Zorya

Zorya (alternately, Zora, Zaria, Zarya, Zory, Zore, "Dawn"; Zorza in Polish, Zara-Zaranica (Belarusian: Зара-Зараніца,[1] Russian: Заря-заряница Красная девица, "Dawn the Red Maiden"[2]), Zvezda, Zwezda, Danica, "Star") are figures in Slavic mythology associated with the dawn and solar cycles.

This article is about mythology. For other uses, see Zorya (disambiguation).

Some myths personify a pair of sisters Zorya Utrennyaya (morning star) and Zorya Vechernyaya (evening star) in service to the sun god Dažbog, who may be their father depending on the retelling. The morning Zorya opens the gates to Dažbog's palace each day for the sun's departure, while the evening Zorya closes the palace gates each night upon its return.

Some myths have the sisters watching guard over Simargl, a winged hellhound chained to the star Polaris. The Zorya ensure the chain never breaks, or else the hound would devour the universe.

Some myths place the home of the Zoryas on Buyan (also known as Bouyan, or Bujan), an oceanic island paradise where the Sun dwelt along with his attendants, the North, West, and East winds.[3]

Morning star, dawn

The morning star is Zorya Utrennyaya (from Russian utro, meaning "morning"; also known as Zvezda Danica, Zvezda Dennitsa, Zwezda Dnieca, Zvezda Zornitsa, Gwiazda Poranna, Rannia Zorya, Zornica, Zornička, Jitřenka), who opens the gates of Dažbog's palace each morning so that the Sun may begin his journey.[4] She is a patroness of horses, protection, exorcism, and the planet Venus, and Slavs would pray to her each morning as the sun rose.[5]

Conflicting accounts exist of her marital situation. In some myths, she is described as the wife of Perun and would accompany her husband into battle. In this role she was known to protect those warriors she favoured against death by letting down her veil. In other accounts, both she and Zorya Vechernyaya were the wives of the male Myesyats, the moon god, and by him bore all of the stars.[4] However, some have both Zorya as virgin goddesses, while describing Myesyats as an unrelated female moon goddess.

Evening star, twilight

The evening star is Zorya Vechernyaya (from Russian vecher, meaning "evening"; also known as Večernya Zvyezda, Večernya Zvezda, Zvezda Vechernaya, Zorya Vechernyaya, Zwezda Wieczoniaia, Zwezda Wieczernica, Zvezda Vechernitsa, Gwiazda Wieczorna, Vechirnia Zorya, Večernyača, Večernica, Večernice), who closes the palace gates at dusk, after sunset and Dažbog's return. Associated with the planet Mercury, some myths describe both her and her sister Zorya Utrennyaya as the wives of the moon god Myesyats and the mothers of the stars, while other accounts cast both Zorya as virgin goddesses.[4][5]

Third star

Some accounts recast Polaris as a third Zorya, the north star, known as Zvezda Severnica or Severnitsa. In the Neil Gaiman novel American Gods, a third Zorya sister is portrayed as Zorya Polunochnaya, the midnight star.

See also

References
  1. Санько, С. Беларуская міфалогія: Энцыклапедычны слоўнік / С. Санько, І. Клімовіч. — Мінск: Беларусь, 2006. с. 181-183
  2. Toporkov, Alexey (1995). "Zarya". Slavyanskaya Mifologiya: Entsiklopedicheskiy slovar (in Russian). Moscow. p. 189. ISBN 5-7195-0057-X.
  3. Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic myth and legend. ABC-CLIO. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-57607-130-4.
  4. Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic myth and legend. ABC-CLIO. pp. 321–325. ISBN 978-1-57607-130-4.
  5. Deck-Partyka, Alicja (2006). Poland, a Unique Country & Its People. AuthorHouse. p. 281. ISBN 978-1-4259-1838-5.
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