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Latvian Mythology
Latvian mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Latvia, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives. These myths stem from folk traditions of the Latvian people and pre-Christian Baltic mythology. Latvian mythology is used particularly as a tool for reconstructing and analysing the historical pagan beliefs and national identity of Latvia. It is important to note that the minute details of most, if not all of these myths vary per region and sometimes even family. History 13th–18th century There are few reports of Baltic tribes, the ancestors of modern Latvians, and their mythology until Christianization in the 13th century. Since Christianization, there have been several reports related to local mythology including chronicles, travel reports, visitation records, Jesuit reports and other accounts of pagan practices. These reports are considered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Latvia
The history of Latvia began around 9000 BC with the end of the last glacial period#Weichsel glaciation, in Scandinavia and northern Europe, last glacial period in northern Europe. Ancient Balts, Baltic peoples arrived in the area during the second millennium BC, and four distinct tribal realms in Latvia's territory were identifiable towards the end of the first millennium AD. Latvia's principal river Daugava (river), Daugava, was at the head of an important trade route from the Baltic region through History of Russia#Pre-Slavic inhabitants, Russia into southern Europe and the Middle East that was used by the Vikings and later Nordic countries, Nordic and Germans, German traders. In the early medieval period, the region's peoples resisted christianisation#Middle Ages (7th-15th centuries), Christianisation and became subject to attack in the Northern Crusades. Latvia's capital city Riga, founded in 1201 by Germans at the mouth of the Daugava, became a strategic base in a papally-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Re-occupation Of Latvia In 1944
The Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 refers to the military occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1944. During World War II Latvia was first occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, then was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941–1944, and after which it was re-occupied by the Soviet Union. Battle of the Baltic Army Group Centre was in tatters, and the northern edge of the Soviet assault threatened to trap Army Group North in a pocket in the Courland region. Panzers of Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz had been sent back to the capital of Ostland, Riga and in ferocious defensive battles had halted the Soviet advance in late April 1944. Strachwitz had been needed elsewhere, and was soon back to acting as the Army Group's fire brigade. Strachwitz's Panzerverband was broken up in late July. By early August, the Soviets were again ready to attempt to cut off Army Group North from Army Group Centre. A massive Soviet assault sliced through the Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auseklis
Auseklis is a Latvian god, a stellar deityLurker, Manfred (2004). ''The Routledge dictionary of gods and goddesses, devils and demons''. Routledge. p. 25. . that represents a celestial body, but possibly not the same as Venus (Rīta zvaigzne) - the first "star" (how Latvians call it) to appear in the mornings on the east side of the sky. He is the third most popular deity in Latvian mythology after Saulė and Mēness, but is almost exclusively mentioned in folk songs. Name The name ''Auseklis'' stems from the root '' aus-'' ('dawn'), attached to the derivative suffix ''-eklis'', and is etymologically related to other Indo-European deities of the dawn. This deity is also variously known as ''Auseklenis'', ''Auseklenč'', ''Ausekleņš'', ''Auseklīts'', ''Auseklītis'', ''Ausekliņis'', ''Ausekliņš'', ''Auseklius''. Role Auseklis is closely associated with Mēness ("moon"). They both are '' Dieva dēli'' ("sons of God"), as is Ūsiņš, and are thus confused with each oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The term ''Milky Way'' is a translation of the Latin ', from the Greek ('), meaning "milky circle". From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610. Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe. Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with an estimated D25 isophotal diameter of , but only about 1,000 light years thick at the spiral arms (more at the bulg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Star
A pole star or polar star is a star, preferably bright, nearly aligned with the axis of a rotating astronomical body. Currently, Earth's pole stars are Polaris (Alpha Ursae Minoris), a bright magnitude-2 star aligned approximately with its northern axis that serves as a pre-eminent star in celestial navigation, and a much dimmer magnitude-5.5 star on its southern axis, Polaris Australis (Sigma Octantis). From around 1700 BC until just after 300 AD, Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris) and Pherkad (Gamma Ursae Minoris) were twin northern pole stars, though neither was as close to the pole as Polaris is now. History In classical antiquity, Beta Ursae Minoris (Kochab) was closer to the celestial north pole than Alpha Ursae Minoris. While there was no naked-eye star close to the pole, the midpoint between Alpha and Beta Ursae Minoris was reasonably close to the pole, and it appears that the entire constellation of Ursa Minor, in antiquity known as '' Cynosura'' (Greek Κυνόσου ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axis Mundi
