Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I68 — Opening of the sky.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewAt a certain moment, a crack or window opens in the sky (rain pours through it, it is possible to see what is happening in heaven, perhaps communication with the celestials).
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
I68 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedI68. At a certain moment, a crack or window opens in the sky (rain pours through it, it is possible to see what is happening in heaven, perhaps communication with the celestials).
I68a. Once a year, water briefly acquires unusual properties.
I68b. On a certain night of the year, any wish that is expressed or conceived will come true. Cf. motif M13.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K32G | 98.60% | The antagonist is executed by being tied to a horse (camel, bull), which drags him along the ground or tears him to pieces. |
| I46A | 98.42% | The rainbow is associated with a woman, usually an elderly one. |
| I13B | 98.26% | A small snake, the snake has horns on its head. |
| K67D | 98.04% | The worker (rarely â the husband) annoys the master (wife) so much that he or she decides to run away, taking his or her property with him or her. The worker hides in a sack (chest) with his or her property and ends up back where he or she started. |
| H16B | 97.96% | The narratives (in various contexts) mention a milk pond (river, lake, wave in the sea) existing on earth (but not among the stars). Cf. motifs H16, K33F, N34. |
| G6A | 97.92% | The year is described as a tree, the number of branches, twigs, and leaves of which corresponds to the number of seasons, months, days, etc. (or the year is a column with a certain number of objects on it; a building with a certain number of rooms). |
| K27X1 | 97.91% | Having received a difficult task (usually: to bring an object or creature that has no specific characteristics, such as "something, I don't know what," "a strange wonder," etc.), the hero meets an invisible man who serves others; he is kind to him, and the man becomes his assistant. (This motif is certainly present in some texts of the ATU 465A plot, but it is not specifically highlighted in the definition). (Cf. motif K131B). |
| J32A | 97.88% | When dying, a person orders that someone spend the night at his grave or bring something to the grave. |
| K35C1 | 97.81% | The young man is not killed, but rewarded, because he answered correctly (evasively) the question of a powerful character â which of the two women he should marry, which is more beautiful, which object or material is more valuable, etc. |
| K27F | 97.81% | An authoritative character demands that the hero obtain a woman. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
49 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 49 traditions: Old and New Testament, Ugarit, Phoenicia, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Livonians, Estonians, Setu, Western Sami, Western Ukrainians, Rushani, Shughni, Khufi, Bartangi, Persians, Abaza (Abazins), Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Tats, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Georgians, Armenians, Gagauz, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash, Udmurt, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Central Yakuts (Sakha), Nivkh, Tagish, Xipaya, Urums, Rumei, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Terek Cossacks, Montenegro, China, Russian Federation
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