The Mythology and Folklore Database
I27 - The dog of the land of the dead.
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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 dog and/or (rarely) the domestic cat is the master, guardian of the land of the dead, guide on the way there; dogs live on the way to the land of the dead. (For indirect evidence and similar beliefs, see also Benson 1991).Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects
I27 has 4 other sub-motifsI27. The dog and/or (rarely) the domestic cat is the master, guardian of the land of the dead, guide on the way there; dogs live on the way to the land of the dead. (For indirect evidence and similar beliefs, see also Benson 1991). I27a. The souls of dead dogs go to a special place in the afterlife and/or go to the afterlife along a special path. I27b. A dog carries a person across a river to another world. See motif I27. I27c. Dogs with two spots above their eyes stand out and are usually called two- or four-eyed. I27d. There is a certain black or red dog that (is associated with objects in the night sky and) negatively affects people's lives. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I27's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I3 | 91.77% | Lightning (and thunder) is produced by an object (sword, arrow, whip, mirror, etc.) in the hands of a character; lightning is an object. |
| F30 | 88.70% | A girl or woman takes a snake, eel, moray eel, lizard or worm as a lover or spouse. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or their offspring, or she herself turns into a snake. Cf. motif K76B (the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man). See motif F29. |
| H28 | 88.16% | A creature that has been killed and destroyed (often burned) (usually a cannibal, a ferocious animal, or a powerful shaman) turns into stinging insects or other harmful, unpleasant, or dangerous creatures. |
| L19A | 87.53% | Creatures (any except ornithomorphs) with an even number (but not more than ten) of heads at one end of the body are described or depicted, except when such creatures are mentioned among others and the series ends with an odd number or a number greater than ten. |
| C5A | 87.36% | A bird, various birds, or people who then turn into birds are sent to explore the earth (whether it exists, whether it has dried up, whether there are any survivors, why smoke is rising from the earth, etc.) or with the task of bringing back a piece of solid substance to create dry land. |
| A3 | 86.67% | The Moon is female or hermaphroditic, the Sun is male or, possibly, male. |
| I8E1 | 86.23% | The sky or earth is supported by four objects or beings located at the four cardinal points (either four groups of beings, or four at the corners and a fifth in the centre). Th A841. See motifs 8A, 8D. |
| K25 | 86.08% | A man consciously marries a woman who belongs to the non-human world. |
| K25E | 85.83% | Humans in general or a specific ethnic, tribal or social group are considered descendants of an earthly man and woman of supernatural origin. |
| G6 | 85.80% | One of the trees is the main, original tree, which is very different from the others (it was the first to appear; the progenitor of trees; the progenitor of wild or cultivated plants; the sea and rivers within it; the world axis; higher than the others; obscuring the sky). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 32 traditions: Dogon, Papua-NewGuinea Highland Papuans:Trans New Guinea & unclassified:Chimbu,Gimi,KaugelHuli,Gadsup,Kuman,Kutubu,Foi (Foe),Kyaka,Kamano (Kafe),Mawatta,Kukukuku (=Anga,=Sambia;Manki,Nauti,Ejuti),Baruya,Kewa,Tembregak,Menya,Melpa,Wiru,Pondoma, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Simeulue, Nias, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Toda, Kota, Kuruba (Kurumba), Badaga, Maravar, Pulaya, Kadar, Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Early Chinese written sources, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Finns, Vepsians, 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, Kalmyk, Mari (Cheremis), Chuvash, Udmurt, Mansi, Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Nganasans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Manchu, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Plains Ojibwa, 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