Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I39A — The souls of the dead walk on the rainbow.
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
OverviewThe souls of the dead walk across the rainbow to another world; a rainbow bridge spans the river separating the world of the dead from the world of the living.
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
I39 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI39. The rainbow is a bridge, a road, a staircase.
I39a. The souls of the dead walk across the rainbow to another world; a rainbow bridge spans the river separating the world of the dead from the world of the living.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A32C | 93.27% | The figures of a man and a dog are visible (or should have been visible) on the lunar disc. |
| K65B | 93.25% | Spirits (deities) or unpleasant animals (snakes, frogs, worms, etc.) are generated by the same first anthropomorphic pair or the same pair of first ancestors as humans (deities). |
| M84D | 92.22% | A person hears trees talking, one of which is (fatally) ill and suffers. |
| K73A6 | 92.06% | Malicious women kill (throw away) her wonderful children. Trees (flowers) grow from their remains, later reincarnating into humans. |
| M198B4 | 92.06% | The fake fortune teller, expecting to be exposed, utters words that reflect his state of mind. The thieves standing nearby perceive some of the words as their names, believe that the fortune teller has found out about them, and ask him not to reveal them. |
| M30D | 91.88% | To get into the air, a character without wings (usually a turtle or a frog) grabs a stick with the ends held in their beaks by two birds. |
| I104 | 91.58% | Stars are formed from particles of the body, fragments of a larger celestial body (usually the moon); stars (usually also the sun and moon) are formed from the body of a single being. |
| K76A | 91.34% | A frog or toad marries a beautiful woman, or a handsome young man marries a frog. |
| C23 | 90.93% | The growth or fall of a giant tree determines the state of the sky and the celestial bodies in it (the tree blocks the light of the sun or threatens to destroy the sky, pulls the sun from the sky when it falls, etc.). |
| M196A | 90.90% | Arguing over a trivial matter, a husband and wife (or one of them) lie down and do not move, and people gather to bury them. At the last moment, the supposed dead person opens their mouth, and people think that the dead have come back to life; or the supposed dead person is actually buried in the ground. |
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
23 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 23 traditions: Flores, incl Mangarai (Western Flores), Nage, Keo, Riung, Ngada or Nad'a (Central Flores), Sika (Eastern Flores), Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Central Taiwan: Bunun (Vonum), La'arua, Tsou, Kanabu, Kanakanabu, Northern Taiwan: Atayal (Tayal; Taruko (Toda, Taokas, Torok, Taroko), Pazeh, Sedeq (Sediq, Seedeq, Sazek), Saisiyat (Saixia), Ami, Andamanese, Koreans, 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, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Vepsians, Chuvash, Inland Tlingit, Baffin Land Inuit, Tlingit, Yuchi, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Hopi, Warao, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Russian Federation
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