Perkūnas

Perkūnas (Lithuanian: Perkūnas, Latvian: Pērkons, Old Prussian: Perkūns, Finnish: Perkele, Yotvingian: Parkuns) was the common Baltic god of thunder, one of the most important deities in the Baltic pantheon. In both Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, he is documented as the god of thunder, rain, mountains, oak trees and the sky.

Etymology

The name continues PIE *Perk^wunos, cognate to *perk^wus, a word for "oak", "fir" or "wooded mountain". The Proto-Baltic name *Perkūnas can be reconstructed with certainty. Slavic Perun is a related god, but not an etymologically precise match. The names Fjörgynn as a name for Odin, and Fjörgyn, mother of Thor, have been proposed as cognates. Finnish Perkele, a name of Ukko, is considered a loan from Baltic.

Another connection is that of terpikeranous, an epithet of Zeus meaning "who enjoys lightning".

The name survives in Modern Baltic as Lithuanian perkūnas ("thunder"), perkūnija ("thunder-storm"), and the Latvian pērkons ("thunder"), "pērkona negaiss" ("thunderstorm" or "Pērkons' storm"). Alternative names in Latvian are Pērkoniņš (diminutive), Pērkonītis (diminutive), Pērkona tēvs (direct translation would be Father of Thunder but it might be interpreted as God of Thunder instead), Vecais tēvs (Old father).

Pērkons (band)

Pērkons (Latvian: thunder) is one of the most important and scandalous Latvian rock bands of the 1980s and is still performing in concerts. The group's lineup is Juris Kulakovs (keyboard, compositions), Juris Sējāns (bass, vocals), Leons Sējāns (lead guitar), Ieva Akurātere (vocals), Raimonds Bartaševics (vocals), Dainis Strazdiņš (drums).

At first, Pērkons played two completely different kinds of music – instrumental classical music, and wild rock'n'roll bordering on hard rock. The band is better known for the latter. Their songs became the folklore of the youth, speaking about things nobody else dared to speak about. The band was for no expressed reason banned by the Soviet power in 1983. They continued to play as an ensemble of the kolkhoz "Soviet Latvia", careful not to mention the title Pērkons again. In 1985, after a concert in Ogre, a group of teenagers demolished two train compartments. After this, the group was banned again immediately, even though it had nothing to do with the incident. (The concert, demolished train, and court trials were documented by Juris Podnieks in the film, Vai viegli būt jaunam? (Is It Easy to Be Young).