The Mythology and Folklore Database
I62 - Milky Way - river, A778.3.
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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 Milky Way is a heavenly river, a body of water, a chain of creatures floating in the water.Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| H1E | 95.67% | A certain character is the first to enter the world of the dead, after which all people follow the same path; he paves the way to the world of the dead; the first to die becomes the master or guardian of the afterlife. |
| I7 | 94.89% | The reptile produces rain and thunderstorms. |
| D1B | 93.91% | The man is the master or embodiment of fire (alone or alongside the woman-fire). |
| A12A | 93.72% | During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12. |
| G23 | 92.51% | 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}. |
| B2E | 91.99% | The Earth or the world as a whole is a male character (alone or alongside a female character). |
| F18D | 91.27% | Female genitals were enormous in size. |
| A12 | 91.22% | A creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, winter and summer, night and day, phases of the moon) or occasionally (eclipses, eschatological catastrophes) attack the luminaries or block their light. |
| J47 | 90.98% | 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. |
| F16 | 90.95% | Men possessed biological characteristics that are now characteristic of women, or vice versa (beards, menstruation, breasts, childbearing). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 68 traditions: Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Algeria Arabs, Kalenjin; including Sabaot, Nandi (Nande), Arusha, Kipsigis, Pokot (Suk), Keiyo (Elgeiyo), Marakwet, Sebeei, Arnhem Land: Enindhilyagwa (Groote Eilandt), KuTiwi, Yulengor, Mara, Oenpelli, Murngin, Roper River, Maung, Murinbata, Murngin (Duwal), Millingimbi, Goulburn Island, Ngulugwongga, Yirrkalla, Voctoria River Downs, Alawa, Anu, Kunwinjku, Central Australia: Kaitish, Warramunga, Arunta (Aranda), Loritja (Kukatja), Pijandjara (Pitjantjara), Adnjamatana (Andjamathana, Wailpi), Aluridja, Walpiri (Walbiri), Aluridja, Matuntara (Maduntara), Nambutji, Wamma (=Wommana?), Southern Australia: Dieri, Urabunna (Arabana), Flinderce Mountains, Kujani, Andyamatana (Andjamatana, Wailpi), Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Society Islands: Tahiti, Borabora, Raiatea, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Alor, Solor, Wetar, Atauru, Ami, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Kannada, Lingayat, Halakki, Bengali, Kashmiri, Marathi (incl. Bhamta; incl. Mumbai area), Hindi-speaking peoples and casts (incl. Teli, Parahiya; incl. Chhattisgarhi) of Northern and West-Central India, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Early Chinese written sources, Koreans, Poles, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Ancient Greece, 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), Tajik, Persians, Ossetians, Nogai, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Dongxiang, Baoan, Southern Selkups, Ainu, Japanese folklore outside of Ryukyu, Southern and Central; Ryukyu Islands: Yaeyama, Miyako, Okinawa, Nanai, Manchu, Chukchi, Tanana, North Alaskan Inupiat, Ottawa, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Blackfoot, Plains Ojibwa, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Quinault, Klamath, Modoc, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Luiseño, Juaneño, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Tequistlatec, Kekchi; Mopan, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Akuriyo (incl Turaekare), Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Tariana, Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Aimara, Machiguenga, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Egypt