Editing Nymph (section)

== Greek folk religion ==
The ancient Greek belief in nymphs survived in many parts of the country into the early years of the twentieth century when they were usually known as "[[nereids]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lawson |first=John Cuthbert |title=Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion |url=https://archive.org/details/moderngreekfolkl00laws |edition=1st |year=1910 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |page=[https://archive.org/details/moderngreekfolkl00laws/page/131 131]}}</ref> Nymphs often tended to frequent areas distant from humans but could be encountered by lone travelers outside the village, where their music might be heard, and the traveler could spy on their dancing or bathing in a stream or pool, either during the noon heat or in the middle of the night.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1256865|title=Folklore of the Greeks in America|author=Lee, D. Demetracopoulou|year=1936|journal=Folklore|volume=47|issue=3|pages=294–310|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1936.9718647 |jstor=1256865 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> They might appear in a whirlwind. Such encounters could be dangerous, bringing dumbness, besotted infatuation, madness or stroke to the unfortunate man. When parents believed their child to be nereid-struck, they would pray to the Saint Artemidos ([[Artemis]]), an example of "practical polytheism in the worship of the saints."<ref>"Heathen Artemis yielded her functions to her own genitive case transformed into Saint Artemidos", as [[Terrot Reaveley Glover]] phrased it in discussing the "practical polytheism in the worship of the saints", in ''Progress in Religion to the Christian Era''
1922:107.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Tomkinson |first = John L. |title = Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and Other Exotika |edition = 1st |year = 2004 |publisher = Anagnosis |location = Athens |isbn = 978-960-88087-0-6 |pages= chapter 3 |no-pp = true}}</ref>