Baltic Hats: Morning Star Lithuanian Aušrinė

Venus, is it a morning star or an evening star? As viewed from the earth, the planet Venus goes through a full set of phases similar to earth’s moon as it circles the sun (the synodic cycle). While the moon’s synodic cycle takes 29.53 days, Venus takes over 584 days or 1.6 earth years to complete one synodic cycle. During half of that cycle, we see Venus as a morning star and during the other half as an evening star.

Many ancient people from around the world created mythological stories from celestial observations. Due to the synodic cycle of Venus, the planet was observed at times in the morning and at other times in the evening and so was sometimes viewed as both a morning star and an evening star. The ancient Lithuanians called the morning star Aušrinė and the evening star Vakarinė.  Aušrinė and Vakarinė were daughters of the sun Saulė (female) and moon, Mėnulis (male). They were also described at times as sisters and at other times two sides of the same goddess.

As celestial deities, each had a role. Just before dawn, Aušrinė illuminated the way for her mother Saulė to cross the sky in a chariot drawn by twin horses Ašvieniai. Aušrinė hearalded the beginning of a new day and was depicted as a radiant maiden with long, golden hair that resembled sun rays. As the sun set, Vakrinė opened the gates to the underworld for the sun and prepared the sun’s bed for sleep. Aušrinė and Vakarinė  both represented beauty, youth and health. Aušrinė, a goddess of the dawn, represented new beginnings. At night Vakarinė acted as a protector. She guided travelers at night and watched over those who were lost.

In Baltic Lithuanian textiles, Aušrinė was at times symbolized by an eight-pointed star as well by a comb/rake pattern. The comb/rake pattern often represented the goddess’s role in the bride’s transformation during traditional Lithuanian pre-wedding rituals.

There are many myths about Aušrinė. One such myth explains why the moon has phases. Saulė and Mėnulis have wed in the spring. Saulė needs to get up early so Mėnulis goes wandering. He sees Aušrinė, falls in love, and is unfaithful to Saulė. Perkūnas, the god of thunder, is angered by this betrayal, and he cleaves Mėnulis in half with his sword as punishment. Here is a link to the folksong Mėnuo Saulužę Vedė sung by Atalya. Below are the song’s lyrics with an English translation by Birutė Tautvydas.

Mėnuo saulužę vede     Pirmą pavasarėlį.     Saulužė anksti kėlės,     Mėnužis atsiskyrė.     Mėnuo viens vaikštinėjo,     Aušrinę pamylėjo.     Perkūns, didžiai supykęs,     Jį kardu perdalijo:     Ko saulužės atsiskyrei?     Aušrinę pamylėjai?     Viens naktį vaikštinėjai?

Mėnuo (Moon) wed Saulužė (Sun)     During the first spring.     Saulužė would rise early,      So Mėnuo separated from her and wandered about alone.      He fell in love with Aušrinė (Morning Star).      Perkūnas (Thunder god), greatly angered,      Clove him in half with his sword:     Why did you separate from Saulužė?     Why did you love Aušrinė?     Why did you wander about at night?