Dielli, the Sun

Dielli, the Sun, is personified in Albanian folk belief as a male deity embodying light, warmth and life. He and the Moon, Hëna, form a celestial pair: in some tales they are husband and wife and the parents of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit ('the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun'), while in others they are brother and sister, in which case they are not regarded as consorts. The veneration of the Sun is widely reflected in Albanian traditional tattooing and ornament, and the cosmic opposition of Sun and Moon is mirrored in the mythic struggle of the drangue and the kulshedra.

Domains

• sun and light

Powers

• to give light, warmth and life to the world

Relations

• spouse: Hëna, the MoonIn a strand of Albanian folk tradition the Sun and the Moon are husband and wife, together the parents of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit; another strand instead makes them brother and sister, in which case they are not consorts.Elsie, Robert, A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology and Folk Culture, Hurst & Co., London, 2001, s.v. 'Sun and Moon'. (secondary)

Sources

• Dielli is the personified male Sun of Albanian folk religion, a deity of light and life and, in some traditions, husband or brother of the Moon Hëna.: Tirta, Mark, Mitologjia ndër shqiptarë, Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë, Tirana, 2004, pp. 41-67. (secondary); Elsie, Robert, A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology and Folk Culture, Hurst & Co., London, 2001, s.v. 'Sun'. (secondary)