Zorya – The Slavic Guardian Goddess of Dusk And Dawn
Zorya – The Slavic Guardian Goddess of Dusk And Dawn
Source: https://www.slavorum.org/zorya-the-g...dusk-and-dawn/
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Even though we told stories of many different Slavic gods, there are few more that hide in the woods, walk across the fields and look at us from the sky. One (or two) of those gods whose story we didn’t tell is a story about Zorya, the goddess of dusk and dawn.
Zorya (alternately, Zora, Zarja, Zory, Zore : “dawn”; Zorza in Polish, Zara-Zaranica, Belarusian: Зара-Зараніца, Zvezda, Zwezda, Danica: “star”) is in Slavic literature mythological goddess of the dusk and dawn.
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In some parts of the Slavic region, Zorya is actually just one goddess and she is the goddess of dawn, while her sister Danica is the goddess of dusk. On the other hand, some people believe that Zorya is one goddess, similar to Roman goddess Aurora. For them, Zorya represents the goddess of all three. Morning, evening and night. She is at the same time a virgin, mother and the old woman. And she can appear as morning and evening Aurora.
Zorya is the daughter of the Sun god Dažbog and his loyal servant.
Every morning at dawn she (people then called her the Morning Star) opens the gates of heaven for sunrise and every evening at dusk she (as the Evening Star) closes them. After midnight Zorya dies with the sun, and she is reborn the next morning. Something like Felix the bird.
Morning Star
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The Morning Star is Zorja Utrennjaja (from Russian utro, meaning “morning”; also known as Zvijezda Danica, Zvezda Danica, Zvezda Dennitsa, Zwezda Dnieca, Zvezda Zornitsa, Gwiazda Poranna, Rannia Zoria, Zornica, Zornička) and she opens the gate of heaven (Dažbog’s palace) at dawn and then the Sun begins his journey. This goddess or this part of the goddess is the patroness of horses, exorcism, and protection.
There are some stories that Morning Star is the wife of Perun and she followed him to the bottle. In other stories, show Morning Star as a virgin goddess.
Evening Star
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The Evening Star is Zorja Vechernjaja (from Russian vecher, meaning “evening”; also known as Večernja Zvijezda, Večernja Zvezda, Zvezda Vechernaya, Zorya Vechernyaya, Zwezda Wieczoniaia, Zwezda Wieczernica, Zvezda Vechernitsa, Gwiazda Wieczorna, Vechirnia Zoria, Večernjača, Večernica) and she closes the gates of heaven at dusk, and after Dažbog’s return.
When it comes to the Evening Star, there are some stories that she and her sister Morning Star are the wives of the moon god Myesyats, and that they are mothers of the stars. On the other hand, some stories claim she is a virgin goddess.
Aurora
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Our goddess Zorya is very similar to the Roman goddess Aurora. Aurora is the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry and in Latin Aurora means dawn. Aurora is the dawn, its personification, dressed in a saffron robe. Virgil mentioned her as a goddess of the sky. Every Morning Aurora comes out of the ocean, flies through the sky and announces the sunrise. When it comes to Zorya, her popularity can be seen through the novels, cities and sports clubs that carry her name.
