Jūratė- Baltic GodDeity
Also known as: Jurata
Description
Goddess of the Baltic Sea who lived in an amber palace beneath the waves. She fell in love with the mortal fisherman Kastytis and brought him down to her shimmering realm. Perkūnas destroyed the palace with lightning for the transgression. The amber that washes ashore after storms is what remains of her home.
Mythology & Lore
The Amber Palace
Jūratė lived beneath the Baltic Sea in a palace built entirely of amber. Its walls glowed golden in the deep water. From there she ruled the sea and everything in it, while above her, fishermen worked the waves without knowing what lay below.
Kastytis
One fisherman cast his nets farther from shore than anyone dared. Kastytis worked Jūratė's waters day after day, and the goddess watched him from below. She rose to meet him, and she loved him. She brought him down to the amber palace, where sunlight filtered through golden walls and the world above no longer mattered.
Divine law forbade it. Perkūnas struck the sea floor with his thunderbolts, shattering the palace and killing Kastytis in the same blow. In the account recorded by Narbutt, Jūratė was chained to the ruins, condemned to weep among the wreckage of everything she had chosen.
The Shore
After storms, amber washes onto the Baltic beaches. Each golden fragment is a piece of the destroyed palace, torn from the sea floor by the waves. The smallest pieces are Jūratė's tears.
Relationships
- Family
- Associated with