of an original epithet or epiclesis" of , since the Vedic weather-god Parjanya is also called ('Thunderer'). George E. Dunkel regarded as an original epithet of , the Sky-God. It has also been postulated that was referred to as ('son of Dyēus'), although this is based on the Vedic poetic tradition alone. Depiction Weapon is usually depicted as holding a weapon, named in the Baltic and Old Norse traditions, which personifies the lightnings and is generally conceived as a club, mace, or hammer, made of stone or metal. In the Latvian poetic expression ("Pērkōn throws his mace"), the mace (), is cognate with the Old Norse , the hammer thrown by the thunder god Thor, and also with the word for 'lightning' in the Old Prussian , the Old Church Slavonic , or the Welsh . Fructifying rains While his thunder and lightning had a destructive connotation, they could also be seen as a regenerative force since they were often accompanied by fructifying rains. Parjanya is depicted as a rain god in the Vedas, and Latvian prayers included a call for to bring rain in time of drought. The Balkan Slavs worshipped Perun along with his female counterpart , the name of a ritual prayer calling for fructifying rains and centred on the dance of a naked virgin who had not yet had her first monthly period. The earth is likewise referred to as "menstruating" in a Vedic hymn to Parjanya, a possible cognate of . The alternative name of , , also recalls ' pseudonym , and Zeus' oak oracle located at Dodona. Perëndi is especially invoked by Albanians in incantations and songs praying for rain. Rituals were performed in times of summer drought to make it rain, usually in June and July, but sometimes also in the spring months when there was severe drought. In different Albanian regions, for rainmaking purpose, people threw water upwards to make it subsequently fall to the ground in the form of rain. This was an imitative type of magic practice with ritual songs. A mythical multi-headed water-serpent is connected with the thunder-deity in an epic battle. The monstrous foe is a 'blocker of waters', and his heads are eventually smashed by the thunder-deity to release the pent-up torrents of rain. The myth has numerous reflexes in mythical stories of battles between a serpent and a god or mythical hero, who is not