Zorya

Zorya (lit. "Dawn"; also many variants: Zarya, Zaria, Zorza, Zirnytsia, Zaranitsa, Zoryushka, etc.) is a figure in Slavic folklore, a feminine personification of dawn, possibly goddess. Depending on tradition, she may appear as a singular entity, or two or three sisters at once. Although Zorya is etymologically unrelated to the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn *H₂éwsōs, she shares most of her characteristics. She is often depicted as the sister of the Sun, the Moon, and Danica, the Morning Star with which she is sometimes identified.^[1] She lives in the Palace of the Sun, opens the gate for him in the morning so that he can set off on a journey through the sky, guards his white horses,^[a] she is also described as a virgin.^[3] In the Eastern Slavic tradition of zagovory she represents the supreme power that a practitioner appeals to.^[4]

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