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Kulshedra
The kulshedra or kuçedra is a water, storm, fire and chthonic demon in Albanian mythology and Albanian folklore, folklore, usually described as a huge multi-headed female Serpent (symbolism), serpentine dragon. She is the archetype of darkness and evil, the complementary and opposing force to drangue, the archetype of light and good. The kulshedra is believed to spit fire, cause drought, storms, flooding, earthquakes and other natural disasters against mankind. In Albanian mythology she is usually fought and defeated by a drangue, who is a semi-human winged deity, divine hero and protector of mankind, the most widespread Albanian culture hero. Heavy thunderstorms are thought to be the result of most of their battles. Others include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and cyclones. In Albanian traditions kulshedra is also fought and defeated by other celestial heroes and heroines, like the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun (E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit) who tries to protect her lov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drangue
The drangùe ( sq-definite, drangùa, drangòni) is a semi-human winged deity, divine Culture hero, hero in Albanian paganism, Albanian pagan mythology, associated with weather and storms. He is the archetype of light and good, the complementary and opposing force to kulshedra, the archetype of darkness and evil. Babies destined to become drangue are born with their heads covered in caul and with two or sometimes four wings under their arms. The drangue hold supernatural powers, especially in the wings and arms. A drangùe is made invulnerable by the singular conjunction produced at his birth, and can die only if this conjunction is repeated once again. The main goal of the drangue is to fight the kulshedra in legendary battles. In order to defeat the kulshedra he uses lightning-swords and thunderbolts as his most powerful weapons, but he also uses Meteorite, meteoric stones, piles of trees and rocks, eventually protecting mankind from storms, fire, droughts, floods and other natura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Twins (Albanian Tale)
"The Twins" (Albanian: ; Italian: ) is an Albanian folk tale firstly recorded by Arbëreshë folklorist Giuseppe Schirò in Piana degli Albanesi and published in his 1923 book, , in Albanian and Italian. American journalist George Post Wheeler published an English translation of a similar tale from Albania in his 1936 book, ''Albanian Wonder Tales'', entitling his version "The Boy who was Brother to the Drague", with the same twin protagonists but also including a drangue as a blood brother of one of the twins. The tale is Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index type 303, "The Twins or Blood Brothers," and includes ATU type 300 ("The Dragon Slayer"). In ''The Folktale'' (1946), Stith Thompson indicated four Albanian reported versions of "The Twins or Blood Brothers". Gerlando Bennici recorded and published a shorter variant in Albanian and Italian, , by Giuseppe Pitrè in his 1875 . This version does not include the ATU 300 "dragon slayer" type. "The Twins" includes common Albanian myt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dielli (Albanian Paganism)
Dielli ( Albanian indefinite form Diell), the Sun, holds the primary role in Albanian pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths, and legends. Albanian major traditional festivities and calendar rites are based on the Sun, worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye. In Albanian tradition the fire – '' zjarri'', evidently also called with the theonym Enji – worship and rituals are particularly related to the cult of the Sun. Ritual calendar fires or bonfires are traditionally kindled before sunrise in order to give strength to the Sun and to ward off evil. Many rituals are practiced before and during sunrise, honoring this moment of the day as it is believed to give energy and health to the body. As the wide set of cultic traditions dedicated to him indicates, the Albanian Sun-god appears to be an expression of the Proto-Indo-European Sky-god ( Zot or Zojz in Albanian). Albanians were firstly described in written source ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albanian Mythology
Albanian paganism comprises the pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths and legends of the Albanian people. The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. Ancient paganism persisted among Albanians, and especially within the inaccessible and deep interior – where Albanian folklore evolved over the centuries in a relatively isolated tribal culture and society – it has continued to persist, or at most it was partially transformed by the Christian, Muslim and Marxist beliefs that were either to be introduced by choice or imposed by force.; ; ; . The Albanian traditional customary law ( Kanun) has held a sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the Albanians, which is attributed to an earlier pagan code common to all the Albanian tribes. Indeed, the Kanun contains several customary concepts that clearly have their origins in pagan beliefs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
E Bija E Hënës Dhe E Diellit
