Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I80 — The thunderbolt's apprentice.
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
OverviewA character who finds himself in the locus of a deity responsible for atmospheric phenomena violates certain prohibitions or instructions, thereby causing excessively strong thunderstorms, rain, snowfall or wind.
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.
I80 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedI80. A character who finds himself in the locus of a deity responsible for atmospheric phenomena violates certain prohibitions or instructions, thereby causing excessively strong thunderstorms, rain, snowfall or wind.
I80a. Upon meeting the Thunders, a person becomes one of them.
I80b. Man is allowed to control the weather in his own interests. He sends rain at the right time, but cannot take all factors into account (he usually forgets about the wind). The bread will not grow or will be unpalatable.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M57B | 96.16% | Beads or metals are the bodily secretions of a deity. |
| I48 | 95.94% | The character is deprived of the ability to move, after which he acquires cosmic dimensions: he supports the earth (sky) or his movements cause earthquakes (less often - storms). |
| L77 | 95.68% | The character devours people because he sees them as a delicacy. |
| I8E | 95.27% | The sky or the earth is supported by four anthropomorphic male characters located at the four cardinal points. |
| E33 | 95.21% | People arise from grains, seeds, dough. |
| B80 | 94.79% | The process of creation includes measuring the dimensions of the earth or the world as a whole. |
| A8B | 93.95% | Setting beyond the horizon, the sun shines on the anthropomorphic inhabitants of the underworld – the dead, dwarves, etc. |
| I77 | 93.94% | A powerful character associated with thunderstorms and rain, lame. |
| G12A | 93.69% | Cultivated plants arise from drops of blood or flow like blood from cuts on the body of a human or animal. |
| D1A3 | 93.13% | A man marries a woman who is fire. She is mistreated, or her husband does not like her, and the marriage breaks down. |
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
35 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 35 traditions: Ngbakka, Mbum (incl Mbai), Mundang, Fali, Tupuri, Maya (=Bali), Nyong, Sara, incl. Ngambaye (Ngambaï), Mbaï, Viet, Muong, 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, Livonians, Estonians, Tats, Mari (Cheremis), Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Dongxiang, Baoan, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Nanai, Attikamek, Navajo, Zuni, Huichol, Tepecano, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Popoloca; Tlapanec, Mam, Ixil, Aguatec, Avakatec, Tepehua, Totonac, Huastec (Teenek), Chontal, Zapotec, Chatino, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Yucatec, Itza, Kekchi; Mopan, Sicuani, Botocudo, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Lutsi (Ludza), China, Japan
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