and greeting the Sun when it rises at around 4 am next morning. It is the most joyous traditional holiday. The winter solstice is celebrated as the return of Saulė. Christianity absorbed Lithuanian Kūčios and Latvian Ziemassvētki into Christmas. Other celebrations took place around the equinoxes. Mythology Colors In Latvian folk songs, Saule and her daughter(s) are dressed of shawls woven with gold thread and Saule wears shoes of gold. She is also depicted in a silver, gold or silk costume and wearing a sparkling crown. She is sometimes portrayed as waking up "red" (sārta) or "in a red tree" during the morning. Saule is also said to own golden tools and garments: slippers, scarf, belt, and a golden boat she uses as her means of transportation. Other accounts ascribe her golden rings, golden ribbons, golden tassels, and even a golden crown. Saule is also described as being dressed in clothes woven with "threads of red, gold, silver and white". In the Lithuanian tradition, the sun is also described as a "golden wheel" or a "golden circle" that rolls down the mountain at sunset. Also in Latvian riddles and songs, Saule is associated with the color red as if to indicate the "fiery aspect" of the sun: the setting and the rising sun are equated with a rose wreath and a rose in bloom due to their circular shapes. Movements Saulė is portrayed dancing in her gilded shoes on a silver hill and her fellow Baltic goddess Aušrinė is said to dance on a stone for the people on the first day of summer. In Lithuania, the Sun (identified as female) rides a car towards her husband, the Moon, "dancing and emitting fiery sparks" on the way. Dwelling In a myth from Lithuania, a man named Joseph becomes fascinated with Aušrinė appearing in the sky and goes on a quest to find the "second sun", who is actually a maiden that lives on an island in the sea and has the same hair like the Sun. In the Baltic folklore, Saulė is said to live in a silver gated castle at the end of the sea, located somewhere in the east, or to go to an island in the middle of the sea for her nocturnal rest. In folksongs, Saule sinks into the bottom of a lake to sleep at night, in a silver cradle "in the white seafoam". Vehicle