| Zorya | |
|---|---|
Dawn | |
| Other names | Zaranitsa, Zarya, Zara, Zaria, Zoryushka |
| Color | Red, gold, yellow, rose |
| Genealogy | |
| Siblings | Sun (Dažbog), Moon,Zvezda |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek | Eos |
| Hindu | Ushas |
| Indo-European | H₂éwsōs |
| Roman | Aurora |
Zorya (lit. "Dawn"; also many variants:Zarya,Zaria,Zorza,Zirnytsia,Zaranitsa,Zoryushka, etc.) is a figure in Slavic folklore, a femininepersonification ofdawn, possiblygoddess. Depending on tradition, she may appear as a singular entity, or two or three sisters at once. Although Zorya is etymologically unrelated to the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn*H₂éwsōs, she shares most of her characteristics. She is often depicted as the sister of theSun, theMoon, andDanica, theMorning Star with which she is sometimes identified.[1] She lives in the Palace of the Sun, opens the gate for him in the morning so that he can set off on a journey through the sky, guards his white horses,[a] she is also described as a virgin.[3] In the Eastern Slavic tradition ofzagovory she represents the supreme power that a practitioner appeals to.[4]
The Slavic wordzora "dawn, aurora" (fromProto-Slavic*zořà), and its variants, comes from the same root as the Slavic wordzrěti ("to see, observe", from PS*zьrěti), which originally may have meant "shine". The wordzara may have originated under the influence of the wordžar "heat" (PS*žarь). PS*zořà comes from theProto-Balto-Slavic*źoriˀ (cf. Lithuanianžarà,žarijà), the etymology of the root is unclear.[5]
TheProto-Indo-European reconstructed goddess of the dawn is*H₂éwsōs. Her name wasreconstructed using acomparative method on the basis of the names of Indo-European goddesses of the dawn, e.g.GreekEos,RomanAurora, orVedicUshas; similarly, on the basis of the common features of the goddesses of the dawn, the features of the Proto-Indo-European goddess were also reconstructed.
Although the Zorya cult is only attested in folklore, its roots go back to Indo-European antiquity, and the Zorya herself manifests most of*H₂éwsōs characteristics.[6] Zorya shares the following characteristics with most goddesses of the dawn:
L.A. Zarubin, who was a Slavonic scholar of the 20th century, undertook a comparison between Slavic folklore and the Indo-AryanRigveda andAtharvaveda, where images of the Sun and its companions, the Dawns, have been preserved. These images date back to ancient concepts from the initiallyfetishistic (the Sun in the form of a ring or circle) to the lateranthropomorphic. Chludov's Novgorod Psalter of the late 13th century contains a miniature depicting two women. One of them, fiery red, signed as "morning zorya", holds a red sun in her right hand in the form of a ring, and in her left hand she holds a torch resting on her shoulder, ending in a box from which emerges a light green stripe passing into dark green. This stripe ends in another woman's right hand, in green, signed as "evening zorya", with a bird emerging from her left sleeve. This should be interpreted as the Morning Zorya releasing the Sun on its daily journey, and at sunset the Evening Zorya awaits to meet the Sun. A very similar motif was found in acave temple from the 2nd or 3rd century AD inNashik,India. The bas-relief depicts two women: one using a torch to light the circle of the Sun, and the other expecting it at sunset. Some other bas-reliefs depict two goddesses of the dawn, Ushas and Pratyusha, and the Sun, accompanied by Dawns, appears in several hymns. The Sun in the form of a wheel appears in the Indo-AryanRigveda, or the NorseEdda, as well as in folklore: during the annual festivals of theGermanic peoples and Slavs, they lit a wheel which, according to medieval authors, was supposed to symbolize the sun.[3]