In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the ''axis mundi'' is the axis of rotation of the planetary spheres within the classical geocentric model of the cosmos. In 20th-century comparative mythology, the term axis mundi — also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, or world tree — has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing "the connection between Heaven and Earth" or the "higher and lower realms." Mircea Eliade introduced the concept in the 1950s. Axis mundi closely relates to the mythological concept of the '' omphalos'' (navel) of the world or cosmos. Items adduced as examples of the ''axis mundi'' by comparative mythologists include plants (notably a tree but also other types of plants such as a vine or stalk), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Tree
The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions, Siberian religions, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the terrestrial world, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life, but it is the source of wisdom of the ages. Specific world trees include '' égig érő fa'' in Hungarian mythology, Ağaç Ana in Turkic mythology, Andndayin Ca˙r in Armenian mythology, Modun in Mongol mythology, ''Yggdrasil'' in Norse mythology, Irminsul in Germanic mythology, the oak in Slavic, Finnish and Baltic, Iroko in Yoruba religion, ''Jianmu'' in Chinese mythology, and in Hindu mythology the ''Ashvattha'' (a ''Ficus religiosa''). General description Scholarship states that many Eurasian mythologies share the motif of the "world tree", "cosmic tree", or "Eagle and Serpe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dying God
A dying god, or departure of the gods, is a motif in mythology in which one or more gods (of a pantheon) die, are destroyed, or depart permanently from their place on Earth to elsewhere. Frequently cited examples of dying gods are Baldr in Norse mythology, or Quetzalcoatl in Aztec mythology. A special subcategory is the death of an entire pantheon, the most notable example being Ragnarök in Norse mythology, or Cronus and the Titans from Greek mythology, with other examples from Ireland, India, Hawaii and Tahiti. Examples of the disappearing god in Hattian and Hittite mythology include Telipinu and Hannahanna. "Death or departure of the gods" is motif A192 in Stith Thompson's '' Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'', with the following subcategories:S. Thompson, ''Motif-index of folk-literature : a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, medieval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local legends'', Revised and enlarged. edition. Blooming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmic Ocean
A cosmic ocean or celestial river is a mythological motif found in the mythology of many cultures and civilizations, representing the world or cosmos as enveloped by primordial waters. In ancient creation texts, the primordial waters are often represented as originally having filled the entire universe, being the first source of the gods cosmos with the act of creation corresponding to the establishment of an inhabitable space separate from the enveloping waters. Fraxkard ( pal, plʾhwklt, Avestan: ''Vourukaša''; also called ''Warkaš'' in Middle Persian) is the cosmic ocean in Iranian mythology. In the first creation story in the Bible the world is also created as a space inside of the water, and is hence surrounded of it, "And God saith, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.'" (). See also * Abzu * Ap (water) * Arche * Chaos (cosmogony) * Danava (Hinduism) * Danu (Asura) * Erlik * Firmament * Heh (god) * He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saulė
Saulė ( lt, Saulė, lv, Saule) is a solar goddess, the common Baltic solar deity in the Lithuanian and Latvian mythologies. The noun ''Saulė''/''Saule'' in the Lithuanian and Latvian languages is also the conventional name for the Sun and originates from the Proto-Baltic name *''Sauliā'' > *''Saulē''. Representation Saulė is one of the most powerful deities, the goddess of the sun itself, responsible for all life on Earth. She is the patroness of the unfortunate, especially orphans. The Lithuanian and Latvian words for "the world" (''pasaulis'' and ''pasaule'') are translated as " placeunder the Sun". Saulė is mentioned in one of the earliest written sources on Lithuanian mythology. According to the Slavic translation of the Chronicle by John Malalas (1261), a smith named Teliavelis made the Sun and threw it into the sky. Missionary Jerome of Prague (ca. 1369–1440) spent three years attempting to Christianize Lithuania and later recounted a myth about the kidnapped S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goddess Of The Sun
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name ''Sol'' or by its Greek name ''Helios''. The English word ''sun'' derives from Proto-Germanic *''sunnǭ''. Overview Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the Sun god and Horus as god of the sky and Sun. As the Old Kingdom theocracy gained influence, early beliefs were incorporated into the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris-Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting Sun. Osiris became the divine heir to Atum's power on Earth and passed his divine authority to his son, Horus. Other early Egyptian myths imply that the Sun is incorporated with the lioness Sekhmet at night and is reflected in her eyes; or that the Sun is found within the cow Hathor during th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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