Iara

The tradition & historical record

Iara, also spelled Uiara, Yara or Hiara (Portuguese pronunciation: [iˈaɾɐ], [wiˈaɾɐ], [ujˈaɾɐ]) or Mãe das Águas ([ˌmɐ̃j̃ dɐz ˈaɡwɐs], "mother of the waters"), is a figure from Brazilian mythology based on Tupi and Guaraní mythology. The Iara may have developed from the lore of the carnivorous fish-man Ipupiara. Conflation with the European myth of the siren, or a beautiful mermaid probably is part of the Iara myth as the seductress of the Amazon River. Some commentators believe the original version of Iara must have been dark-skinned and black-haired, black-eyed, like the indigenous populations. However the Iara in the 19th century were described as blonde and blue-eyed or green-eyed, or even green haired. ¹

The word derives from Nheengatu iiyara, from ií "water" + yara "lord; lady". Formally the word occurs as trisyllabic, u-[y]ára or u-[i]ára. ¹

Her physical traits, sometime given as black haired and brown eyed, may vary according to regional oral tradition, perhaps turned blonde or green, due to literary influence. João Barbosa Rodrigues (1881) insisted the freshwater Iara, in the original telling, were ascribed black hair, dark eyes, and dark skin (tez morena). though it is also admitted that the tapuyo (Westernized native) also believed in the blonde blue-eyed mermaid (sereia) of the sea. Later, the poetry by Romantic writers in the 19th century would give her blonde hair, or green hair of the color of vegetation. These were European-influenced alterations of indigenous folklore. Leandro Tocantins has professed he prefers the version where Yara is depicted more like a cabocla (suggesting copper skin tone), with long black hair and almond-shaped eyes. Her features appears to have been altered even through the retelling of the same tale: In the tale of A Yara of the version of Manaus, as come down through Francisco Bernardino de Souza (1873), the native boy captivated by the Yara's beauty and song says her "hair was as blond as gold, tied with mururé [waterlily or water hyacinth] flowers" and that she "raised her green eyes at me". Later in Arinos's version (1917), Iara is given a complicated description by the youth, here named Jaguarari. She has hair of the color of pau d'arco tree flowers (Handroanthus spp.) and pink skin like the plumage of the colhereira (spoonbill) bird. In a later recension in English (1997), the Yara simply has "green hair and pink skin". As for her pink skin-color, a connection has been made between the Iara and the boto or the pink river dolphin. ¹

She would lure the men with her sweet voice, and the seduced men are taken to her home at the bottom of the river, to be drowned. In other versions, the men who fell under the spell of the Iara would leave everything behind to live with her underwater forever, due to the fact that she was pretty and would cater for all the needs of her lover for the rest of his life. Iara is immortal, but many of her lovers age and die, so she is condemned to live most of eternity alone. In the so-called Manaus version of the Yara legend given by Bernardino de Souza (1873), the tragic hero is an unnamed youth, a son of a tapuyo chieftain (tachaua), who becomes enchanted by the beauty and song of the Yara, and falls prey. In Arinos's version, the youth is named Jaguarari, the son of the chieftain of the Manaus people, who likewise becomes enthralled and visits the Yara at the waterfall point of Taruman (var. Tarumã) after nightfall. The worried mother begs this to stop, even suggesting they move out of the settlement to a new location. But the boy (describing the Yara as above) cannot free himself from obsessing over her. One day, the boy and the Yara are witnessed together by the villagers, but after that, the boy is seen no more. According to some folkloric accounts, those who survive end up going crazy or survive with teeth marks on their neck. Merely passing through the iara's territory could cause a man to be melancholy, and develop nervous excitement which others perceive as madness. The symptoms resemble rabies but instead of hydrophobia ("fear of water"), he becomes hydrophilic ("attracted to water"). One of the beaches in the coast city of São Luís, Maranhão, the Olho D'Água beach is linked to the myth of Iara. ¹

According to Brazilian folklore, Iara was a beautiful warrior-woman, a young indigenous woman who developed admirable skills in warfare in a patriarchal tribe, gaining admiration of the whole tribe and respect from her father, the chief of the tribe, but aroused the envy of her brothers who decided to murder her during the night. The legend says Iara knew how to defend herself from her brothers' attacks and accidentally killed them. Discovered by her father, she took refuge in the woods but was captured and punished for the murders of her brothers by being drowned in the river. Other versions claim they killed her and dumped her body in the river and blamed the night goddess, Jaci, for her disappearance. Turned into a mermaid upon being saved by nearby fish on the night of a full moon or by Jaci in some versions, she decided to take revenge on all men by seducing them and drowning them in the river. ¹

The legend of the Iara was one of the usual explanations for the disappearance of those who ventured alone into the jungle. Frederico José de Santana Néri had heard his own version of the Yara tale from a friend, but suspected it was a cover-up story for a murder. Néri gave the title as the version of Pará, and purports it to be based on a real death, the body found in water of one Januario Marinho, as reported in the local newspaper of the provincial capital (Belém). Though the dead man was Portuguese, his fiancée Mundica was from the Belém elite community, as was Néri. The fiancée recounted that the man was in the habit of visiting a water spot in the canal (igarapés) haunted by the Yara. But one time, his strange behavior upon return convinced her he had seen the Yara (which he eventually admitted, describing her as wearing a white robe and later as gold-tawny haired and emerald-green eyed). A German friend accompanied when the man went to the spot armed with rifle, but wound up being attacked and fainting. Afterwards, he seemed mentally disturbed. The story encouraged the listener to believe the man probably could not repress his impulse and returned to the water spot again, and met his fate. Néri suspected there was foul play. Another real-life incident tied to the iara myth concerns Dr. João Barbosa Rodrigues Júnior (1872–1931) who while collaborating with his father to domesticate a tribe, was accompanied by his wife, who was fair-skinned, blue-eyed and blonde, and when she was spotted bathing in the creek, the natives shouted "Uiara! Uiara!" ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Iara (mythology)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Iara is figure from Brazilian mythology, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²