The Mythology and Folklore Database
I37F - Mushrooms - ears.
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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
Mushrooms are called "ears".Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar
I37 has 8 other sub-motifsI37. Mushrooms are mentioned in a mythological context. I37A. A mushroom is a substitute for a real object: 1) inferior, imaginary food (people ate mushrooms before the advent of hunting and agriculture; a character offers mushrooms instead of real food; real food appears as a result of the metamorphosis of mushrooms); 2) a preparation for creating or imitating a complete object (fish, birds, animals arise as a result of the metamorphosis of mushrooms; a copy of a lost or non-existent object is made from mushrooms); 3) characters of low status (lice, turtles) are engaged in mushroom picking; 4) the appearance of mushrooms is associated with a violation of the rules of interpersonal relations. See motif I37. I37B. Mushrooms are associated with the dead, the afterlife, evil spirits, and disease. See motif I37. I37C. Mushrooms have erotic associations. See motif I37. I37d. Mushrooms are the excrement of a mythological character. See motif I37. I37d1. St. Peter secretly eats bread, and when Christ asks him what he is doing, he chokes, spits out the crumbs, and they turn into mushrooms. I37e. Tree mushrooms cry out like people. I37f. Mushrooms are called "ears". I37g. A tree mushroom is a step, a platform; an object that helps or hinders movement; provides shelter or refuge. See motif I37. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I37's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I96 | 90.10% | A rainbow consisting of blood either heralds war and death. |
| G8F | 89.06% | Characters cut down a tree, but the trunk grows back. They manage to finish the job after the splinters are carried away or burned. |
| E27 | 88.98% | People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. |
| C25B | 88.66% | 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. |
| E12 | 88.63% | A character draws an object or creature on sand, ash, a wall or the surface of water, and it comes to life. |
| E9N | 88.39% | A man marries a female seal, seal or dolphin that has taken the form of a woman and lives with her among people. |
| I133A | 88.13% | There is a constellation that represents a bird and corresponds to several large constellations in European traditions (mainly equatorial, rather than circumpolar). |
| M7 | 86.77% | The character goes to the lower world, to the sky, to the country on the horizon, etc. and waits for someone to give him a ride to his goal. Usually, some animals/birds or celestial bodies follow by, and the last (often the Sun or Month) delivers. |
| D13E | 86.32% | Hunters perish because they laughed at the killed (and revived) animal. |
| A12E | 84.89% | The spider attacks the sun or moon (usually causing lunar eclipses). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 34 traditions: Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, Kposso, "Togo-Restvölker" (Adele, Akebu, Akposso, Bowiri/Bowili, Santrokofi, Lelemi, Borada Akrade, Teteman, Baakwa, Bowiri), Melanesians of Admiralty Islands (incl Manus); Seimat (Western Islands), Fiji, Rotuma, Tikopia, Bellona, Rennell, partly Aneytium, Futuna (=Erronan, not to be mixed with Futuna in Western Polynesia), Vaeaka-Taumato, incl Matema, Nifeloli, Nukapu, Nupani, Pileni, Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Society Islands: Tahiti, Borabora, Raiatea, Southern Cook Islands: Mangaia, Rarotonga, Atiu, Iatutakim Pukapuka, Tubuai (=Austral Islands, incl Rapa), Tuamotu, incl Pukapuka (different from Pukapuka in Cook Islands), Vahitahi, Anaa, Hao, Fangatau, Mangareva, Gilbert Islands, Nauru, Banaba (Ocean island), Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Chamorro (Guam and other Marianas), Truk, Eastern Fayu, Losap, Pulap, Puluwat, Mortlock (incl. Satawan), Ponape, Ngaik, Mwoakil (Mokil), Kusaie (Kosrae), Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Simeulue, Nias, Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Negrito (incl. Mamanwa), Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, Northern Taiwan: Atayal (Tayal; Taruko (Toda, Taokas, Torok, Taroko), Pazeh, Sedeq (Sediq, Seedeq, Sazek), Saisiyat (Saixia), Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Spain, Spaniards, Catalan, Sicily, Sicilians, Dutch, Flemish, 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), Koyukon, Tanana, Teton (incl Oglala), Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Tzotzil