Maure the Briden

siren · Algeria · North Africa

Not independently attested in Algerian folklore. Maure the Briden is described as a sea goddess of the Mediterranean who commands storms and shelters coastal villages, a water spirit bound to the shore and offended by pollution of the sea. The garbled name suggests a modern invention conflating the classic siren type with the Amazigh rain rites of Anzar, whose bride ends drought.

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