Aušrinė
Lithuanian · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Aušrinė, the Lithuanian goddess of the Morning Star (the planet Venus) and of the dawn, is a Daughter of the Sun (Saulės duktė): she lights the fire and readies the horses for Saulė at daybreak. Her beauty draws the Moon Mėnulis into adultery against Saulė, the central episode of the celestial-wedding dainos; she is the antipode of the Evening Star Vakarinė. The parent-edge links from her parentIds (Saulė); the lover-edge to Mėnulis reciprocates on his entry.
Parentage
- parent: Saulė
Domains
- morning star
- dawn
Powers
- kindle the fire and ready the horses for Saulė at daybreak
Epithets
- Saulės duktė Daughter of the SunAlgirdas Julius Greimas, Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology (secondary)
Relations
- lover: MėnulisThe Moon Mėnulis loved Aušrinė and thereby betrayed his wife Saulė; for this Perkūnas struck him, the etiology of the moon phases.Greimas, Of Gods and Men (1992) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Lithuanian dainos (celestial-wedding cycle; the Daughters of the Sun) (primary); A. J. Greimas, Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology (1992) (secondary)