Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J64 — Into the sky on a pillar of smoke.
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
OverviewWithout touching the fire or burning, the character rises into the sky or crosses the river on clouds of smoke.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M115 | 95.34% | The character kills an animal that is dangerous to him by cunning. Relatives or friends of the killed animal find out about this and come to take revenge. The character escapes. |
| G20 | 93.85% | Edible (cultivated or wild) plants emerge from the body of an old woman, a young woman or a girl. |
| I96 | 93.17% | A rainbow consisting of blood either heralds war and death. |
| H9B | 92.67% | People have become like plants, which, although mortal, live on in their descendants (shoots). |
| I133A | 92.50% | There is a constellation that represents a bird and corresponds to several large constellations in European traditions (mainly equatorial, rather than circumpolar). |
| E27 | 91.26% | People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. |
| J67 | 91.11% | At night, the character places light-coloured stones or shells over his eyes. Thinking that the character's eyes are open, the antagonist either does not dare to attack him or takes the stones away instead of gouging out his eyes. |
| G8A | 89.78% | A man cuts down a tree to make a boat or something else from the trunk (Yap: a board for building a house; one of the texts from Ulithi: a wooden bird), goes away to rest, and upon returning finds the tree intact again. Usually, the character who restored the tree in the man's absence then cuts down the tree himself and makes what the hero needs. |
| M111 | 89.05% | Two animals (usually a monkey and a turtle) agree to gather fruit. The one who can climb trees eats the good fruit and throws one peel or rotten fruit to its companion. The companion takes revenge. |
| H36E | 89.03% | The rat is to blame for the fact that man is mortal. |
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
36 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 36 traditions: Melanesians of the northern coast New Guinea, nearest off-shore islands and Huon Gulf (Morobe district): Watut, Bilbil (Bilibili), Jabim (incl Kai), Tami, Bukawac, Wogeo, Tumleo, Yakamul, Manam, Sissano, Sio, Melanesians of the islands of Massim District ( =Milke Bay Province) to the east of New Guinea: Dobu, Rossel, Fergusson, Goodenough, Murua (Woodlark), Trobrian Islands, d'Entrecasteau Islands, Melanesians and Papuans of Central Solomons: Vella la Vella (Bilua language), Shortland islands (Mono language), San Cristobal, Saint Georgia, Eddystone, Vangunu, Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Samoa, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Tuvalu (Ellice), Yap, Ifaluk, Woleai, Lamutrek, Faraulip Satawal, Elato, Western Fayu, Truk, Eastern Fayu, Losap, Pulap, Puluwat, Mortlock (incl. Satawan), Roti, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Central Taiwan: Bunun (Vonum), La'arua, Tsou, Kanabu, Kanakanabu, Santali, Turi, Mahli, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Chukchi, Central Yupik, Lenape (Delaware), Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Sierra Miwok, Lake Miwok, Plains Miwok, Coastal Miwok, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Iranxe, Mataco, Toba (incl Pilagá), Papua-New Guinea Southern Lowland Papuan groups (Trans New Guinea and unclassified): Gimi, Kiwai, Bina, Mawabula, Mawatta, Keraki, Gambadi (incl. Kwavaru), Purari River delta, Masingara, Wiram (=Suki), Ngain, Daga, Elema, Vanuatu
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