They would misdirect people into swamps where the people would drown. Mavkas took revenge with people for their early death. Mavkas had many things in common with mermaids. In some regions of Ukraine mavkas were considered a kind of mermaids(sometimes, they were called "forest mermaids"). Mavkas could live in bodies of water like rivers and lakes. In the places where they danced, grass grew better. In the spring, as soon as the snow began to melt, mavkas planted flowers near mountain caves, and when everything flourished, they were swaying on the branches, picking flowers, garlanding and dancing. Mavkas lived in forests and also in caves. When running on the grass, it rocked under their feet. But they looked like young women only from the front from the back one could see all their insides as they didn't have skin. Mavkas had a nice, round face, and a beautiful, tall stature. They could be found in the woods, at the crossroads, or in the fields. And mavkas-boys had short, red, curly hair. So what did mavkas look like? They looked either like children or young beautiful women with flower crowns on their long hair, wearing thin white grave clothes. It was believed that after death mermaids took these children. Mavkas were little children who either died unbaptized, were killed by their mothers, or were children who died during the so called "Mermaids week" (the week after Trinity when according to Slavic mythology, mermaids walk the earth). Some researchers suggest that the word may come from the Indo-European root "nau" meaning "corpse". The word "mavka" (or "navka") likely derives from a common Slavic root "nav" meaning "death" or "dead body". As ancient Ukrainian mythology has it, mavkas are the souls of dead children living in forests and fields.
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