Happy mermay, loves! It been a hot second but I decided to once again make Iara, after so many years. This time she is accompanied by a variety of fish found throughout the amazon 😌
Since it's been so long, here's her tale! The myth has some variation here and there, as most myths do, but my favorite goes as follows:
Iara was the best warrior of her tribe, loved by all and constantly congratulated by her father, the Pajé [tribe leader]. One day her brothers (who envied her prowess and all the love she received) secretly decided to kill her in her sleep, but Iara hears them, and in the dead of night kills them when they come for her and flees, afraid of her father’s judgement. Livid, the Pajé hunts her down, and once he finds her, decides to throw her at the confluence of the Rio Negro and Solimões rivers as punishment for her brothers deaths. The fish in the river [or also often the Tupi Moon Goddess, Jaci], however, couldn’t let such a fierce warrior die so easily, so they take her up the river and turn her into a mermaid instead.
