Rita Treitman

Rita Treitman is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). She has a 1 to 2 year life-cycle, near the end of which she builds herself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young Rita is reborn anew to live again. The new Rita is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new Rita embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (literally "sun-city" in Greek). It is said that the bird's cry is that of a beautiful song.