Saule
Saule, the Sun, is a goddess in Latvian belief and one of the central figures of the celestial family of the dainas. By day she drives a golden chariot or copper-runnered sledge drawn by shining horses across the heavens, and at evening she sinks her steeds in the western sea, to rise renewed on the far shore at dawn. She is a warm and maternal power, tender above all toward orphans, whom she is said to comb and comfort. As mother of the Saules meitas, the Daughters of the Sun, she stands at the centre of the great sky-wedding cycle in which her daughters are courted by the Sons of Dievs, the Morning Star Auseklis and the Moon; the domestic drama of that heavenly family, including her estrangement from the Moon, is elaborated in some of the most admired of all Latvian folk songs.
Children
Domains
- sun light
- warmth fertility
- protector of orphans
Powers
- drives the sun across the sky and into the sea
- warms and shelters orphans
- presides over the celestial wedding of her daughters
Epithets
- Saulīte — dear little SunBarons & Wissendorff, Latvju dainas. (primary)
- Saules māte — Mother SunBiezais, Die himmlische Götterfamilie der alten Letten, 1972. (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: MēnessThe Sun and Moon form a heavenly married pair who quarrel and part.Biezais, Die himmlische Götterfamilie der alten Letten, 1972; Gimbutas, The Balts, 1963, pp. 200-202. (secondary)
- child: Saules meitaThe Daughters of the Sun are her offspring, brides of the sky-wedding.Biezais, Die himmlische Götterfamilie der alten Letten, 1972. (secondary)
Sources
- Saule is the feminine Latvian sun-goddess, mother of the Daughters of the Sun, who drives the solar chariot, protects orphans and presides over the celestial wedding.: Biezais, Haralds. Die himmlische Götterfamilie der alten Letten. Uppsala, 1972. (secondary); Barons & Wissendorff, Latvju dainas, the Saules dainas. (primary)