Aušrinė ("dawning", not to be confused with ''Aušra'', "dawn") is a feminine deity of the morning star (

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

) in

Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology () is the mythology of Lithuanians, Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-European studies, Indo-Europeans, Lithuanians (tribe), ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic myth ...

. She is the antipode to " Vakarinė", the evening star. Her cult possibly stems from that of the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

dawn goddess A dawn god or goddess is a deity in a polytheistic religious tradition who is in some sense associated with the dawn. These deities show some relation with the morning, the beginning of the day, and, in some cases, become syncretized with similar ...

Hausōs and is related to the Latvian

Auseklis Auseklis is a Latvians, Latvian pagan 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 (' ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Eos In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Eos (; Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic Greek, Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic Greek, Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric Greek, Doric ''Āṓs'') is the go ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, and

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

Ushas Ushas (Vedic Sanskrit: , , nominative singular उषास्) is a Vedic goddess of dawn in Hinduism. She repeatedly appears in the Rigvedic hymns, states David Kinsley, where she is "consistently identified with dawn, revealing herself with ...

. Aušrinė is the goddess of beauty, love, and youth, linked with health, re-birth, and new beginnings. After the

Christianization of Lithuania The Christianization of Lithuania () occurred in 1387, initiated by the Lithuanian royals Jogaila, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official adoption of Catholic Christianity by Li ...

, the cult merged with Christian images and the symbolism of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

Historical attestation

Aušrinė was first mentioned by 16th-century Polish historian

Jan Łasicki Jan Łasicki (; 1534–1602) was a Polish historian and theologian. He was well-educated and traveled extensively in Western Europe from 1556 to 1581. Around 1557 he converted to Calvinism, becoming a follower of the Unity of the brethren in 1567 ...

as ''Ausca''. He described a "goddess of the rays of the sun that descend and rise above the horizon".

Folkloric role

According to

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, each morning, Aušrinė and her servant Tarnaitis (possibly Mercury) prepare the way for

Saulė Saulė (, ) 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 ...

(the Sun). In the evening, Vakarinė prepares the bed for Saulė. The relationship between Saulė and Aušrinė is complex. Sometimes, Saulė is described as the mother of Aušrinė, Vakarinė, and other planets – Indraja (

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

), Sėlija (

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

), Žiezdrė (

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

), Vaivora ( Mercury), and even

Žemyna Žemyna (also Žemynėlė or Žemelė) (from – ''earth'') is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian religion. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna personifie ...

(Earth). In some stories, "Karaliūnė" and "Dangaus Kariūnė" ("Queen of Heaven") are used to refer to Aušrinė. In Latvian folk-riddles, her name is the answer to a riddle about dew. In this riddle, a girl loses her keys (or spreads her pearl necklace), the Moon sees them, but the Sun takes them.

Myth of the "celestial wedding"

A popular myth describes how Mėnulis (Moon) fell in love with beautiful Aušrinė, cheated on his wife Saulė, and received punishment from

Perkūnas Perkūnas (, , Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Sudovian language, Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian language, Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic languages, Baltic List of thunder gods, god of thunder, and the second m ...

(thunder-god). Different myths also depict rivalry between Saulė and Aušrinė, as Saulė is jealous of Aušrinė's beauty and brightness (Venus is the third-brightest object in the sky after Sun and Moon). Despite the adultery or rivalry, Aušrinė remains loyal and continues to serve Saulė in the mornings.

Other roles

Another myth, ''Saulė Ir Vėjų Motina'' ("The Sun and the Mother of Winds"), analyzed by

Algirdas Julien Greimas Algirdas Julien Greimas (; born ; 9 March 1917 – 27 February 1992) was a Lithuanian literary scientist who wrote most of his body of work in French while living in France. Greimas is known among other things for the Semiotic square, Greimas S ...

in detail, tells a story of Joseph, who becomes fascinated with Aušrinė appearing in the sky and goes on a quest to find the "second sun". After much adventure, he learns that it was not the second sun, but a

maiden Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

who lives on an island in the sea and has the same hair as the Sun. With advice from the Northern Wind, Joseph reaches the island, avoids a guardian bull, and becomes the maiden's servant, caring for her cattle. In the tale, Aušrinė appeared in three forms: as a star in the sky, as a maiden on land, and as a

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

in the sea. After a few years, Joseph puts a single hair of the maiden into an empty nutshell and throws it into the sea. A ray from the sea becomes reflected into the sky as the biggest star. Greimas concludes that this tale is a double

origin myth An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place a ...

: the story describes the origin of Tarnaitis and the ascent of Aušrinė herself into the sky.

In popular culture

According to

Jonas Vaiškūnas Jonas Vaiškūnas (born 6 March 1961) is a Lithuanian ethnoastronomer, religious leader, publisher and politician. He is the head of the department of ethnography at the Museum of Molėtai and priest in the Baltic neopagan organisation Romuva. ...

, Aušrinė also gives its name to the morning star in Lithuanian folkly astronomy: Aušrinė žvaigždė, Aušros žvaigždė, Aušràžvaigždė, Aušrinukė.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ausrine Lithuanian goddesses Stellar goddesses H₂éwsōs Night goddesses Venusian deities Baltic goddesses Dawn goddesses