Nëna e Diellit ("the Mother of the Sun" or "the Sun's Mother") is a
mother goddess
A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, ...
in
Albanian folk beliefs
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 ...
, the mother of
Dielli ("the Sun"). A sacred
ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
called "the funeral of the Sun's Mother" was very widespread in southeastern
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
until the 20th century. She has been described by scholars as a heaven goddess and a goddess of agriculture, livestock, and earth fertility, as suggested by the sacred ritual dedicated to her. Nëna e Diellit also features as a deity in Albanian folk tales. Nëna e Diellit represents a manifestation of the
personification
Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person, often as an embodiment or incarnation. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, National personification, countries, an ...
of the Sun in Albanian mythology.
Ritual
A sacred
ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
called "funeral of the Sun's Mother" consisted in burying a female figure that probably personified a seasonal phase of the mother goddess. Occurring at the end of May, it was the last festival of the spring cycle, coinciding with the feast of
Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
(''Rusica''). It was very widespread in southeastern Albania until the 20th century. During the custom the girls and young women gathered flowers, danced and sang, celebrating together with meals. After lunch or at the end of the day, they made a clay doll that they called Sun's Mother (''Nëna e Diellit''), put it on a tile and went outside the village to bury the female figure. It was performed in silence and with all the appropriate seriousness of the death ceremony. The girls and young women
mourned the mother goddess, pronouncing the typical verses ''Nënë moj nënë, kuku / erdhi dielli e s'të gjeti'' "Mother oh Mother, Alas, / the Sun came and didn't find you".
Folk tales
Nëna e Diellit features as a deity in several Albanian folk tales. One of them has been collected by Albanologist
Maximilian Lambertz and published under the title ''"Bei der Sonnenmutter"''
At the Sun's Mother"in the collection ''Die geflügelte Schwester und die Dunklen der Erde: Albanische Volksmärchen''
he Winged Sister and the Dark Ones of the Earth: Albanian Folk Tales Another has been collected by Albanologist
Robert Elsie
Robert Elsie (June 29, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was a Canadian-born German scholar who specialized in Albanian literature and folklore.
Elsie was a writer, translator, interpreter, and specialist in Albanian studies, being the author of numero ...
and published under the title "
The Snake and the King's Daughter" in the collection ''Albanian Folktales and Legends''.
See also
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Zonja e Dheut
Dheu (Albanian language, Albanian indefinite form: Dhé), the Earth, is the object of a special cult, Besa (Albanian culture), important oaths, and curse formulas in Albanian paganism.
The Mother Goddess, Earth Mother Goddess or Great Mother ( ...
References
Citations
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Albanian paganism
Albanian mythology
European goddesses
Agricultural goddesses
Fertility goddesses
Nature goddesses
Sky and weather deities