The Mythology and Folklore Database
B82 - White Raven, A2411.1.1.6.
Please log on to view the narratives.
Motif Summary - Motifs with Simlar Dispersals - Map of Myth Distribution - List of Traditions - Myths |
Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of Motif
The raven (less often another bird of prey, or another black bird the size of a raven) was first white, and then turned black.Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| B3B | 93.61% | Initially, the earth or the world as a whole was small in size, then it grew; fertile soil grew from a small amount of initial substance. See motif B3A (the earth grows from a piece of solid substance thrown onto the surface of the water). |
| I22 | 92.41% | There are objects that, while remaining in place, move constantly or periodically (collide and diverge, fall and rise, open and close, rotate). |
| B3A | 92.32% | The waters are primary. The earth is lowered onto the water, appears above the water, grows from a piece of solid substance placed on the surface of the water or liquid mud, from an island in the ocean, is exposed when the waters recede, etc. |
| K1E | 91.85% | The character is abandoned on an island or on the other side of a river or sea. See motif K1A. |
| C6 | 91.54% | In texts with an emphasis on authenticity, characters dive or otherwise descend into the underworld to bring back to earth something desirable that is located at the bottom (deep below) (aka "The Earth Diver" motifs) (cf. fairy tale motif k27x9). |
| L65 | 90.49% | An infant or small child turns out to be a demon and kills people. |
| C19 | 90.35% | The missing, hidden, concealed or stolen sun (daylight) reappears. See motif C18 |
| K47A | 90.27% | A woman mates with a dog. Her children grow up to be humans and usually become the ancestors of certain ethnic groups. |
| I36 | 89.59% | Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightnings) – characters related by kinship, marriage or property. |
| K25A6 | 89.49% | A woman from another world agrees to live with a man in his earthly world, but leaves him when she learns that he has broken a taboo (often his infidelity). Cf. motif F94 (the hero betrays his magical wife in her world); motif K12B (the hero visits his world alone, contrary to the warning of his magical wife). |
See more...
Please log on to view the narratives.
Map of Motif Dispersal
Click here for a clustered map
Drag the map around by clicking and using the mouse, use the wheel to zoom
This motif has been recorded in 105 traditions: Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Algeria Arabs, Shilluk, Anuak, Hausa, Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Southeast Australia: Kamilaroi, Yualarai (Ualarai, Euahlayi), Milpulo (Mailpurgu), Wuradjeri (Wiradjurim, Wiradjeri, Wurundjeri, Yarra, Yarra Yarra), Wongaibon (Wonghibon), Noongahburrah (Narran, Narran River), Kurnai, and many others (see file 0.doc), 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, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Flores, incl Mangarai (Western Flores), Nage, Keo, Riung, Ngada or Nad'a (Central Flores), Sika (Eastern Flores), 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 Luzon: Pampango, Pangacian, Sambal, Tagal, Tayabas; Calamian, Central islands and Bikol: Vizaya, Mansaká, Bikol, Mangyan, Panayan, Sulod, Cebuano (Cebu), Capiz, Romblomanon, Manuyu, Burmese, Intha, Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Khmer, Palaung (De Ang, Deang), Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Early Chinese written sources, Dutch, Flemish, Poles, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Slovenians, Slovenes, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Western Sami, Western Ukrainians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Georgians, Mansi, Khakas, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Evens (Lamuts), Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Nanai, Nivkh, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chukchi, Chugach, Chipewyan, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Athna, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Beaver, North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Netsilik, Caribou, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Eyak, Tlingit, Naskapi, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Arikara, Kiowa, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Hidatsa, Comox, Pentlatch, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Nez Perce, Quinault, Karok, Yurok, Caddo, Hitchiti, Cherokee, Wailaki, Mattole, Lassik, Sinkyone, Cahto, Pomo, Sierra Miwok, Yokuts, Salinan, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Jicarilla, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Huichol, Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Chamacoco (Ishir), Caduveo, Mbaya, Kodiak, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Greenland, Vietnam, Palau