Jūratė and Kastytis ( Lithuanian: ''Jūratė ir Kastytis'') is one of the most famous and popular

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n legends and tales. The first time it was recorded was in 1842, in the writings of . Since then it has been adapted many times for modern poems, ballets, and even

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

s. Since the heroine does not appear in Lithuanian mythology, the tale is likely of literary-romantic origin.

Etymology

The heroine's name, 'Jūratė', is related to words for 'sea' in

Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people

, namely, Lithuanian ''jūra'' 'sea' and Latvian ''jũra, jũŗa'' 'sea, great mass of water'.

Synopsis

The plot greatly varies between the different versions. However, the basic facts remain the same. The goddess (sometimes described as a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

undine Undines (; also ondines) are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern l ...

) Jūratė lived under the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

in a beautiful

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

castle. A young fisherman named Kastytis was fishing and she fell in love with the handsome young fisherman. They spent happy times in the castle, but the

thunder god Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder deity, the creator or personification of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-Europea ...

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 ...

, found out that the goddess had fallen in love with Kastytis, a mortal man. He became furious and struck the amber castle. It exploded into millions of pieces. According to legend, that is why pieces of amber come ashore after a storm on the Baltic Sea. Jūratė rescued Kastytis from drowning in a storm. According to other variations, Kastytis was killed by Perkūnas and Jūratė mourns him to this day. Her tear drops are amber pieces washed ashore and one could hear her sad voice in a stormy sea. Sometimes it is said that Kastytis is from Šventoji, north of Palanga.

Other tales

Other stories of the Baltic Sea region also show characters and locations associated with an underwater palace, a watery domain and the amber gemstone. In a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n fairy tale, ''Bulbulis the Bird'', three princes set out on a quest for the magical bird Bulbulis, but only the youngest succeeds. Seething with envy and jealousy, the older brothers cast the youngest into the sea and take the bird for themselves. However, the hero is saved by "the sea queen" and taken to her "amber castle". In a Polish fairy tale, the water-dwelling maidens with amber-colored hair live with their father, the Amber King, in a palace at the bottom of the sea.Coleman, Marion Moore. ''Vistula Voyage: Lore of the Polish Mother of Waters''. Cheshire: Cherry Hill, 1974. pp. 85-92.

Cultural significance

Lithuanians have numerous legends and tales. Arguably, '' Eglė, the Queen of Serpents'' and ''Jūratė and Kastytis'' are the best known. Even though Eglė's story is much more complicated and elaborate, both legends are love stories that involve elements of

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 ...

and try to explain origins of certain objects. Both Eglė and Jūratė are popular Lithuanian female names.

Palanga Palanga (; ; ) is a resort town, resort city in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest and the largest summer resort in Lithuania and has sand, sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long and up to 300 metres, 10 ...

, the main resort in Lithuania, has a monument dedicated to Jūratė and Kastytis. It is located in a square right next to the main tourist attraction—a bridge that leads to sunset. The Palanga coat of arms was designed having the legend in mind. The amber beads represent the ancient business of amber processing. The silver crown represents the goddess Jūratė. The legend has inspired a number of other artworks. In 1920,

Maironis Maironis (born Jonas Mačiulis, ; – 28 June 1932) was a Lithuanians, Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest and the greatest and most-known Lithuanian poet, especially of the period of the Lithuanian press ban. He was called the Bard of Lithuanian Na ...

, one of the best known patriotic poets, wrote a ballad to honor the lovers. Much of legend's present popularity is attributed to this poet. Woodcut illustrations by Vaclovas Rataiskis-Ratas for the ballad won awards in an international exhibition in Paris in 1937. In 1933, a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

was staged. In 1955 exiled composer Kazimieras Viktoras Banaitis finished an opera, premiered in 1972 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. A play was also written. In 2002, a rock opera was performed in

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

to celebrate its 750th anniversary. A number of celebrities appeared in the opera and it was a success. It continues where the actual legend left off: the castle is destroyed and the lovers are separated. The rock opera is noted for taking a modern twist on old story. Additionally,

Jurata Jurata is a settlement and seaside resort in northern Poland, located on the Hel Peninsula in a forested area between the towns of Jastarnia and Hel in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, on the coast of the Baltic Sea. History Jurata was estab ...

, a Polish sea side resort, popular especially among Varsovians and established during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

is named after Jūratė, which is spelled ''Jurata'' in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

References

External links

Jūratė ir Kastytis
poem by Maironis at

Wikisource Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...

Jūratė and Kastytis rock opera home page
(with photos and music samples)

ballad by

. English translation by Lionginas Pažūsis.
The legend of Jūratė and Kastytis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurate And Kastytis Lithuanian folklore characters Lithuanian fairy tales Amber Female characters in fairy tales