There is a turtle ghost in Japan called Suppon no Yurei, which is a Yokai. The name is probably based on food during the Edo period, when people liked turtle soft shells called suppon. They believed in healing abilities from eating it. In one legend, three lads enjoyed eating suppon while going out drinking in taverns, in the Nagoya city. Their hunger for anything turtle was greedy and obsessive. One night they went out and discovered a new restaurant, and were in for a surprise. After they went in for a feast, they noticed that a man working there looked strange with green scales and a face like a turtle. It scared the men so much they ran away and never wanted any suppon again.
Turtle yokai in Japan have been told about a lot. There are many of them. Some are benign while others can be violent. There is Kamme-onna the turtle woman who warn of disasters but can tell good fortunes. Their other name is Honengame, meaning "good harvest woman". Talismans of Yuki-onna were used for protection.
There is a favourite concept of the universe being held upright on the shell of a giant cosmic turtle. In pop culture there is the Great A'Tuin, which is a vast turtle star floating through space carrying the earth like planet called Discworld on the backs of four giant elephants. This is from the high fantasy book series about Discworld by author Terry Pratchett. The idea comes from actual ancient beliefs.
Mythical stories of huge turtles holding the universe appear in many world legends. The Sanskrit idea of a world turtle being an avatar of the god Vishnu. In Hindu, the world turtle is called Kurma, a preserver deity in the trinity. Also in Chinese mythology, Ao is a turtle god who held the sky. In Native American mythology, a huge turtle is carrying an island and travels across sea and sky, where a goddess appeared and gave birth to twin boys. Animals helped recreate the turtle's back with mud, expanding it as a continent while the two boys grew up as rivals, who made domestic animals, crops and seasons, but when they squabbled it was felt as earthquakes, storms and volcanic eruptions.
For more on the Creation myth of the Iroquois visit William computer science.
For Elephants and Turtles visit the Jolly Contrarian
Read more on turtle women at Yokai
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