Also called Zarya, Zaria, Zorza, Zora, Zorya Utrennyaya and Zorya Vechernyaya.
Their story
In Russian and Ukrainian charms the dawn is addressed as a maiden, Zorya, often as the red maiden who can wipe away illness or guard the speaker. Charms often open on the island of Buyan in the sea, by the stone Alatyr, before calling on the dawn. Folklorists such as Afanasyev and Ralston recorded that there were two sisters, the Morning Zorya and the Evening Zorya, and sometimes a third for midnight.
Best times to give to them
- dawn
- dusk
- Kupala Night (the dawn after)
What they like being given
- water set out at dawn
- bread
- a red thread or kerchief
How to honour them
- Greet the dawn with a short spoken blessing, as old charms began.
- Wash your face in the morning dew or fresh water.
- At dusk, thank the day as it closes.
How they can help you
- fresh starts
- healing
- closing a day well
Symbols
- the red sky at morning and evening
- a red kerchief
- the morning star
The dawn maidens are genuine folk charm figures; their place as goddesses in a pantheon is a modern reading.
Sources
- Alexander Afanasyev, Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature
- W. R. S. Ralston, The Songs of the Russian People (1872)