Tradition / Region: Macedonia
Alternate Names: Стија
Category: Mermaid
The Myth
In the deep lakes of Macedonia dwell the stia—mysterious female beings who are half woman and half fish. Their long hair flows like river weeds in the water, and their tails shimmer beneath the surface like the scales of a great silver carp.
The stia rarely reveal themselves to humankind. By day they remain in the dark, silent depths, where sunlight cannot reach. There, among sunken stones and drowned branches, they gather and drift like pale shadows. But when the moon rises and lays a path of silver across the lake, they rise closer to the surface.
Fishermen tell of hearing soft singing carried over still water on windless nights. Those who follow the sound may glimpse a pale face rising from the lake, framed in long, wet hair. Some say the stia watch quietly from the reeds, their eyes shining just above the surface before slipping away without a ripple.
They are said to guard the hidden places of the lake—the deepest hollows and coldest springs. Anyone who ventures too far into their waters, whether out of greed or arrogance, risks being drawn downward. A sudden tug at the ankle, a swirl of water where none was before, and the lake closes again as if nothing had happened.
Yet the stia are not always cruel. In some tales, they have been seen weeping beside the bodies of drowned youths, combing their long hair in sorrow. Others say they sometimes guide lost children back toward shore, pushing them gently with unseen currents.
Beautiful, distant, and dangerous, the stia belong to the still waters and moonlit depths, where the boundary between the human world and the hidden world beneath the lake grows thin.
Gallery
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Macedonian Slavic mythology. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_Slavic_mythology
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Stia