
Mami Wata (Mammy Water), or La Sirene, is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa and in the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female but are sometimes male., p. 1.
Attributes
Appearance
...
is a transcultural
pantheon of water spirits and deities of the
African diaspora
The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were ...
. For the many names associated with Mami Wata spirits and goddess, see
Names of Mami Wata.
[, p. 1.
]
* Owu Mmiri of some riverine people of
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
are often described as mermaid-like spirit of water.
* A
jengu
A jengu (plural miengu) is a water spirit in the traditional beliefs of the Sawa ethnic groups of Cameroon, particularly the Duala, Bakweri, Malimba, Batanga, Bakoko, Oroko people and related Sawa peoples. Among the Bakweri, the name is lieng ...
(plural miengu) is a water spirit in the traditional beliefs of the
Sawa Sawa may refer to:
Places
* Sawa, Nepal, a village development committee
* Sawa, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, a village
* Saveh, sometimes transliterated Sāwa, Iran, a city
* Sawa Lake, Iraq
People
* Sawa (Hrycuniak) (born Michał Hrycu ...
ethnic groups of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...
, particularly the
Duala Duala or Douala can refer to: Relating to Cameroon
* Duala people, an ethnic group in Cameroon
* Duala language, part of the Bantu languages
* Douala, the largest city in Cameroon, founded by the Duala people
* Rudolf Duala Manga Bell (1873–1914 ...
,
Bakweri
The Bakweri (or Kwe) are a Bantu ethnic group of the Republic of Cameroon. They are closely related to Cameroon's coastal peoples (the Sawa), particularly the Duala and Isubu.
Early survey discussion of these topics may be found in Ardener 195 ...
, and related Sawa peoples. Among the Bakweri, the name is liengu (plural: maengu).
* A
simbi
A Simbi (also Cymbee, Sim'bi, pl. Bisimbi) is a water spirit in traditional Kongo spirituality. In Haitian Vodoun context, they are a large and diverse family of serpents known as loa.
Hoodoo
In Central Africa's Kongo region, "...bisimbi in ...
is a mermaid-like or reptilian spirits from
Kongo tribe and related to
Vaudou religion.
Celtic
In
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed ...
:
* An
Each uisge is a particularly dangerous "water horse" supposed to be found in Scotland;
its Irish counterpart is the Aughisky.
* The
Gwragedd Annwn
In Welsh folklore the Gwragedd Annwn (singular '' cy, gwraig annwn'') are beautiful female fairies who live beneath lakes and rivers and are counted among the Tylwyth Teg or Welsh fairy folk. They are also known as Lake Maidens or Wives of the Lo ...
are female Welsh lake fairies of great beauty.
* A
Kelpie
A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Each-Uisge''), is a shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. It is usually described as a black horse-like creature, able to adopt human form. Some accounts state that the kelpi ...
is a less dangerous sort of water horse. There are many similar creatures by other names in the mythology including:
** the
tangie
A tangie (or ''tongie'') is a shape-shifting sea spirit in the folklore of the Orkney and Shetland Islands in the British Isles. A sea horse or merman, it takes on the appearance of either a horse or an aged man. Usually described as being cover ...
(Orkney and Shetland)
** the
nuggle also known as the shoopiltee or njogel (Shetland)
** the cabbyl-ushtey (Isle of Man)
** the Ceffyl Dŵr (Wales)
** the capall uisge or the glashtin (Ireland)
*
Morgens, Morgans or Mari-Morgans are
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
and
Breton water spirits that drown men.
*
Selkie
In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies (also spelled ', ', ') or selkie folk ( sco, selkie fowk) meaning 'seal folk' are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are foun ...
Germanic
In
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
Origins
As the Germanic lang ...
:
* The
Nixie (English) or the Nix/Nixe/Nyx (German) are shapeshifting water spirits who usually appear in human form.
* The
Undine
Undines (; also ondines) are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern li ...
or Ondine is a female water
elemental
An elemental is a mythic being that is described in occult and alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus and his subsequent fol ...
(first appearing the
alchemical
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim wor ...
works of
Paracelsus
Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance.
H ...
).
*
Jenny Greenteeth in the folklore of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...
*
Peg Powler said to inhabit the
River Tees
The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has bee ...
in Yorkshire
* The
grindylow in the folklore of both Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Ancient Greek
In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...
:
*
Naiads
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.
They are distinct from river gods, who ...
were
nymphs
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...
who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks
**
Crinaeae (Κρηναῖαι) were a type of nymph associated with fountains
**
Limnades or Leimenides (''Λιμνάδες'' / ''Λειμενίδες'') were a type of naiad living in freshwater lakes.
