Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

I95C — Orion – staff.

30 Myths, legends and folktales
30 Unique narratives for motif I95C
23 Cultures & traditions where I95C is told
3 Sub-motifs of motif I95C
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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

Overview

Orion's belt – staff, stick, three sticks, rod, crutch, etc.

Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations.

I95 has 3 other sub-motifs

Related

I95.  The Pleiades are a sieve or riddle for sifting agricultural products. See motif I95.
I95a.  Orion (probably always Orion's Belt) is Libra.
I95b.  Orion is a yoke.
I95c.  Orion's belt – staff, stick, three sticks, rod, crutch, etc.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of I95’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
A32D299.91%A man with a pitchfork in his hands can be seen in the silhouette of the moon's spots.
H6C399.91%Large birds that fly in wedge formations (storks, cranes, swans, geese – German: Zugvögel) are associated with the otherworld (they bring children from there, carry children away to the non-human world, control living and dead water, etc.).
K56A4E99.91%After meeting a supernatural character, a kind person receives valuables, while a greedy person burns to death upon returning home.
K101B199.89%The enchanted character (the castle where the action takes place) gradually changes its appearance over several days as the spell wears off: it acquires human features, turning from black to white, from ugly to beautiful.
K119D99.84%A cat helps a poor young man marry a princess (a girl marry a prince).
F73B99.81%The bear (wolf, lion, dragon) believes that the vulva is a wound inflicted on a human being.
M101B99.80%A large predator wants to see a human being. First, it meets a child and learns that this is a future human being, then an old man – a former human being. The encounter with a present human being (a hunter, a soldier) ends badly for the beast.
M38C199.80%The character (supposedly) forges a person, rejuvenating or reviving him, the other unsuccessfully tries to imitate him.
M197E99.79%A man smears himself with resin, rolls around in feathers, crawls backwards on all fours, lets his hair down, etc. The demon thinks he is facing an unknown beast. The man escapes.
K61C99.76%A demon agrees to help (agrees not to harm) a person on condition that the person guesses his name. At the last moment, the person accidentally learns the demon's name, and the demon disappears or rewards the person.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

23 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 23 traditions: Negrito (incl. Mamanwa), Portuguese, Portugal, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Livonians, Estonians, Vepsians, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Ossetians, Armenians, Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Amuesha, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Russian Federation, Spain

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