Associated with the dawn goddess, the epithet "daughter of the sky-god" is commonly found in Indo-European traditions (cf. H₂éwsōs#Epithets). Worship Prende was worshipped in northern Albania, especially by the Albanian women until recent times. Prende's festival was celebrated on July 26 every year, and her devotees would don beautiful clothing and would set out a mortar and pestle as a representation of sexual union. According to folk beliefs, swallows, called Pulat e Zojës "the Lady's Birds", pull Prende across the sky in her chariot. Swallows are connected to the chariot by the rainbow (Ylberi), which the people also call Brezi or Shoka e Zojës "the Lady's Belt". When Albania became Christianized in antiquity, Prende was identified by the Catholic Church as Saint Anne, mother of Virgin Mary, and was called "Saint Veneranda" (, known in Gheg dialect as Prenne, Perende or Petka). Another Albanian Christian saint thought by some to have a non-Christian origin is Gjin. Prende was so popular in Albania that of the some 275 Catholic churches recorded to have existed in Albania in the late 16th and the early 17th centuries, 33 were named after her, more than to any other saint except Virgin Mary and Saint Nicholas. Many other historical Catholic and Orthodox churches were dedicated to her in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the Kurbin valley pilgrimages to the church of Saint Veneranda were common among both Christians and Muslims. There people went also in the hope of a cure for mental illness. As is usual in many cultures, in Albania the day sacred to the goddess of love is Friday, named in the Albanian language after her: dita e premte. See also Albanian mythology Illyrian religion En Perëndi Venus Freyja References Bibliography Albanian mythology Illyrian goddesses Dawn goddesses Stellar deities Love and lust goddesses European goddesses Beauty goddesses Paleo-Balkan mythology