Juozas Kudirka

Juozas Kudirka (March 13, 1939 – June 21, 2007) was a Lithuanian ethnologist, habilitated doctor of sciences in humanities.

He graduated from Vilnius University in 1965 majoring in history. His diploma work was Veiveriai Teacher's Seminary . In 1969 he earned his Candidate of Sciences degree in historical sciences after the post-graduate course at the Institute of History of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, which was soon promoted to the highest Soviet-time scientific degree of Doctor of Sciences, with the thesis Pottery in Lithuania , which in 1973 was published as a book Lietuvos puodžiai ir puodai (Lithuanian Potters and Pots). Plikių kaimo papročiai (Plikiai Village Customs, 1998). Detailed descriptions of weddings and smaller descriptions of baptisms and funerals of Lithuanians in a Belarusian village, as well as some archaic custos preserved in the village for his research on ethnic culture in the borderlands. Significant material was collected by J. Kudirka about traditional culture in ethnic Lithuanian lands in Belarus. Part of it was used in publications about calendar holidays.