The Mythology and Folklore Database
I46A - The Old Woman's Rainbow.
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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 rainbow is associated with a woman, usually an elderly one.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
I46 has 5 other sub-motifsI46. Rainbow – an ornamented part of clothing, bright fabric, decoration, belt. I46a. The rainbow is associated with a woman, usually an elderly one. I46b. The colour of the rainbow can be used to predict the harvest of individual crops. I46c. The rainbow is a rope to which cattle are tied. I46d. Rainbow – a hunting loop, a trap. I46e. Rainbow - sword, cutting weapon. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of I46's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I13B | 99.03% | A small snake, the snake has horns on its head. |
| H16B | 98.81% | The narratives (in various contexts) mention a milk pond (river, lake, wave in the sea) existing on earth (but not among the stars). Cf. motifs H16, K33F, N34. |
| K27SS | 98.57% | A strong man must overtake a woman, often an old woman. This is difficult or impossible to achieve. |
| K27F | 98.55% | An authoritative character demands that the hero obtain a woman. |
| B33 | 98.49% | There is a female character who embodies the wind or is considered the mother or mistress of the winds. |
| K32G | 98.47% | The antagonist is executed by being tied to a horse (camel, bull), which drags him along the ground or tears him to pieces. |
| I68 | 98.42% | At a certain moment, a crack or window opens in the sky (rain pours through it, it is possible to see what is happening in heaven, perhaps communication with the celestials). |
| K126 | 98.38% | A predatory beast or demon eats the hero's horse, but in return is forced or voluntarily helps him. |
| L93A | 98.26% | The fox, jackal or coyote, resorting to cunning, helps the hero, heroine or people in general, saving them. |
| I87AA | 98.24% | Describes a giant bull (rarely: horse): head in one field, body in another; a bathhouse on its tail, a lake on its back; people standing at its head and tail have to walk a long way to meet each other; etc. Usually the bull is killed and eaten (by people in Baltic-Finnish traditions and in Olonets antiquity; by birds in most southern traditions). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 22 traditions: Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Wales, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, France, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Livonians, Tajik, Nogai, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, 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), Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Menominee, Klamath, Modoc, Galicians