Міф пра нябеснае вяселле ў балцкай традыцыі

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Aušrinė (Venera); Baltų mitologija; Dangiškų vestuvių mitas; Dangiškųjų vestuvių mitas; Etnoastronomija; Mėnulis; Saulė; Baltic mythology; Ethno astronomy; Ethnoastronomy; Evening Star (Venus); Moon; Myth of the celestial wedding; Sun.

ENThe imagery of the Moon as a husband or father and of the Sun as his wife or a mother are deeply entrenched in the mythic worldview of the Balts. This article, on the basis of Latvian and Lithuanian folkloric narrative, plays out the story of the Moon’s unfaithfulness. In the morning and the evening, when the Sun rises and sets, the Evening Star/Venus appears in the sky, and the Moon sees this star in the heavens and falls in love. Lithuanian and Latvian folklore talks about the two marriages of the Moon: one to the Sun and the other to the Evening Star (Venus). The second marriage takes place when the Moon betrays his first wife by falling for her daughter. For his unfaithfulness, the Moon is punished. His judge and punisher can either be Perkūnas/Pērkons or the Sun, who either cut in half or chop up the unfaithful husband. Those who study this myth associate the chopping up of the Moon with its phases – the transition from the full moon to the waning moon. The close relationship of the Moon and Evening Star in the plot of the ‘celestial wedding’ can also be linked to an astronomical phenomenon – the periodical moments when the Moon and Venus come closer to one another. The myth of the celestial wedding could have existed in the Indo-European proto-nation’s culture. Remnants of this myth exist not only in the tradition of the Balts, but also in the Ancient Indian Rig-Veda, as well as in the oral culture of the Western and Southern Slavs. [From the publication]