Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I86A — Down turns into snow.
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
OverviewSnow arises from bird down when a bird shakes itself in the sky or when a character shakes out down or fur clothing, plucks birds, etc.
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.
I86 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI86. The inhabitants of the upper world produce down, wool, and scales, which turn into birds, animals, and fish.
I86a. Snow arises from bird down when a bird shakes itself in the sky or when a character shakes out down or fur clothing, plucks birds, etc.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B125A | 99.03% | The nightingale (or, less commonly, someone else) takes the copper's eyes and does not return them, leaving her blind. |
| B115A | 99.00% | Angry at the carpenters, the character (St. Peter) asks another (Christ) to make the knots in the wood or branches iron. The latter only makes them very hard. |
| H7C1 | 99.00% | The trickster first deceives Death (the devil), and then, also by deception, enters paradise. |
| H7B1 | 98.93% | Having received a magic bag, into which any creature can be forced against its will at the owner's discretion, a person gains power over Death or devils. |
| J51A2 | 98.92% | A girl must penetrate an inaccessible place with the help of chicken bones. She loses one or there are not enough bones. By cutting off her finger and using it as she would use the bones, the girl achieves her goal. |
| K176A | 98.92% | The hero searches for his magical wife who has left him. It turns out that one of the winds is flying to her to perform a certain task. The hero follows him. |
| I22G1 | 98.74% | In another world, the hero sees many strange things, including colliding stones (but they do not block his path). |
| L9G | 98.72% | A man's hair or beard of an unusual colour is a sign of his demonic nature. |
| I20C1 | 98.71% | Dwarves do not live deep underground, but inside hills, in rocks, in mines, etc., and usually come out from there onto the ground. |
| K103C | 98.66% | Sitting on a bull or a cow, a young man or woman runs away from their stepmother's house. Along the way, the bull fights other bulls (monsters), the last of which usually kills it. |
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
21 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 21 traditions: Wales, France, Dutch, Flemish, 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, Kashubians, Czech, Czechs, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Latvians, Livonians, Estonians, Tajik, Armenians, Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Wawenock, Abenaki, Penobscot, Eastern Cree, Plains Cree, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone
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