The Mythology and Folklore Database
I115A - Orion and the Pleiades – men and women.
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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
In the same narrative or ritual context, Orion and the Pleiades are contrasted with each other as a man or men and a woman or women. (Orion is usually associated with the masculine principle, and the Pleiades with the feminine; among the Mentawai, d'Antracast, and Toba peoples, the opposite is true (due to regional influences? In Indonesia and eastern South America, the Pleiades are usually a group of young men).Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations
I11 has 2 other sub-motifsI11. The turtle (toad, frog) serves as a support (embodiment) of the earth (sky), or the supports of the sky are made from its body. I11a. Describes how, in the process of creation, the earth is placed on the back of a turtle or frog, which becomes its support. I11b. The pillars of the sky are made from the legs of a four-legged animal (usually a turtle). Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I11's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| H5 | 91.91% | 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.) |
| J47 | 91.43% | 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. |
| B77 | 91.42% | The sky was close to the ground, then rose. |
| F76 | 90.07% | People learn how to make love by watching birds, fish or animals mating; animals teach people how to make love or arouse desire in them. |
| F45 | 89.62% | There are or were settlements where only women lived or live (cf. motifs F8, F45C). |
| H4 | 89.56% | Those who change their skin (bark, clothing) are immortal (forever young). (Cf. motif K56a5a: Skinning oneself to become young: To become a young beauty, an old or ugly woman asks to have her skin skinned off). |
| K27N3B | 89.33% | The character who gives the hero or heroine difficult tasks or subjects them to trials lives in the sky, but is not associated with the sun, moon, thunder or wind. See motif K27. |
| I72A | 88.97% | Stars – children of the moon and/or sun. |
| H34G | 88.45% | One grain was enough to prepare a meal. |
| I108 | 87.44% | The Pleiades are a single character, not a group of people. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 24 traditions: Masai, Tuareg, Sandawe, Southeast Australia: Kamilaroi, Yualarai (Ualarai, Euahlayi), Milpulo (Mailpurgu), Wuradjeri (Wiradjurim, Wiradjeri, Wurundjeri, Yarra, Yarra Yarra), Wongaibon (Wonghibon), Noongahburrah (Narran, Narran River), Kurnai, and many others (see file 0.doc), 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?), Batak (Toba, Dairi), Mentawai, Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Bengali, Kashmiri, Ancient Greece, Ainu, Negidal, Chukchi, Osage, Yokuts, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Navajo, Akawai, Locono, Caraja, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal)