Ūsiņš () is a
deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
in
Latvian mythology
Latvian mythology is the collection of myths that have emerged throughout the history of Latvia, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives. These myt ...
, the god of light and spring, symbol of fertility, guardian of horses and bees.
It is one of few Latvian deities whose historical sources can be derived to be more or less genuine testimony.
[Latvian folklore: Ūsiņš]
/ref> With Ūsiņš Day begins summer:[Who is Ūsiņš]
/ref> as they bestow fields with green grass and trees with green leaves. Therefore on Ūsiņi guys drove horses to pieguļa Pieguļa (; in Latvia) or naktigonė (in Lithuania) was an ancient tradition of grazing common types of Equidae, horses during night, that existed about until the early 20th century. After winter, the grazing horses were released on their own for th ...
for the first time. Ūsiņi coincidences with Jurģi
Jurģi () or Ūsiņš Day is an ancient Latvians, Latvian spring festival which coincides with the Christian Church's day of feast in honor of Saint George on April 23. After the holidays, it signified the beginning of pieguļa and shepherding. A ...
on 23 April (in Gregorian calendar Ūsiņi falls on 9 May[), which is the Christian Church's deposit. Ūsiņš has its own ornamental sign, which is similar to two letter E facing their backs against each other. This sign is the most common ornament for gloves. There is a belief, that such gloves grant the wearer with good luck on the road, and such gloves are called atslēgaiņi.][
The most important symbol of Ūsiņš Day is a foal, which can be interpreted differently. It is both the power of ]Dievas
Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs and Debestēvs (" Sky-Father"), Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Diews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology, one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas, and the ...
, human energy, and a phallic symbol because sexual power is equal to the creative energy. Yellow foal symbolizes energy from the Sun. With Ūsiņš it is also linked to someone else's image – the golden grass snake
The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian semi-aquatic non- venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians.
Subspecies
Many subspecie ...
, which in turn, a snake is a symbol of energy flow.[
]
Etymology
The word "ūsiņš" offers several explanations. Gotthard Friedrich Stender
Gotthard Friedrich Stender ( or ''Ģederts Fridriks Štenders''; 27 August 1714 – 17 May 1796), also called Old Stender (''Vecais Stenders''), was a Baltic German Lutheran pastor who played an outstanding role in Latvia's history of culture. He ...
linked that name with ''ūzām'' – 'trousers', which are of a yellow color. Stender also called Ūsiņš a bee god. However, there is conflicting data on Ūsiņš being a bee god. 19th century folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
materials called Ūziņš a bee god, while a horse god – Ūsiņš.[
In late 19th century R. Auniņš called Ūsiņš the god of light, by explaining with the sound "us", which can also be found in the word ''aust'' ('day'). Also, in his study on Latvian deity Ūsiņš, Haralds Biezais concluded that Ūsiņš typologically belongs to the realm of heavenly deities, and the specific features allowed him to be considered as the god of light. Similarly, was inclined to compare his name with deities ]Auseklis
Auseklis is a Latvians, Latvian pagan god, a stellar deityLurker, Manfred (2004). ''The Routledge dictionary of gods and goddesses, devils and demons''. Routledge. p. 25. . that represents a celestial body, but possibly not the same as Venus (' ...
and Austra, derived from stem ''aust-''. If this interpretation is correct, he is therefore an astral deity
The worship of heavenly bodies is the veneration of stars (individually or together as the night sky), the planets, or other astronomical objects as deities, or the association of deities with heavenly bodies. In anthropological literature these ...
connected to the morning and the evening star.Russian people
Russians ( ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian, the most spoken Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Orthodox Christianity, ever since the Middle Ages. By total numbers ...
. Lastly, Vladimir Toporov
Vladimir Nikolayevich Toporov (; 5 July 1928 in Moscow5 December 2005 in Moscow) was a Russian philologist associated with the Tartu–Moscow Semiotic School. His wife was Tatyana Elizarenkova. He is also recognized as a prominent Balticist. ...
, in his studies concluded that Ūsiņš was an ancient and mythical deity of several nations.[
]
Parallels
Folk songs expressed a visible merging process of Ūsiņš and Jurģi (Saint George).Ashvini
Ashvini (अश्विनी, ) is the first nakshatra (lunar mansion) in Indian astronomy having a spread from 0°-0'-0" to 13°-20', corresponding to the head of Aries, including the stars β and γ Arietis. The name ''aśvinī'' is use ...
and is therefore also comparable with Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
''Dioskouri
Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi.
Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Spa ...
'' or "Sons of Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
", who like Ūsiņš transport the Sun. A further parallel is that Ūsiņš is also known as ''Son of Dievs
Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs and Debestēvs (" Sky-Father"), Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Diews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology, one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas, and the ...
'', and both Asvins are described as ''Divo napata'' ("Sons of Dyaus
Dyaus (Vedic Sanskrit: द्यौस्, ) or Dyauspitr (Vedic Sanskrit: द्यौष्पितृ, ) is the Rigvedic sky deity. His consort is Prthvi, the earth goddess, and together they are the archetypal parents in the Rigveda.
N ...
").[ Leeming, David. ''From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. 125-126.]
Ūsiņš Day celebration
Farmers fully entrust their horses to Ūsiņš, handing them over under his guardianship. Folk songs mention, that Ūsiņš himself belongs to horses, moreover, they are very well cared for. Since Ūsiņš is the god of light, it was horses that transported the sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
.[Ūsiņš]
/ref> An important place in descriptions of traditions is paid to a sacrifice. A black cock with nine crests and red legs is sacrificed to Ūsiņš. Rooster's blood was drained in horse's manger directly on oats
The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seed ...
. There was a belief, that blood, which is given to Ūsiņš, blessed the beast's home. Later during pieguļa the rooster is cooked and eaten by pieguļnieki. During pieguļa eggs are boiled and cooked into a special Ūsiņi dish – pantāga. Ūsiņš Day was held on horse market day when they were bought and sold.[ Ūsiņš Day was met with a rumble and great noisiness, which ties in with spring thunder nature.][Ūsiņš leads the Sun uphill]
/ref>
Ūsiņš in Latvian dainas
References
External links
Jurģi – Ūsiņi
Juris, Jurģis and Ūsiņš
Ūsiņš rode to pieguļa
Latvian folk songs
How Ūsiņš developed into Jurģis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usins
Latvian gods
Light gods
Nature gods
Spring (season)
Baltic gods