Mėnulis
Lithuanian · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Lithuanian moon god, husband of Saulė; his adultery with Aušrinė splits the celestial marriage and brings Perkūnas's punishment, explaining the moon's phases.
Domains
- moon
- war
Powers
- Betray the Sun by courting the morning star Aušrinė
Epithets
- Dievaitis Little God / Prince (the young moon)Encyclopaedia Britannica, Meness / Baltic religion (secondary)
Relations
- lover: Aušrinė
- enemy: PerkūnasPerkūnas cleaves the adulterous Moon with a sword for betraying Saulė with Aušrinė, the etiology of the moon's waning phases.A. J. Greimas, Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology (1992) (secondary)
- spouse: SaulėReciprocal of lithuanian_saule.spouse — The celestial marriage of Sun and Moon, sundered when Mėnulis strayed with Aušrinė — the mythic charter of the dainos 'Mėnuo saulužę vedė'.A. J. Greimas, Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology (1992) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Lithuanian dainos (celestial-wedding cycle) (primary); G. Beresnevičius, Lietuvių religija ir mitologija (2004) (secondary)