Jonas Vaiškūnas (born 6 March 1961) is a Lithuanian ethnoastronomer, religious leader, publisher and politician. He is the head of the department of ethnography at the Museum of Molėtai and priest in the Baltic neopagan organisation Romuva.

Biography

Jonas Vaiškūnas was born on 6 March 1961 in the village in

Švenčionys District Municipality Švenčionys (; ; known also by several Švenčionys#Etymology, alternative names) is a city in eastern Lithuania, and capital of the Švenčionys district municipality, located north of Vilnius. , it had a population of 4,065 of which about 17% ...

. He graduated from the physics department of

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

in 1984. In the 1980s, he worked in the physics department at the

Lithuanian Academy of Sciences The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences or LMA (, ) is a state-funded independent organization in Lithuania dedicated for science and research. Its mission is to mobilize prominent scientists and initiate activities that would strengthen the welfare ...

. From 1990 to 1998, he worked as a researcher and museologist at the

Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology The Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology () is a sky observatory and ethnocosmology museum in Kulionys village located about north of Vilnius, Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region ...

Molėtai Molėtai (; ; ) is a city in north eastern Lithuania surrounded by lakes. One of the oldest settlements in Lithuania, it is a popular resort for the inhabitants of Vilnius. According to the 2013 census, it had 6,302 inhabitants. Known for the fam ...

. He is the head of the Museum of Molėtai's Ethnographical Hut and Sky Observation Post, which he created in the 1990s. Since 2002, he is the director of the Archaeoastronomical Centre of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Stebykla 01

Vaiškūna has published more than 40 scientific papers and more than 400 articles of popular science. In 2010, he co-founded the online newspaper ''Alkas.lt'', for which he became editor-in-chief in 2011. In 2012, he published a book about the Lithuanian

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...

, ''Skaitant dangaus ženklus'' (). This zodiac has only survived in fragmentary attestations, which Vaiškūnas used in an attempt to reconstruct it. It is closely related to the standard Western zodiac but has culture-specific elements. Vaiškūnas has been interviewed in the Lithuanian media in his role as ethnoastronomer during calendar holidays and celestial phenomena. Vaiškūnas is a ' (priest) in the Baltic neopagan organisation Romuva. He became involved in politics in 1988 when he represented the Reform Movement of Lithuania locally in Molėtai until 1991. Since 1996, he is active in the

Lithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union The Lithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union ( or LTS), also known as the Nationalists (), was a right-wing nationalist political party in Lithuania. It claimed to be the continuation of the Lithuanian Nationalist Union, the ruling party in 19 ...

Personal life

Vaiškūnas is married to the mathematician Daiva Vaiškūnienė. They have three daughters, born in 1990, 1993 and 1998.

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaiskunas, Jonas 1961 births Living people 20th-century physicists 21st-century physicists Museologists Lithuanian astronomers Lithuanian publishers (people) Lithuanian male non-fiction writers Lithuanian modern pagans Modern pagan religious leaders People from Švenčionys District Municipality 20th-century Lithuanian politicians 21st-century Lithuanian politicians 20th-century Lithuanian non-fiction writers 21st-century Lithuanian non-fiction writers