Zojz (deity)

[5] The sacred significance of one of the main symbols of the sky cult – the eagle – has been scrupulously preserved by Albanians, who have always considered it their animal totem.

[12][13] Albanian folk beliefs regard the lightning as the "fire of the sky" (Zjarri i Qiellit) and consider it as the "weapon of the deity".

[14] Finding correspondences with Albanian folk beliefs and practices, the Illyrian Sun-deity, which was the chief cult object of the Illyrians, worshipped in a widespread and complex religious system, is figuratively represented on Iron Age plaques from Lake Shkodra as the god of the sky and lightning, also associated with the fire altar where he throws lightning bolts.

[6] Albanian rituals to avert big storms with torrential rains, lightning, and hail, seek assistance from the supernatural power of the Fire (Zjarri, evidently also called with the theonym Enji).

[16] The cult practiced by the Albanians on several sacred mountains (notably on Mount Tomorr in central Albania) performed with pilgrimages, prayers to the Sun, ritual bonfires, and animal sacrifices,[17] is considered a continuation of the ancient Indo-European sky-god worship.

[21] In some Albanian regions the lightning god who lives in the clouds in the sky is alternatively referred to as Shurdhi, Verbti, or Rmoria.

The zero grade radical of *di̯ḗu̯s and the epithet "father" are thought to be contained in an Albanian noun for "god" and the supreme entity – Zot.

It is traditionally considered to be derived from Proto-Albanian *dźie̅u ̊ a(t)t-, an old compound for 'heavenly father' stemming PIE *dyew- ('sky, heaven, bright') attached to *átta ('father'), thus a cognate to PIE *Dyḗus ph₂tḗr and with its various descendants: Illyrian Dei-pátrous, Sanskrit द्यौष्पितृ (Dyáuṣ Pitṛ́), Proto-Italic *djous patēr (whence Latin Iuppiter), Ancient Greek Ζεῦ πάτερ (Zeû páter).

[32] Also Albanian Zana "nymph, goddess" is considered to contain the PIE root *di̯ḗu̯s[33] Ancient Greek Dióne, parallel to Latin Diāna, could be regarded as a feminine counterpart of the Sky-God.

[42][43] 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.

[8] Albanian Zojz is the clear equivalent and cognate of Messapic Zis and Ancient Greek Zeus, the continuations of the Proto-Indo-European *Di̯ḗu̯s 'sky god'.

Indeed, Albanian folk beliefs regard the lightning as Zjarri i Qiellit ("the Fire of the Sky") and consider it as the "weapon of the deity" (arma/shtiza/pushka e zotit).

[14] A common practice was to hung a thunder-stone pendant on the body of the cattle or on the pregnant woman for good luck and to contrast the evil eye.

Albanian beliefs, myths and legends are organized around the dualistic struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, which cyclically produces the cosmic renewal.

[54] Ritual calendar fires (zjarret e vitit) are practiced in relation to the cosmic cycle and the rhythms of agricultural and pastoral life.

[55] Exercising a great influence on Albanian major traditional feasts and calendar rites, the Sun is worshiped as the god of light and giver of life, who fades away the darkness of the world and melts the frost, allowing the renewal of Nature.

[56] 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,[57] a conflict that symbolises the cyclic return in the watery and chthonian world of death, accomplishing the cosmic renewal of rebirth.

[58] The legendary battle of a heroic deity associated with thunder and weather – like drangue – who fights and slays a huge multi-headed serpent associated with water, storms, and drought – like kulshedra – is a common motif of Indo-European mythology.

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 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,[62][63] or by other heroic characters marked in their bodies by the symbols of celestial objects,[63] such as Zjermi (lit.

[72] In an Arbëreshë folk song of mythological nature, e Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit ("the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun") is 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.

[78][66][80] The enduring sanctity of the mountain, the annual pilgrimage to its summit, and the solemn sacrifice of a white bull by the local people provide abundant evidence that the ancient cult of the sky-god on Mount Tomorr continues through the generations almost untouched by the course of political events and religious changes.

[18] The Albanian pagan cult practiced on several sacred mountains (notably in Tomorr, Pashtrik, Lybeten, Gjallicë, Rumia, Koritnik, Shkëlzen, Mount Krujë, Shelbuem, Këndrevicë, Maja e Hekurave, Shëndelli and many others) performed with pilgrimages, prayers to the Sun, ritual bonfires, and animal sacrifices, is very widespread in Albanian inhabited territories.

[82] The name of the village Mbrakull/Vrakull at the foot of Mount Tomorr, which evolved through Albanian sound changes from Latin: oraculum, suggests the existence of an oracle in the area during antiquity.

Afterwards the wife of the highest god, despite being above all the other goddesses, decided to take her own life due to the desecration she suffered,[note 2] but only after telling her husband what she had been through.

After some time the highest god accomplished his revenge by hitting Talas with one of his cruel thunderbolts that tore him to pieces, after which his corpse would have emitted a stormy wind that no one could approach, so his whole body was buried in the ground.

[88] The Kângë Kreshnikësh – the traditional songs of the heroic legendary cycle of Albanian epic poetry – always begin with a ritual praise to the supreme being: "Lum për ty o i lumi Zot!"

Including elements ranging from paganism to monotheism, the primeval religiosity of the Albanian mountains and epic poetry is reflected by a supreme deity who is the god of the universe and who is conceived through the belief in the fantastic and supernatural beings and things, resulting in an extremely structured imaginative creation.

[89][90] The components of Nature are animated and personified deities, so the Moon (Hëna), the Sun (Dielli), the stars, the clouds, the lightning, the Earth (Dheu/Toka), the mountains, etc.

They appear as warlike nymphs capable of offering simple mortals a part of their own psychophysical and divine power, giving humans strength comparable to that of the drangue.

As masters of time and place, they take care of humans (also of the zana and of some particular animals) watching over their life, their house and their hidden treasures before sealing their destiny.