The Mythology and Folklore Database
I66 - Ashes on the Milky Way.




32 Myths, Legends and Folktales
30 Unique Narratives for Motif I66
16 Cultures & Traditions where I66 is told
43 Mythemes Indexed
0 Sub-Motifs of Motif I66


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 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

The Milky Way is ash or smouldering embers.

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

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
J5896.03%Characters shoot arrows (darts) that stick into each other and form a chain. They usually climb up the chain to the upper world.
F9695.55%A girl or wife rejects an unattractive man. He becomes handsome (usually after encountering a supernatural being), and those who treated him badly are punished.
L4694.95%The character walks, climbs or descends upside down, or sees the world turned upside down.
D4A93.99%Fire is stolen from its original owner, returned to people by the thief, or (the motif of theft is not expressed) brought with difficulty from a distant place.
J5993.80%To reach the sky, one must shoot an arrow that will pierce the vault of heaven. See motif J58; see motif J59A: a man flies after or on an arrow (without the motif of an arrow piercing the vault of heaven).
B13A93.57%A stream of water (with a predator in it) rushes after a character who is trying to escape from it.
M7393.37%Two characters compare their excrement or vomit to learn about each other's diet and decide which of them is the more powerful beast. One of them manages to replace the selections. (Traditions in which vomiting is substituted are greasy).
L6393.14%The character eats food with the womb or anus. See motif F9A.
F4493.05%In the community of the first ancestors, women and men quarrel, leave, kill, maim each other, etc.
C1193.00%A father with magical powers destroys people (all or many) who have insulted or harmed his son.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Bushmen (all groups), Southern Vanuatu: Tanna, Aneiteum (Polynesian component not included), Eromanga, 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), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Hidatsa, Yana, Cahuilla, Cupeño, Navajo, Zuni, Pima, Trio, Kamayura, Bororo, Mataco, Manao, Katawishi (Teffe lake); groups of uncertain affiliation mostly from Rio Jamunda, Transylvanian Saksons


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