The Mythology and Folklore Database
I8I - At first, the earth swayed.
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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
Initially, the earth rocks, unstable, and must be specially secured.Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature
I8 has 10 other sub-motifsI8A. The world, earth or sky are supported by anthropomorphic beings. I8B. The earth or sky is supported by zoomorphic creatures. I8c. The earth is prevented from falling or swaying because it is tied with ropes. I8D. The earth or sky is supported by mountains, pillars, nails, trees. I8e. The sky or the earth is supported by four anthropomorphic male characters located at the four cardinal points. I8e1. 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. I8f. The sky, the world rests on a single object (a pillar or tree). I8g. A single giant holds up the earth or the sky. I8G1. At the foot of the world pillar is an anthropomorphic character, or a character identified with a tree or pillar on which the world rests, or a character holding ropes on which the world is suspended. I8h. The earth is supported by a man and a woman in the underworld. I8i. Initially, the earth rocks, unstable, and must be specially secured. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I8's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| B3A | 89.20% | 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. |
| E4 | 88.15% | From mud on the skin (rarely: from under the fingernails), the character creates the earth, people or other creatures. |
| L1C2 | 87.98% | Fleeing from a demonic creature, the characters hide their children (younger brother or sister) in a camouflaged pit, usually under the hearth. See motif L1C. |
| F64B | 87.69% | A woman pretends to be someone else in order to seduce her son, brother, daughter or grandson. See motif F64. |
| A4 | 87.66% | The Sun is a woman (the Moon is usually a man, sometimes also a woman, see motif A6; highlighted in bold italics in the list of ethnic groups below). |
| A32H | 87.03% | A tree, bush, branch, snag, etc. are visible on the lunar disc. See motif A32G. |
| A12 | 86.31% | 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. |
| I11 | 86.22% | The turtle (toad, frog) serves as a support (embodiment) of the earth (sky), or the supports of the sky are made from its body. |
| I73 | 85.30% | Stars (rarely suns and moons) – sparks, hot coals. |
| I51B | 85.11% | The earth or sky is perceived as a large mammal or created from parts of its body. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 32 traditions: Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Juang, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Maria, Muria, and other South-Central Dravidians: Binjhwar, Bacop, Bhattra, Bom, Jhoria (=Jhodia), Gadaba (in Koraput, neighbors of Munda-speaking Gadaba), Duruwa (Parji), Mehtar; Pardhan, Toda, Kota, Kuruba (Kurumba), Badaga, Maravar, Pulaya, Kadar, Dhanwar, Tribal groups and castes of Central-Eastern India that speak Aryan languages: Dhoba (Dhobi), Halba (Halbi), Bhunjia, Lohar (Luhar, Luhara), Kahar, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Lahu, Kucong, Nosu, Nisu, Nusu, Sani, Jino, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Karachays, Balkar, Ingush, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Forest Nenets, Nganasans, Tahltan, Tlingit, Winnebago, Kiowa Apache, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Achomavi, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Cahuilla, Cupeño, Pima, Papago, Tzotzil