The Mythology and Folklore Database
C1 - Falling sky.
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
In the past, a catastrophic shift in the layers of the universe occurred or will occur in the future. Among the variants (sometimes combined): the sky fell to the earth; the present earth or underground world swapped places with the sky; the earth turned upside down; it fell into the underworld; the layers of the universe successively collapsed onto the earth or will swap places in the future.Berezkin category: Disasters
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
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| E26 | 98.57% | People, or only women, go underwater and turn into fish. Men catch them with fishing gear. Those who are caught become human (women) again. (Narratives about the transformation of only one caught fish into the hero's wife are not included; see motif F7). |
| H35 | 98.55% | Human teeth are made of fragile material. Usually, the motif explains the aetiology of toothache. |
| L7 | 98.39% | While chasing a person, spirit, monster or beast, mistakenly chases after a large two-legged object passing by, usually an animal. |
| M5 | 98.15% | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. |
| H8 | 98.10% | Unable to bring themselves to touch something unclean, poisonous, dangerous or hot, people lost their immortality (var.: did not receive the blessings that came to Europeans). |
| M43 | 97.72% | To kill or catch a monster, he sees a figure made of wood or clay or a living person. Most often, a monster's claws or sharp leg get stuck when they pierce a tree. |
| H30 | 97.53% | When meeting two women (together or one after the other), the hero must or may choose one. Usually, he chooses either the less beautiful or the dangerous one, bringing trouble or misfortune upon himself or upon people in general. |
| F40A | 97.40% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| J28A | 96.99% | When asking how one of his parents died, the hero receives a series of false answers. He often exposes himself to the same dangers, but remains alive, proving the falsity of the proposed versions. |
| I83 | 96.99% | Birds (especially vultures and eagles) lived or live in the sky, usually on one of several tiers of the upper world. |
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 27 traditions: Efe Pygmies, Kango (Mbuti) Pygmies, Hadza, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Andamanese, Toda, Kota, Kuruba (Kurumba), Badaga, Maravar, Pulaya, Kadar, Early Chinese written sources, Southern Selkups, Kets, Tanana, Tsimshian, Teton (incl Oglala), Kalapuya, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Tzotzil, Yucatec, Itza, Hoti, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Kanamari, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Chacobo, Bakairi, Nambikwara, Ayoreo, Chamacoco (Ishir), Mataco