E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit ("the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun") is a character in Albanian mythology and folklore, the daughter of Hëna ("the Moon") and Dielli ("the Sun"). She is the as ("drop of the sky" or "lightning") which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil. In the legends she helps a hero winning a fight against a kulshedra. Her victory over the kulshedra symbolizes the supremacy of the deity of the sky over that of the underworld in the dualistic struggle between light and darkness. Mythology In Albanian folk beliefs the sun (''Dielli'') and the moon (''Hëna'') are personified deities. In folk tales, myths and legends the sun appears as a male figure, and the moon as a female figure. In some traditions the sun and the moon are regarded as husband and wife, and in other traditions as brother and sister. In the case of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit the sun is her father and the moon is her mother. E Bija e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon
A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as winged, horned, and capable of breathing fire. Chinese dragon, Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged, Snake, serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence. Commonalities between dragons' traits are often a hybridization of Reptile, reptilian, mammalian, and Bird, avian features. Etymology The word ''dragon'' entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French , which, in turn, comes from Latin (genitive ), meaning "huge serpent, dragon", from , (genitive , ) "serpent". [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Indo-European Mythology
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Indo-European speakers lived in preliterate societies – scholars of comparative mythology have reconstructed details from inherited similarities in mythological concepts found in Indo-European languages, based on the assumption that parts of the Proto-Indo-Europeans' original belief systems survived in the daughter traditions. The Proto-Indo-European Pantheon (religion), pantheon includes a number of securely reconstructed deities, since they are both cognates—linguistic siblings from a common origin—and associated with similar attributes and body of myths: such as , the Sky deity, daylight-sky god; his consort , the Mother goddess, earth mother; his daughter , the dawn goddess; his sons the divine twins, Divine Twins; and and , a sola ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albanian Folklore
Albanian folklore is the folk tradition of the Albanian people. Albanian traditions have been orally transmitted – through memory systems that have survived intact into modern times – down the generations and are still very much alive in the mountainous regions of Albania, Kosovo and western North Macedonia, as well as among the Arbëreshë in Italy and the Arvanites in Greece, and the Arbanasi in Croatia. The most important artistic festival of Albanian folklore – the Gjirokastër National Folk Festival – takes place every five years at Gjirokastër Castle in Gjirokastër, southern Albania. Collection Albanian traditions have been handed down orally across generations.; ; ; . They have been preserved through traditional memory systems that have survived intact into modern times in Albania, a phenomenon that is explained by the lack of state formation among Albanians and their ancestors – the Illyrians, being able to preserve their "tribally" organized society. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new lifespan (other), lifespan in a different physical form or physical body, body after biological death. In most beliefs involving reincarnation, the soul of a human being is immortality, immortal and does not disperse after the physical body has perished. Upon death, the soul merely becomes transmigrated into a newborn baby or into an animal to continue its immortality. (The term "transmigration" means the passing of a soul from one body to another after death.) Reincarnation (''punarjanman'') is a central tenet of Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In various forms, it occurs as an esoteric belief in many streams of Judaism, in certain Paganism, pagan religions (including Wicca), and in some beliefs of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas and of Australian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar day) that is synchronized to its orbital period (Lunar month#Synodic month, lunar month) of 29.5 Earth days. This is the product of Earth's gravitation having tidal forces, tidally pulled on the Moon until one part of it stopped rotating away from the near side of the Moon, near side, making always the same lunar surface face Earth. Conversley, the gravitational pull of the Moon, on Earth, is the main driver of Earth's tides. In geophysical definition of planet, geophysical terms, the Moon is a planetary-mass object or satellite planet. Its mass is 1.2% that of the Earth, and its diameter is , roughly one-quarter of Earth's (about as wide as the contiguous United States). Within the Solar System, it is the List of Solar System objects by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint George's Day
Saint George's Day is the feast day of Saint George, celebrated by Christian churches, countries, regions, and cities of which he is the patron saint, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Catalonia, Alcoi, Aragon, Genoa, and Rio de Janeiro. Saint George's Day is usually celebrated on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of the saint's death in the Diocletianic Persecution. However Saint’s days are not observed if they fall between Palm Sunday and the second Sunday of Easter, they will then be celebrated the following Monday. Date In the calendar of the Lutheran Churches, those of the Anglican Communion, and the General Calendar of the Roman Rite, the feast of Saint George is normally celebrated on 23 April. Since Easter often falls close to Saint George's Day, the church celebration of the feast may be moved from 23 April: for 2011, 2014, 2019, 2022 and 2025 the Lu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
