Mermaids, rutting pit, vodenica, locothe and others, in Slavic mythology creatures, usually malicious, which in turn girls died, mostly drowned women, unbaptized children (cf Mavka) . Are presented in the form of beautiful girls with long flowing green hair (cf fork South Slavic, Western European Ondine) , rarely in the form of ugly hairy women (Russian North) . In mermaid week next to the Trinity, out of the water, running through fields, swinging on the trees, can tickle counter to death or to carry away the water. Especially dangerous Thursday - rusalkin great day. Therefore, in mermaid week it was impossible to swim, and leaving the village, they took with them the wormwood, which supposedly scared of mermaids. At the request of the mermaids to give them the woman's clothes were hung on trees yarn, towels, thread, girls wreaths. All Whitsun, sang mermaid songs, on Sunday (mermaid eve) were cast out, "watched" mermaids (or spring) . The mermaid is usually portrayed a girl who did my hair, wore a wreath and accompanied with songs in rye. Pushing her in the rye, shouting ran, and chased the mermaid. Mermaids are often portrayed in the form of effigies (sometimes dressed rye sheaf) , carried it into the box and there was left in the hedge or tore and scattered across the field. Known cases of drowning of the effigy, accompanied by the imitation of a Church funeral. In this embodiment, the rite wires mermaids have experienced obvious influence of "the funeral of Kostroma". In the southern Russian and Volga regions known ritual "driving of a mermaid". The image of a mermaid is associated simultaneously with water and vegetation, combines characteristics of the water spirits (mermaids sometimes represented in the Suite of water) and carnival characters, embodying fertility, type of Kostroma, yarily, etc., whose death guaranteed the harvest. Likely from here and the link of mermaids to the world of the dead: apparently, under the influence of Christianity mermaids only became identified with malware "hostages" by dead people who died an unnatural death. Perhaps the title of the mermaids dates back to ancient pagan revels of the mermaids, known for Church-accusatory literature. According to a hypothesis of F. Miklosich
the name of the mermaids borrowed by the Slavs in the Balkans, where the ancient funeral rites was called Rosalia. The popular image of a mermaid in the literature (A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, T. G. Shevchenko) and painting