Dielli (Albanian paganism)
Albanian major traditional festivities and calendar rites are based on the Sun, worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye.
[2] In Albanian tradition the fire – zjarri, evidently also called with the theonym Enji – worship and rituals are particularly related to the cult of the Sun.
Ritual calendar fires or bonfires are traditionally kindled before sunrise in order to give strength to the Sun and to ward off evil.
[24] Albanian beliefs, myths and legends are organized around the dualistic struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, which cyclically produces the cosmic renewal.
[25] The most famous representation of it is the constant battle between drangue and kulshedra, which is seen as a mythological extension of the cult of the Sun and the Moon, widely observed in Albanian traditional art.
[26] In Albanian traditions, kulshedra is also fought by the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun, who uses her light power against pride and evil,[27] or by other heroic characters marked in their bodies by the symbols of celestial objects,[28] such as Zjermi (lit.
The commonly accepted historical linguistic evolution of the word is: Albanian dielli < Proto-Albanian *dðiella < *dziella- < Pre-Proto-Albanian *ȷ́élu̯a- < Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰélh₃u̯o- "yellow, golden, bright/shiny".
[34][35][36] Early evidence of the celestial cult in Illyria, which finds correspondences with Albanian folk beliefs and practices, is provided by 6th century BCE plaques from Lake Shkodra, which belonged to the Illyrian tribal area of what was referred in historical sources to as the Labeatae in later times.
So, the patterns of Catholic tattoos in Bosnia, which until then were known as "circles, semicircles, and lines or twigs", eventually were clearly explained as compounds of rayed (emanating light) suns, moons, and crosses, from an expression of Nature-worship and hearth-worship.
[13][17] Albanian beliefs, myths and legends are organized around the dualistic struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, which cyclically produces the cosmic renewal.
[32] During the ceremonial ritual of celebration of the first day of spring (Albanian: Dita e Verës) that marks the beginning of the period of the year when daylight prevails over night, "the Beauty of the Sky" is the human who is dressed in yellow personifying the Sun, worshiped as the god of light and giver of life, who fades away the darkness of the world and melts the frost.
[47] To celebrate Dita e Verës bonfires are traditionally lit by Albanians in yards everywhere, especially on high places, with the function to drive away the darkness of the winter season allowing nature's renewal and for the strengthening of the Sun.
[48][49][50] The most famous Albanian mythological representation of the dualistic struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, is the constant battle between drangue and kulshedra,[51] a conflict that symbolises the cyclic return in the watery and chthonian world of death, accomplishing the cosmic renewal of rebirth.
Those celestial divine heroes are often drangue (the most widespread culture hero among Albanians), but also E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit ("the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun") who is described as pika e qiellit ("drop of the sky" or "lightning"), which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil,[27] or by other heroic characters marked in their bodies by the symbols of celestial objects,[28] such as Zjermi (lit.
[63][50][64] A typical ritual practiced before sunrise during major traditional festivities such as Dita e Verës (Verëza) or Shëngjergji in the Opojë region consists in young people performing a dance on the "way of the Sun", in the east–west direction near the burning ritual fire, with which evil spirits, demons that endanger health, purification, prosperity, blessing and the beginning of the seasons are burned.
In the morning of Verëza and Shëngjergji, the old lady of the house ties knots to the chain of the hearth and says an incantation formula, then she lights the fire, which with all its power burns the demons and evil.
[68] Accordin to Albanian tradition, when a person dies, they must be positioned always facing the sunrise: at home, in the yard, when resting on the way to the cemetery, as well as in the grave.
This ancient practice is still preserved today, notably in Tomorr, Pashtrik, Lybeten, Gjallicë, Rumia, Koritnik, Shkëlzen, Mount Krujë, Shelbuem, Këndrevicë, Maja e Hekurave, Shëndelli and many others.
[72] The "Mountains of the Sun" (Bjeshkët e Diellit) are the places where the heroes (Kreshnikët) operate in the Kângë Kreshnikësh, the legendary cycle of Albanian epic poetry.
[4] In the Albanian Ionian Sea Coast, a healing ritual is traditionally performed before sunrise by the mothers, who take a crown of flowers, go out into nature, look at the sky and see a bird flying.
[4] The rise of the Sun as a very important moment is traditionally considered decisive and honored in the ritual for the arrival of the milk of post-partum women who had run out of breast milk: the women, accompanied by their mother-in-law or an old woman, goes near a fig tree at the time of sunrise, and the old woman facing the see shakes a fig branch saying three times:[74] "'Un' e tund fiknë,fiku tund dhenë,Dheu tund denë (detin)Të m'i kthej' nuses bulmenëAccording to Albanian folk beliefs, the Sun makes the sky cloudy or clears it up.
[18] The Sun, referred to as "the all-seeing (big) eye" is invoked in solemn oaths (be),[17] and information about everything that happens on Earth is asked to the all-seeing Sun in ritual songs, such as:[18] "- Diell, Diell,të jap një kupë miellmos ke parë bukurien?- Bukuria pas mua shkoi,as më pa, as më shikoi.
Albanologist Johann Georg von Hahn (1811 – 1869) reported that clergy, during his time and before, have vigorously fought the pagan rites that were practiced by Albanians to celebrate this festivity, but without success.
[83] The old rites of this festivity were accompanied by collective fires based on the house, kinship or neighborhood, a practice performed in order to give strength to the Sun according to the old beliefs.
The rites related to the cult of vegetation, which expressed the desire for increased production in agriculture and animal husbandry, were accompanied by animal sacrifices to the fire, lighting pine trees at night, luck divination tests with crackling in the fire or with coins in ritual bread, making and consuming ritual foods, performing various magical ritualistic actions in livestock, fields, vineyards and orchards, and so on.
[84] The richest set of rites related to buzmi are found in northern Albania (Mirdita, Pukë, Dukagjin, Malësia e Madhe, Shkodër and Lezhë, as well as in Kosovo, Dibër and so on.
Bonfires are traditionally lit in yards everywhere, especially on high places, with the function to drive away the darkness of the winter season and for the strengthening of the Sun.
[90] E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit, "the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun", is a light divine heroine that appears in Albanian folklore, referred to as pika e qiellit ("drop of the sky" or "lightning"), which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil.
After separating from his brother in roads that are chosen by their horses, Zjermi, while approaching the Temple of the Sun during his journey, learns from an old man that kulshedra (a demon of darkness and evil) has blocked the source of the river leaving the city in draught.
[29] Zjermi also rescues his brother Handa and other heroes who have been petrified by the shtriga in their attempt to find and reach e Bukura e Dheut ("the Earthly Beauty").
