E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit ("the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun") is a character in Albanian mythology and folklore, the dauther of Hëna ("the Moon") and Dielli ("the Sun").[1] She is the as Albanian: pika e qiellit ("drop of the sky" or "lightning") which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil. In the legends she helps a hero winning a fight against a kulshedra.[2] Her victory over the kulshedra symbolizes the supremacy of the deity of the sky over that of the underworld in the dualistic struggle between light and darkness.
In Albanian folk beliefs the sun (Dielli) and the moon (Hëna) are personified deities. In folk tales, myths and legends the sun appears as a male figure, and the moon as a female figure. In some traditions the sun and the moon are regarded as husband and wife, and in other traditions as brother and sister. In the case of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit the sun is her father and the moon is her mother.
E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit is described as Albanian: pika e qiellit ("drop of the sky" or "lightning") which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil. In the legends she helps a hero in his fight against a kulshedra, an earthly/chthonic deity or demon originating from darkness.[3] In Albanian mythology the kulshedra is usually fought and defeated by the drangue, also seen as a sky and lightning deity or divine hero. The supremacy of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit and of other similar celestial Albanian characters – such as Zjermi who is born with the Sun on his forehead – over the kulshedra, reflects the supremacy of the deity of the sky over that of the underworld in the dualistic struggle between light and darkness.
The legend of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit has also been narrated by the Albanian writer Mitrush Kuteli in the collection Tregime të moçme shqiptare ("Old Albanian tales"), published in 1965.