Similar images to the one from the Psalter and the Nashik appear in various parts of Slavic lands, e.g. On a carved and painted gate of aSlovak peasant estate (village ofOčová): on one of the pillars is carved the Morning Zorya, with a golden head, above her is a glow, and even higher is the Sun, which rolls along an arched road, and on the other pillar is carved the Evening Zorya, above it is a setting sun. There are also darkened suns on this relief, possiblydead suns appearing in Slavic folklore. These motifs are also confirmed by the Russian saying "The sun will not rise without the Morning Zoryushka". Such a motif was also found on the back of a 19th-centurysled where the Sun, in the form of a circle, is in the palace and two Zoryas stand in the exit, and on a peasantrushnyk from theTver region where Zoryas on horseback rides up to the Sun, one is red and the other is green.[3]
According to scholarship, Lithuanian folklore attests a similar dual role for luminous deities Vakarine and Ausrine:[10][11] Vakarine, the Evening Star, made the bed for solar goddessSaulė, andAušrinė, the Morning Star, lit the fire for her as she prepared for another day's journey.[12] In other accounts, Ausrine and Vakarine are said to be daughters of the female Sun (Saule) and male Moon (Meness),[13][14] and they tend their mother's palace and horses.[15]
In Russian tradition, they often appear as two virgin sisters: Zorya Utrennyaya (Morning Zorya, fromútro "morning") as the goddess of dawn, and Zorya Vechernyaya (Evening Aurora, fromvéčer "evening") as the goddess of dusk.[16] Each was to stand on a different side of the golden throne of the Sun. The Morning Zorya opened the gate of the heavenly palace when the Sun set out in the morning, and the Evening Zorya closed the gate when the Sun returned to his abode for the night.[1][3] The headquarters of Zorya was to be located onBuyan Island.[17]
A myth from a later period speaks of three Zoryas and their special task:[1]
There are in the sky three little sisters, three little Zorya: she of the Evening, she of Midnight, and she of Morning. Their duty is to guard a dog which is tied by an iron chain to the constellation of theLittle Bear. When the chain breaks it will be the end of the world.
Zara-Zaranitsa Krasnaya Devitsa (aka "Dawn the Red Maiden") appears interchangeably with Maria (Mother of God) in different versions of the samezagovory plots as the supreme power that a practitioner applies to.[4]
She was also prayed to as Zarya for good harvests and health:[18]
Ho, thou morning zarya, and thou evening zarya! fall upon my rye, that it may grow up tall as a forest, stout as an oak!
Mother zarya [apparently twilight here] of morning and evening and midnight! as ye quietly fade away and disappear, so may both sicknesses and sorrows in me, the servant of God, quietly fade and disappear—those of the morning, and of the evening, and of the midnight!
Professor Bronislava Kerbelytė cited that in Russian tradition, the Zoryas were also invoked to help in childbirth (with the appellation "зорки заряночки") and to treat the baby (calling upon "заря-девица", or "утренняя заря Параскавея" and "вечерняя заря Соломонея").[19][b]
Zarya was also invoked as protectress and to dispel nightmares and sleeplessness:
In another incantation, Zarya-Zarnitsa is invoked along with a "morning Irina" and a "Midday Daria" to dispel a child's sadness and take it away "beyond the blue ocean".[22][c][d]
Croatian historianNatko Nodilo noted in his studyThe Ancient Faith of the Serbs and the Croats that the ancient Slavs saw Zora as a "shining maiden" ("svijetla" i "vidna" djevojka), and Russian riddles described her as a maiden that lived in the sky ("Zoru nebesnom djevojkom").[23]
As for the parentage of the Dawn, she is referred "in a Russian song" as "dear little Dawn" and as the "Sister of the Sun".[24]
InBelarusian folklore she appears as Zaranitsa (Зараніца) or as Zara-zaranitsa (Зара-Зараніца). In one of the passages, Zaranica is met bySt. George andSt. Nicholas, who, according to comparative mythology, function asdivine twins, who in Indo-European mythologies are usually brothers of the goddess of the dawn: "Saint George was walking with Saint Nicholas and met Aurora".[7]
In folklore she also appears in the form of a riddle:[25]
Zara-zaranitsa, a beautiful virgin, was walking in the sky, and dropped her keys. The moon saw them, but said nothing. The sun saw them, and lifted them up.
