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Sirin () is a mythology creature of Russian legends, with the head of a beautiful woman and the body of a bird (usually an owl), borrowed from the siren of the Greek mythology. According to myth, the Sirin lived in Iriy or around the Euphrates River.
Later, in the 17th–18th centuries, the image of Sirin changed and she started to symbolize world harmony (as she lives near paradise). People in those times believed only happy people could hear a Sirin, while only very few could see one because she is as fast and difficult to catch as human happiness. She symbolizes eternal joy and heavenly happiness.
According to folk tales, at the morning of the Apple Feast of the Saviour day, Sirin flies into the apple orchard and cries sadly. In the afternoon, the Alkonost flies to this place, beginning to rejoice and laugh. Alkonost brushes dew from her wings, granting healing powers to all fruits on the tree she is sitting on.
Sometimes Sirin is seen as a metaphor for God's word going into the soul of a man. Sometimes she is seen as a metaphor of heresy tempting the weak. Sometimes Sirin was considered equivalent to the Slavic fairies. In Russian folklore, Sirin was mixed with the revered religious writer Saint Ephrem the Syrian. Thus, peasant lyrists such as Nikolay Klyuev often used Sirin as a synonym for poet.
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