| Perkūnas Pērkons | |
|---|---|
| Member of triune godhead includingPotrimpo andPeckols(allegedly)[1] | |
 Statue possibly depicting Perkūnas | |
| Affiliation | Sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, fire, war, law, order, fertility, mountains, and oak trees |
| Major cult center | Romuva(allegedly) Vilnius temple(1263-1387) |
| Weapon | Axe or sledgehammer, stones, a sword, lightning bolts, a bow and arrows. |
| Symbol | Swastika |
| Tree | Oak,Rowan |
| Day | Thursday |
| Color | Red, White |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents |
|
| Consort | Aušra orŽemyna |
| Equivalents | |
| Celtic | Taranis |
| Indo-European | *Perkʷūnos |
| Norse | Thor |
| Slavic | Perun |
| Finnic | Ukko |
| Part ofa series on |
| Baltic religion |
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Deities
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Perkūnas (Lithuanian:Perkūnas,Latvian:Pērkons,[2]Old Prussian:Perkūns,Perkunos,Yotvingian:Parkuns,Latgalian:Pārkiuņs) was the commonBalticgod of thunder, and the second most important deity in the Balticpantheon afterDievas. In bothLithuanian andLatvian mythology, he is documented as the god of sky, thunder,lightning, storms, rain, fire, war, law, order, fertility, mountains, andoak trees.[3][4]
The name continuesPIE*Perkwunos, cognate to*perkwus, a word for "oak", "fir" or "wooded mountain". TheProto-Baltic name *Perkūnas can be reconstructed with certainty. SlavicPerun is a related god, but not an etymologically precise match.FinnishPerkele, a name ofUkko, is considered a loan from Baltic.
Another connection is that ofterpikeraunos, an epithet ofZeus meaning "who enjoys lightning".[5]
Most information about Perkūnas comes fromfolklore songs, legends, and fairy tales. Because most of them were collected rather late in the 19th century, they represent only some fragments of the whole mythology. Lithuanian Perkūnas has many alternativeonomatopoeic names, like Dundulis, Dindutis, Dūdų senis, Tarškulis, Tarškutis, Blizgulis, etc.[6]
The earliest attestation of Perkūnas seems to be in the Ruthenian translation of theChronicle ofJohn Malalas (1261) where it speaks about the worship of "Перкоунови рекше громоу", and in theLivonian Rhymed Chronicle (around 1290) which mentions the idol Perkūnė.
In theConstitutiones Synodales (1530) Perkūnas is mentioned in a list of gods before the god of hellPikuls and is identified with theRomanJove (Jupiter). In theSudovian Book Perkūnas (Parkuns) is mentioned in connection with a ritual involving a goat. InChristian compositions, Perkūnas is a malicious spirit, a demon, as in theChronicle of John Malalas or in the 15th century writings of Polish chroniclerJan Długosz.
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Perkūnas is the god of lightning and thunder and storms. In atriad of gods Perkūnas symbolizes the creative forces (includingvegetative), courage, success, the top of the world, the sky, rain, thunder, heavenly fire (lightning) andcelestial elements, whilePotrimpo is involved with the seas, ground, crops, andcereals and Velnias/Patulas, withhell, and death. As a heavenly (atmospheric) deity Perkūnas, apparently, is the assistant and executor ofDievas‘s will. However, Perkūnas tends to surpass Dievas,deus otiosus, because he can be actually seen and has defined mythological functions.
In the Latviandainas, the functions of Pērkons and Dievs can occasionally merge: Pērkons is calledPērkona tēvs ('Father or God of Thunder') orDieviņš, a diminutive form ofDievs.[7]
Perkūnas is pictured as middle-aged, armed with anaxe and arrows, riding a two-wheeled chariot harnessed withgoats, likeThor[8] or CelticTaranis.
In other accounts, the thunder god is described as driving a fiery chariot through the skies with swift horses, or riding a fiery horse.[9]
In songs about a "heavenly wedding"Saulė (the Sun) cheats on Perkūnas with Mėnulis (the Moon); Perkūnas splits Mėnulis in half with a sword. According to another, more popular, version, Mėnulis cheats on the Sun withAušrinė (the morning star) just after the wedding, and Perkūnas punishes it. However, it does not learn and repeats theadultery and is punished again every month. Other explanations say it is why the Sun shines during the day and the Moon at night. Though divorced, both want to see their daughterŽemyna (the Earth).
In other songs Perkūnas, on the way to the wedding of Aušra (dawn; the daughter of the Sun), strikes a golden oak. The oak is a tree of the thunder god in theBaltic mythology.[10] References to the "oak of Perkūnas" (in Lithuanian,Perkūno ąžuolas; in Latvian,Pērkona ozols) exist in a source dated to the first half of the 19th century.
Other myths say that Perkūnas and oneLaumė or Vaiva (rainbow) were supposed to get married on Thursday, but the bride was kidnapped by Velnias (the devil) and Perkūnas has hunted Velnias ever since.
Some myths mention four sons of Perkūnas (Latvian:Perkona dēli;Lithuanian:Perkūno sūnūs),[11] who, apparently, are connected with the four seasons or with the four directions of the world (east, west, south and north). Sometimes there are seven or nine Perkūnai referred to as brothers. It is said in Lithuanian"Perkūnų yra daug" ("there are many thunders").
