played while people danced and sang until the dawn. Etymology The Livonian place name Thoreyda, (also Thoreida and German Treiden) attested in the Chronicle of Livonia is interpreted as the garden of Taara – Thor ‘Taara’ + *aida ‘garden’. If this interpretation is correct, the theonym Taara was also known in Livonian. The name Tharapita has been interpreted as "Taara, help!" (Taara, a(v)ita! in Estonian) and "Taara's thunderbolt" (Taara pikne). Mentions of Tharapita in Henry's Chronicle of Livonia Tharapita is mentioned five times in the Chronicle of Livonia by the missionary priest Henry. The first mention is in connection with mission in Vironia in the north of Estonia, the rest pertain to the conquest and baptism of the islands of Muhu and Saaremaa (Osilia) off the western coast of mainland Estonia. Felling the statues of gods in Vironia Along with the first mention, Henry presents the story of Tharapita flying from a forest on top of a hill in Vironia to the island of Saaremaa. According to the chronicle, missionaries felled the images and statues of gods from the hill. The locals are said to have wondered at the fact that the statues did not bleed, which increased their belief in the priests' sermons. Quo audito sacerdotes modicum subridentes et excusso pulvere pedum in eos ad alias villas festinantes in confinio Vironie tres villas baptizaverunt, ubi erat mons et silva pulcherrima, in qua dicebant indigene magnum deum Osiliensium natum, qui Tharapita vocatur, et de illo loco in Osiliam volasse. Et ibat alter sacerdos succidens imagines et similitudines deorum ibi factas, et mirabantur illi, quod sanguis non efflueret, et magis sacerdotum sermonibus credebant. The siege of the Muhu hill fort According to the chronicle, Estonians besieged in the Muhu hill fort exclaimed to Tharapita in joy and cried to the sacred grove (nemus) for assistance, as the Christians laying siege prayed to God and exclaimed to Jesus for help. Gaudet exercitus christianorum, exclamant, Deum exorant. Clamant et illi, gaudentes in Tarapitha suo. Illi nemus, isti Iesum invocant, in cuius nomine ac laude fortifer ascendunt, ad summitatem valli perveniunt, fortissime et ab illis repelluntur. Baptism of the sons of nobles in Valjala As the sons of nobles are baptised in the defeated hill fort of Valjala (Waldia), Tharapita is banished from the fort: Dantur pueri nobilium, quorum primum venerabilis Rigensis episcopus cum gaudio et devotione magna catechizatum sacro baptismatis fonte rigavit; alii