Dievs

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Dievs ( lett . Dievs , lit . Dievas , pr . Deywis, deiws m. "God") is in the Baltic mythology the god of heaven. The Dieva dēli are considered his sons . After Christianization , his name continued to be used for God.

Essence

Dievs is described in the Dainas as a heavenly peasant prince who runs an estate on the Himmelsberg. His neighbor is the sun goddess Saule . His property is described in detail in the folk songs: house, bathing room, granary, cowshed and the fields and meadows around it. The heavenly family of gods plows, sows, harvests or mows the meadows. In addition, Dievs is also considered a beer brewer and occasionally a hunter. Activities in the bathing room, at celebrations and weddings are also popular topics.

When Dievs, clad in silver cloaks and girded with a sword, visit the people, he rides his horse down from the "stony" mountain of heaven and then rides around the cornfields to promote their fertility. In doing so, he destroys weeds and raises stalks of rye. As a horse breeder, he sells horses to people and grooms the horses in the stables of his admirers:

"Dievs jingled the bridle in the back of my stable, he groomed, he smoothed my brown horses."

- Daina 30055

After work, Dievs is invited by the farmers. When he enters a house, this is accompanied by a deep silence and an appearance of light. The head of the house greets him and assigns him the place of the head of the house and treats the god to beer.

Dievs also gave the immutable laws of nature. Together with Laima , the goddess of fate , who is considered his daughter, he determines people's lives, for better or for worse.

Indo-European reference

Linguistically, the name Dievs is identical with Germanic * Teiwaz ( aisl . Týr ) and from the root also with the Greek Zeus , the Roman Jupiter and the Indian Dyaus Pita . However, he is very different in nature from these deities. Obviously, the Indo-European sky god had undergone considerable reinterpretations in the individual cultures.

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