Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I123 — Altair – herald of the sun.
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
OverviewAltair with a small neighbouring star from the constellation Aquila or Vega with a similarly faint star are considered to appear during or immediately after the winter solstice, although they are actually visible before that.
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F91 | 99.68% | A man finds or breeds monstrous worms to eat his wife. |
| M123C | 99.59% | A non-migratory bird sets off south with migratory birds, but is unable to reach its destination. |
| A31A | 99.08% | Upon learning that her husband or lover has committed an act incompatible with accepted norms, a woman cuts off her breast and shows it to him. |
| K51A | 98.50% | One woman comes to another in the absence of a man and kills her by pushing her rival's head into boiling liquid or pouring boiling water or hot fat into her ear. See motif K51. |
| K45 | 98.49% | A man and a woman belonging to different generations (father – daughter, son – mother) come into conflict. The man sails away from the woman in a boat or on a raft, or leaves her on a sledge. When she tries to grab the edge of the boat (raft, sled), he cuts off her fingers. (The common motif among the Warrau and Eskimos was first noted by O. Zerries [Zerries 1954: 346, 376]). |
| K45B | 98.36% | A man and a woman belonging to different generations (father – daughter, son – mother) come into conflict, as a result of which the woman turns into a marine mammal, the mistress of marine mammals, or a frog. |
| K51 | 98.11% | The husband feigns death, disappears or leaves home for a long time. The wife learns that he has married another woman, finds and, as a rule, kills her husband and/or rival, who often turns out to be a creature of non-human nature. |
| B16B | 97.62% | The sea is salty because a wolverine or a fox bathed in it or urinated in it. |
| B38B | 97.62% | Two quadrupeds (or a quadruped and another creature) adorn each other themselves or are adorned by someone else. |
| M123D | 97.42% | A bird from the corvid family is rejected after its mate or relatives discover that it eats carrion or filth. |
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
7 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Chukchi, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Copper, Netsilik, Iglulik, Greenland
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