**
Pegaeae
In Greek mythology, the Pegaeae (; ) were a type of naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bod ...
(Πηγαῖαι) were a type of naiad that lived in springs.
*
Nereids
In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; grc, Νηρηΐδες, Nērēḯdes; , also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the ' Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sister ...
were sea
nymphs
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...
.
*
Sirens were bird-bodied women living in the sea near a rocky island coastline.
Japanese
In
Japanese folklore
Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture.
In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic stud ...
:
* , alternately called or , are a type of water
sprite.
* A is a hair-covered version of a
Kappa
Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value ...
.
Mesoamerican
In
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
belief:
*
Ahuizotl
Ahuitzotl ( nah, āhuitzotl, ) was the eighth Aztec ruler, the ''Huey Tlatoani'' of the city of Tenochtitlan, son of princess Atotoztli II. His name literally means "Water Thorny" and was also applied to the otter. It is also theorized that mor ...
; a dog-like aquatic creature that drowned the unwary.
Oceanic
In the
mythology of Oceania:
*
Adaro Adaro may refer to:
* Adaro (mythology), a race of sea spirits from the mythology of the Solomon Islands
* Adaro (company), Spanish aircraft manufacturer
* Adaro (DJ), Dutch hardstyle DJ and producer
* Adaro (band)
Adaro was a German medieval fol ...
were malevolent
merman
Mermen, the male counterparts of the mythical female mermaids, are legendary creatures, which are male human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes they are described as hideous and other ...
-like sea spirits found in the mythology of the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...
.
Roman
In
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these represent ...
:
*
Camenae
In Roman mythology, the Camenae (; also ''Casmenae'', ''Camoenae'') were originally goddesses of childbirth, wells and fountains, and also prophetic deities.
List of Camenae
There were four Camenae:
*Carmenta, or Carmentis
*Egeria (mythology), Eg ...
were goddesses of springs, wells and fountains, or water
nymphs
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...
of
Venus (mythology)
Venus (), , is a Roman goddess, whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and f ...
.
Slavic
In
Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the Religion, religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation of the Slavs, Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The So ...
:
* A
Vodyanoy
In Slavic mythology, vodyanoy or vodyanoi ( rus, водяно́й, p=vədʲɪˈnoj; lit. ' efrom the water' or 'watery') is a water spirit. In Czech and Slovak fairy tales, it is called ''vodník'' (or in Germanized form: ), and it is consider ...
(also wodnik, vodník, vodnik, vodenjak) is a male water spirit akin to the Germanic
Neck
The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...
.
* A
Rusalka
In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalky/rusalki; ; pl, rusałka}) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melus ...
(plural: ''rusalki'') was a female
ghost
A ghost is the soul (spirit), soul or spirit of a dead Human, person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visibl ...
, water
nymph
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...
,
succubus
A succubus is a demon or supernatural entity in folklore, in female form, that appears in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. According to religious tradition, a succubus needs male semen to survive; repeated sexual activit ...
or
mermaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
-like
demon that dwelled in a waterway.
* А
Berehynia in ancient Ukrainian folklore is a goddess spirit that guarded the edges of waterways, while today it is used as a symbol for
Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism refers to the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and it also refers to the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The nation building that arose as nationalism grew following the French Revo ...
.
*
Moryana Moryana (russian: Моря́на, ) is a female sea spirit in Slavic folklore, possibly a goddess. Moryana was a sea vodyanitsa and daughter of the Morskoy Tsar, and also, according to some beliefs, she ruled the winds. Sometimes the ''moryany/mor ...
is a giant sea spirit from Russian folklore.
* For potoplenyk, vila/wila/wili/veela, and vodianyk, see also
Slavic fairies
Other than the many gods and goddesses of the Slavs, the ancient Slavs believed in and revered many supernatural beings that existed in nature. These supernatural beings in Slavic religion come in various forms, and the same name of any single b ...
.
Thai
*
Phi Phraya (ผีพราย, พรายน้ำ), a female ghost living in the water.
*
Phi Thale
Phi (; uppercase Φ, lowercase φ or ϕ; grc, ϕεῖ ''pheî'' ; Modern Greek: ''fi'' ) is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.
In Archaic and Classical Greek (c. 9th century BC to 4th century BC), it represented an aspirated voic ...
(
ผีทะเล), a spirit of the sea. It manifests itself in different ways, one of them being
St. Elmo's fire, among other uncanny phenomenons experienced by sailors and fishermen while on boats.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Water Spirit
Water spirits