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2/10/2011
Lithuanian legends & lore:
Jūratė and Kastytis

Jurate

"Jūratė" by A. Algminas
(computer graphic, 2002)

According to an ancient Lithuanian legend, Jūratė, the beautiful sea-goddess, who lived in a palace built of amber at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, fell in love with a fisherman Kastytis. When thunder-god Perkūnas, the most powerful of the Lithuanian gods, found out about it, he became very angry at Jūratė for her love of a mere mortal and in a jealous rage with lightning bolts killed Kastytis and shattered Jūratė's undersea palace.

Even today, when winds whip up raging storms in the Baltic Sea, one can hear Jūratė's mournful cries for her beloved Kastytis and, afterwards, one can still find small pieces of Jūratė's amber palace among the seaweeds washed out on the sandy shores. ( Click here to read more legends.)

"Jūratė and Kastytis" wood carving by D. Šakalienė