The Mythology and Folklore Database
I108 - The Pleiades – a single character.
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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 Pleiades are a single character, not a group of people.Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations
I10 has 1 other sub-motifsI10a. Individual layers or categories of the sky or clouds differ in colour. I10b. Individual layers or categories of earth differ in colour (and other characteristics). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I10's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L14 | 96.95% | People bring a small creature (usually a worm or reptile) into their home and raise it, or it settles into a man-made dwelling on its own. The creature turns into something terrifying or magnificent. See motif L13 (raised monster attacks people). |
| J47 | 96.76% | A character climbs up to the sky using a rope, ladder, etc., or climbs a tree or rock, or descends from the sky to the ground, or rises to the ground from the underworld. Another character climbs after them, but the rope or ladder breaks or is cut, and the character falls. |
| H5 | 96.18% | Reptiles or invertebrates possess a life-giving agent; they are contrasted with humans as immortal mortals and/or responsible for the fact that humans die and are not reborn; the dead turn into snakes. See motif H4. (The first death comes from a snake bite (centipede), but snakes are not opposed to humans as immortals to mortals.) |
| G23 | 95.12% | The origin of various (more than two) creatures or objects is explained by the metamorphosis of a living creature or part of its body. {Only texts of an aetiological nature are taken into account. For statistical purposes, all texts with motifs G23A and G23B are also included in motif G23}. |
| F45 | 94.08% | There are or were settlements where only women lived or live (cf. motifs F8, F45C). |
| F7 | 93.91% | A man catches, grabs, meets, or receives a woman associated with the aquatic-chthonic world (a fish, mermaid, snake, crab, seal, etc.) and takes her as his wife. Cf. motifs E26 and K25. |
| I72 | 93.69% | Stars – anthropomorphic beings. See motif K19 (marriage to a star). Cases where the Star is a unique object, e.g. Venus, rather than one of many Star-people, are not included. |
| L13 | 93.45% | People feed a dangerous creature, or it grows on its own in a man-made enclosure. Once it becomes big and strong, it starts to destroy people. |
| F16 | 93.15% | Men possessed biological characteristics that are now characteristic of women, or vice versa (beards, menstruation, breasts, childbearing). |
| M21 | 92.59% | The character runs away from his pursuer. The person, animal or object that the character asks for help hides him (and kills the pursuer). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 55 traditions: Yemen, Shilluk, Anuak, Geez, Tigrai, Tigre, Tuareg, 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, Rotuma, Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Hawaii, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Marshall Islands, incl Ailinglapalap, Arno, Jaluit, Kili, Lae, Maloelap, Majuro, Ratak, Wotho, Ujae, Jaluit (=Jalooj), Namdrik, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Ami, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Kalmyk, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Central Yakuts (Sakha), Osage, Kiowa, Plains Ojibwa, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Sierra Miwok, Yana, Cocopa, Cora, Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Guajiro, Makiritare (Yecuana), Panare (Eñape), Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Akawai, Locono, Orinoco Kariña, Yaruri, Tamanak, Domenica Caribs, Carifuna, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Chayahuita , Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Tariana, Anambe, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Amuesha, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Caraja, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Ayoreo, Toba (incl Pilagá), Caduveo, Mbaya, 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, Egypt