In some myths Perkūnas expels his wife (and in some cases his children too) and remains in the sky by himself. Some myths offer a very different story: Dievas lifts Perkūnas from the earth into the sky. Perkūnas has stones in the sky (which rumble during storms) - the motive connected toIndo-European mythology. Perkūnas dwells on high hills or mountains: compare Lithuaniantoponymy of Perkūnkalnis, "mountain of Perkūnas", or Griausmo kalnas, "mountain of rumble."
In most myths, however, Perkūnas's wife isŽemyna.
An important function of Perkūnas is to fight Velnias (in Latvian,Velns). He is sometimes considered the antithesis of Perkūnas and is the god of the underworld and death.Christianity considers "Velnias" akin to their "devil", though this is not in line with ancient beliefs.
Perkūnas pursues his opponent, Velns, for picaroon or theft of fertility and cattle. Velnias hides in trees, under stones, or turns into various animals: a black cat, dog, pig, goat, lamb, pike, cow (compare to the Latvian representations of jods a creature with the cow hoofs) or a person.
Perkūnas pursues an opponent in the sky on a chariot, made from stone and fire (Lithuanianugnies ratai). Sometimes the chariot is made from red iron. It is harnessed by a pair (less often four or three) of red and white (or black and white) horses (sometimes goats). Compare the Lithuanian deity of horses and chariots Ratainyčia (Ratainicza mentioned in Lasick's works; from Lithuanianratai - "wheel"). It is a mythologized image of a chariot ofDidieji Grįžulo Ratai ("Grand Wheels of Grįžulas" (Ursa Major). It agrees withSamogitian representations, in which Perkūnas is a horseman on a fiery horse. On his heavenly chariot Perkūnas appears in the shape of a gray-haired old man with a big beard of many colors, in white and black clothes, holding a goat on a cord in one hand and a horn or an axe in the other.
Perkūnas possesses many weapons. They include an axe or sledgehammer, stones, a sword, lightning bolts, a bow and arrows, a club, and an iron or fiery knife. Perkūnas is the creator of the weapons (Akmeninis kalvis, "the stone smith") or he is helped by the heavenly smith Televelis (Kalvelis).
An opponent of Perkūnas hides itself in the hollow of a tree or a stone (attributes of Perkūnas). Theculmination of Perkūnas' hunt for his opponent is a thunder-storm; it not only clears the ground of evil spirits, but returns the stolen cattle or weapons.
Perkūnas is also connected to Thursday. Thursday is the day of the Thunderer in many traditions: comparePolabianPeräune-dǻn ("day of Perun"), LithuanianPerkūno diena. Perkūnas is associated with the Roman godJupiter in early sources. Thursday is a day of thunder-storms and rains, and also of weddings.
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Simon Grunau (around 1520) describes aPrussianbanner with Perkūns on it. The god is represented as an angry middle aged man with a twisted black beard, topped with a flame. It stands between youngPatrimpas and old Patulas. Perkūns maintains the same central position in the description of the sacred oak inRomowe sanctuary. In front of the oak, the eternal fire (symbol of Perkūns) was burned. Special priests served at the sanctuary.Old Prussians would try to appeal to the god by prayers.Perkunatete was the mother of Perkūns.
Pērkons was strongly associated withDievs, though the two were clearly different. The peoplesacrificed blackcalves, goats, androosters to Pērkons, especially duringdroughts. The surrounding peoples came to these sacrifices to eat and drink together, after pouringbeer onto the ground or into the fire for him. The Latvians also sacrificed cooked food before meals to Pērkons, in order to preventthunderstorms, during whichhoneycombs were placed into fires to disperse the clouds.
Pērkons' family included sons that symbolized various aspects of thunderstorms (such as thunder,lightning, lightning strikes) and daughters that symbolized various kinds of rain.
Pērkons appeared on agoldenhorse, wielding asword,ironclub, goldenwhip and aknife. Ancient Latvians wore tiny axes on their clothing in his honor.
Perkunas is occasionally mentioned in the novels ofHarry Turtledove. He provides an importantmacguffin inThe Case of the Toxic Spell Dump (1993) and is the patron god of one of the armies inGunpowder Empire (2003).
Günter Grass, in his second novelDog Years (1963), alludes to Perkūnas ("Perkunos") as a symbol of the dark human energies unleashed by the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s.
The fictional parallel toNazi Germany in the 1966alternate history novelThe Gate of Time byPhilip José Farmer - located physically on the site of present day Germany, but dominated by Lithuanians rather than Germans - is called Perkunisha, named after Perkūnas.
Two other alternate history timelines feature a Perkūnas-worshipping Lithuania surviving into the 20th Century, out of diametrically opposingpoints of divergence. InPoul Anderson'sDelenda Est, the alternate Lithuania arose in a history whereCarthage defeated and destroyed Rome and there was noRoman Empire. Conversely, inHarry Turtledove'sGunpowder Empire, the Roman Empire survived into the 20th Century and beyond, and "Lietuva" emerged as a rival empire to its north.
The Lithuanian folk music groupKūlgrinda released a 2003 album titledPerkūno Giesmės, meaning "Hymns of Perkūnas".[13]
Saule, Pērkons, Daugava is a Latvian choir song composed byMārtiņš Brauns, based on a 1916 poem byRainis.
In August 2023 a tottem pole carved with the writing "Perkunas 2023" appeared above the white cliffs of Dover in the South of England, UK. To date no one has claimed ownership of the piece and the public are still no wiser as to how it got there.[14]
Erica Synths made a drum synthesizer named Perkons.
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