The Mythology and Folklore Database
I44 - Chthonic serpent.
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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
A huge serpent encircles, embodies or supports the earth.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
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| A12C | 93.19% | Eclipses of the sun, moon or their setting (marked*) are caused by a snake, lizard, dragon, fish or crocodile; these creatures attack the luminaries now or attacked them at the beginning of time. See motif A12. |
| L107 | 92.42% | People have disproportionately large ears (rarely: lips): they cover themselves with them like a blanket, use them as an umbrella, can step on them, etc. |
| A21 | 91.39% | The sun and/or moon were objects that were thrown or placed into the sky. |
| B3E | 90.72% | At first, below the sky there is only air and water or (rarely) swamp, an indefinite abyss. A character descends from the sky, creates or has a support created for him, and the earth grows out of it; the earth is lowered, dropped from the sky; the earth is thrown, placed on the surface of the sea, and grows into land; the earth is brought from somewhere else (not from the underworld) and placed on the waters. (This is a more general motif compared to motif b79a1, "The bird dropped the firmament onto the waters"). |
| E12 | 88.82% | A character draws an object or creature on sand, ash, a wall or the surface of water, and it comes to life. |
| I39 | 88.51% | The rainbow is a bridge, a road, a staircase. |
| K29B | 88.15% | The hero is asked to climb (or is thrown) into a pit, which is immediately filled with earth or into which a pole or stones are lowered, K959,6 (Posthole murder). The hero proves his magical abilities by climbing out of the pit alive. |
| M183 | 87.48% | Numerous relatives of the character, who all look the same, work together to accomplish a task that is impossible for one person to do alone, while their competitors believe that the task was accomplished by only one person. Usually, the fast and slow characters agree to race (jump over an obstacle). The slow one places others who look like him at the finish line or along the entire distance, and they respond to the fast one on his behalf. The fast one does not notice the substitution and admits defeat. |
| C25B | 87.41% | In the sky, on the moon (rarely – on the sun), somewhere outside our world, a certain character spins, weaves, knits, embroiders or makes bast fabric. |
| I104 | 86.96% | Stars are formed from particles of the body, fragments of a larger celestial body (usually the moon); stars (usually also the sun and moon) are formed from the body of a single being. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 36 traditions: Kimberley Plateau: Gwini, Roebuck Bay, Forest River tribes, Drysdale River tribes, Njulnjul, Ungarinyin, Unambal, Bad (Baada), Fiji, Southern Cook Islands: Mangaia, Rarotonga, Atiu, Iatutakim Pukapuka, Tubuai (=Austral Islands, incl Rapa), Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Truk, Eastern Fayu, Losap, Pulap, Puluwat, Mortlock (incl. Satawan), Roti, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Simeulue, Nias, Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Mindanao and Sulu: Blaan (Bilaan), Bagobo, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Hiligáynon, Binukid, Magindaan (=Magindanao: main Muslim population), Mandaya, Mansaka, Manobo (Agusan, Ata, Dibabawon, Sarangani, Ilianen), Maranao, Samal, Subanon (=Subanun), Subanen, Tboli, Khmer, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Tamil, Muthuvan, Marvar, Tamils, Himachali-Pahari (Western Pahari), Tribal groups and castes of Central-Eastern India that speak Aryan languages: Dhoba (Dhobi), Halba (Halbi), Bhunjia, Lohar (Luhar, Luhara), Kahar, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Western Ukrainians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Georgians, Armenians, Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Mongols (Khalkha), Southern Selkups, Winnebago, Shawnee, Chumash, Kitanemuk, Huichol, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Egypt