The Mythology and Folklore Database
B46D - Star brothers with different properties.




25 Myths, Legends and Folktales
25 Unique Narratives for Motif B46D
12 Cultures & Traditions where B46D is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
5 Sub-Motifs of Motif B46D


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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

Men, each of whom excels others in a particular art, turn into stars.

Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations


B46 has 5 other sub-motifs


B46.  Each of the seven stars of the Big Dipper is an adult male.
B46a.  One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from the others (usually stolen by the stars of the Big Dipper and identified with Alcor).
B46a1.  The stars of the Big Dipper – thieves or robbers.
B46b.  Each of the seven main stars of the Big Dipper is a separate female character. {Included in the online database, but not in the correlation table in *sav)}.
B46c.  Each of the stars of the Big Dipper is a separate character (people or animals).
B46d.  Men, each of whom excels others in a particular art, turn into stars.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
L1C298.78%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.
I7391.28%Stars (rarely suns and moons) – sparks, hot coals.
A32C90.43%The figures of a man and a dog are visible (or should have been visible) on the lunar disc.
A32L89.80%The silhouette of a certain character is visible on the solar disc. Or it is said that the character fell into the sun and remained there.
E488.90%From mud on the skin (rarely: from under the fingernails), the character creates the earth, people or other creatures.
B28C88.90%Lice grab a person and drag him into the sea.
M7488.87%A weak character regurgitates previously swallowed unusual food, or replaces his belching with a strong character's belching, or interprets his secretions as remains strong animals he ate. The strong believe that the weak are strong or have unusual abilities.
M29B388.42%As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the fox (jackal) dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. If it is not specified that a “jackal”, then the protagonist is a fox.
A3288.14%A figure or imprint of some creature or object is visible on the lunar disc. Statistical calculations also include motifs A32A – A32J (a rabbit, frog, predatory animal, human, tree, etc. are visible on the moon).
H34E88.14%The snow was edible.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 12 traditions: Swedes, Danes, Danish, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Darkhad, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Kiowa, Chumash, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori


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