Vatër

The Albanian term, in particular the Tosk form with va-, was loaned to Romanian and spread to other Balkan languages such as Slavic.

[10] The function of the fire of the domestic hearth (Zjarri i Vatrës) is the sustenance of the continuity between the world of the living and that of the dead.

After death, the souls of the ancestors (hije) assume a divine connotation and remain in contact with the family protecting the domestic hearth.

[3] The place of the ignition of fire is traditionally built in the center of the house and of circular shape representing the Sun.

[13] Some of the information Catholic priest Ernesto Cozzi had given Edith Durham about Albanian folk beliefs and customs of the very early 19th century was recorded by her, also in particular about the fire cult in northern Albania:[14] He says that great ceremony is observed when the fire is for the first time kindled in the hearth of a newly built house.

When she arrives at her husband's house she takes a humble place in the corner, standing, her hands folded on her breast, her eyes downcast, and for three days and nights she is required to remain in that position... this custom remains from the old days when the father of each house was also the priestly guardian of the fire, and anyone coming to ask for a light from it stood reverently in that position, silent, before the hearth, until the father priest gave it to him.