This is about thedew, which the moon does not react to and which disappears under the influence of the sun.[25]Zara is probably simply the goddess of the dawn, and can be translated literally as "Dawn", andZaranica is adiminutive and may indicate respect towards her.[7]
In Belarusian tradition, the stars are sometimes referred to aszorki[26] andzory,[27] such as the starPolaris, known asZorny Kol ('star pole') andpolunochna zora ('star of midnight').[27]
In Polish folklore, there are three sister Zoras (Trzy Zorze):Morning Zorza (Polish:Zorza porankowa orUtrenica),Midday Zora (Zorza południowa orPołudnica) andEvening Zora (Zorza wieczorowa orWieczornica), which appear in Polish folk charms and, according to Andrzej Szyjewski, represent a threefold division of the day.[28] They also function asRozhanitsy:[29]
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Another folk saying from Poland is thus:Żarze, zarzyczki, jest was trzy, zabierzcie od mojego dziecka płakanie, przywróćcie mu spanie.[33]
In a magical love charm from Poland, the girl asks for the dawn (or morning-star) to go to the girl's beloved and force him to love no other but her:[34]
Ukrainian also has words deriving from*zořà: зі́рка (dialectal зі́раzira and зі́риziry)zírka, adiminutive meaning 'little star', 'starlet', 'asterisk'; зі́рнйцяzirnitsa (or зі́рнйціzirnytsi, a poetic term meaning 'little star', 'aurora, dawn'.[35]
In a saying collected in "Харківщині" (Kharkiv Oblast), it is said that "there are many stars (Зірок) in the sky, but there are only two Zori: the morning one (світова) and the evening one (вечірня)".[36]
In an orphan's lament, the mourner says she will take the "keys of the dawn" ("То я б в зорі ключі взяла").[36]
In a magical love charm, the girl invokes "three star-sisters" (or the "dawn-sisters"):[34]
Zorya also patronized marriages, as manifested by her frequent appearance in wedding songs, and arranged marriages between the gods. In one of the folk songs, where the Moon meets Aurora while wandering in the sky, she is directly attributed this function:[37]
O Dawn, Dawn! Wherever hast thou been?
Wherever hast thou been? Where dost thou intend to live?
Where do I intend to live? Why at Pan Ivan's,[e]
At Pan Ivan's in his Court,
In his Court, and in his dwelling,
And in his dwelling are two pleasures:
The first pleasure—to get his son married;
And second pleasure—to give his daughter in marriage
In a Slovene folksong titled "Zorja prstan pogubila" (Zorja lost her ring), the singer asks for mother (majka), brother (bratec), sister (sestra) and darling (dragi) to look for it.[38]
According to Monika Kropej, in Slovene mythopoetic tradition, the sun rises in the morning, accompanied by the morning dawn, named Sončica (fromsonce 'sun'), and sets in the evening joined by an evening dawn named Zarika (fromzarja 'dawn').[39] These female characters also appear in a Slovenian narrative folk song about their rivalry.[40][41] Fanny Copeland also interpreted both characters as mythological Sun and Dawn, as well as mentioned another ballad, titledBallad of Beautiful Zora.[42] Slovene folklorist Jakob Kelemina (sl), in his book about Slovene myths and folk-tales, stated that a Zora appears as the daughter of the Snake Queen (possibly an incarnation of the night) in the so-calledKresnik Cycle.[43]
According to professorDaiva Vaitkevičienė, theVirgin Mary most likely replaced deity Zaria in East Slavic charms. The Virgin Mary is also addressed as "Zaria" in Russian charms.[44]
In a charm collected in Arkhangelsky and published in 1878 by historianAlexandra Efimenko [ru], the announcer invokes зоря Мария and заря Маремъяния, translated as "Maria-the-Dawn" and "Maremiyaniya-the-Dawn".[45]
In another charm, the "Evening Star Mariya" and "Morning Star Maremiyana" are invoked to take away sleeplessness.[46]
Goddess Zaria (alternatively, a trio of deities named Zori) is also invoked in charms against illness. According to professorDaiva Vaitkevičienė, this "is a very popular motif of the Slavic charms".[44]
The word "Zorya" has become aloanword inRomanian as its word for "dawn" (zori) and as the name of a piece of music sung bycolindători (zorile).[47][48][49][50]
The Morning Star is also known asdennica,zornica orzarnica.[51]
In Serbo-Croatian, the planet Venus is known asZornjača, when it appears in the morning, andVečernjača when it appears at night.[52]
In a folksong, the Dawn/Morning Star is depicted as the bride of a male Moon.[53]
In someCroatian folk songs, collected and published in 1876 by Rikardo Ferdinand Plohl-Herdvigov, a "zorja" is used along with "Marja" in "Zorja Marja prsten toči";[54] and referred to as "Zorja, zorija" in "Marija sinku načinila košulju";[55]
Another point of general interest is the Russian conception of the dual nature of the dawn. Numerous examples reveal the existence of two Dawns who are sisters - the Morning Dawn (Utrennyaya Zarya) and the Evening Dawn (Vechernyaya Zarya). The latter refers to the after-glow of sunset and is frequently contrasted with the morning or 'white' dawn, with the midnight period as the mean between the two extremes.
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