Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

I10A. Colored sky tiers. 12.17.26.29.32.34.36.37.52.53.68.72.

The

individual tiers or categories of sky or clouds differ in color.

West Africa. Bambara [the creator of Faro created 7 heavens; on the first there are rain clouds, F. himself lives here; the second is a white sky, clear and clear, with human and animal souls and spirits living here; the third is black, here other spirits; on the fourth, F. judges the world, on the fifth, red, F. judges violators of prohibitions, there is fire, blood and smoke; on the sixth F. keeps the secrets of the world; on the seventh is F. himself, from here in the morning he pulls for rope sun]: Knappert 1997:54.

Western Asia. Assyria and Babylonia [from KAR 307 (Ashur, New Assyrian period): "The Upper Heavens are lulud ān ītu -stone {reddish stone }. They belong to Anu. He settled the 300 Igigi inside./The Middle Heavens are saggilmud -stone {blue stone}. They belong to the Igigi. Bel sat on the high dais inside, /in the lapis lazuli sanctuary. He made a lamp? of electrum shine inside./The Lower Heavens are jasper. They belong to the stars. He drew the constellations of the gods on them"; from the text of the AO 8196 plate (New Babylonian period): "The Upper Heavens are luludānītu -stone. They belong to Anu./The Middle Heavens are saggilmud -stone. They belong to the Igigigi./The Lower Heavens are jasper. They belong to the stars"]: Horowitz 1998:3-11, 13-15

China - Korea. Ancient China [the spirit of water Gungong was defeated by his father, the spirit of fire Zhuong; wanting to commit suicide, G. beats his head against the western mountain of Buzhou, which served as a support for the sky; the top of the mountain breaks off, the sky slopes to the west; part of the sky has fallen off, a world fire and a flood have broken out; Nuiva melted stones of five colors, filled a hole in the sky; this is explained the difference in the shades of the sky; N. cut off four legs from the turtle, used them as supports under the sky; the sky remained leaning to the west, the stars roll to the other side; the earth squinted to the east, rivers flow there]: Yuan Ke 1987, ch. 2:51-52; miao [the sky was low, covered with a burden of brushwood, a pestle of rice; great-grandfather picked it up, placing incense supports in four corners wood; stretched out colored canvases, which made multi-colored clouds and multi-colored stones; made the sun out of gold, the moon out of silver, stars from colored stones; dwarfs live underground, with shells eggs serve as vessels; giants live in the sky]: Schotter 1911:326.

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Azerbaijanis (Elisavetpol Gubernia) [there are seven heavens, each in its own color]: Shirakuni 1904:211; Turks: Yermakova 1993 [Muslim cosmogony is most fully reflected in a 16th-century work. Kurk Sual (Forty Questions) by an unknown author under the pseudonym Firaki; Jewish sages ask Muhammad questions to see if he is really God's messenger; the primary matter is made of green topaz; the second sky is made of molten unrefined silver; the third is red rubies, the fourth is pearl, the fifth is red gold, the sixth is rubies; the seventh is a column of green emerald with a white arch pearls; on it a bird like a rooster, its 1,500 wings are covered with precious stones; the first paradise is red gold, the second is red yakhont, the third is green topaz, the fourth is silver, the fifth - not specified, the sixth of the rubies, the seventh of the emeralds, the eighth from the world]: 150-151; (theological treatise "Kyrk Sual" by Furati, 16th century) ["The first heaven is a source of thunder; an unusually great and terrible angel controls the clouds and controls the rains, at his will, it sends rain to every province, and every drop of rain on account. The second heaven consists of unfinished, molten silver, its name is "Afnus" <... > The third heaven is made of red ruby, its name is "Kyzum" <... > The fourth heaven is made of pearls, its name is "Mouse" <... > The fifth heaven is made of red gold, its name is "Dalva" <... > The sixth heaven is made of shiny rubies, its name is "Kyya" <... > Seventh heaven from the world, its name is "Ariba"]: Furati 1889:8-9..

Volga - Perm. Komi [Yong (god) spat in the form of a swan, Omöl (devil) appeared from the spit in the form of a loon, which dives and brings earth; Yong creates land; there are seven tiers in the sky, odd created by E., even O.; each sky is one of the colors of the rainbow (the same on Vym, noted by G.A. Startsev); O. asks to give him as much land as he needs to fill the stake; insects and reptiles come out of the hole]: Sidorov 1924 in Plesovsky 1972:42; Chuvash [there are seven heavens: blue, windy, white, frosty, snowy, rain, hail]: Salmin 2004:154.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Shors [there are 9 heavens in the land of Ulgen; on the lower lightning, saryj ("yellow"); this is the whip of Ulgen's white-blue horse, thunder is whips; the second is kök-kur ("blue belt"), here is blue part of the rainbow is tengri-chelize; the third is kyzyl-kur, the fourth is kyr-kur ("gray belt"), the fifth is köktamosh-kur ("blue belt"), the sixth is kyzyl-tengri ("red belt") sky"); on the seventh - the moon and stars, on the eighth - the sun, on the ninth - Ulgen; the Chelkans have the owner of the lower sky Paktan-Pugra, W. the wife Chaashin, or Solton]: Khlopina 1978:70-71.

Eastern Siberia. Western (Vilyui) Yakuts: Popov 1949 [there are nine tiers, or heavens (hallān), of different colors]: 259.

Amur-Sakhalin. Nanais: Yu.Sam 1990 [the outer stone vault of the upper world is hidden from us by layers of colorful clouds]: 128; oral communication 2002 [five layers of clouds: blue, white, red, black and blue, white as milk; seven layers: transparent, blue, pure, black, red, white, stone]; (cf. The Manchus [there was a hole in the sky; when the sky was angry, it threw stones down; Gege Hailun (Gege, the "highly revered princess") melted the colored stones with the help of the Western Buddha, filled the hole with them became a heavenly goddess; people were no longer afraid of rocks falling from the sky]: Wei et al. 2001, No. 4.1:195).

Mesoamerica Tarasca [in the east, the goddess Cuerauáperi ("mother of all earthly gods", Relación, p.72) creates clouds by releasing them to the ground; these are her four daughters Red Cloud, White Cloud, Yellow Cloud, Black Cloud]: Corona Núñez 1957:71.

Honduras-Panama. Bribri: Bozzoli et al. 1985 in Gonzáles Chaves, González Vásquez 1989 [going down to earth, Sibu (creator) passes through four colored clouds (=tiers of the sky) - white, blue, red, motley]: 153; Segundo Sánchez 1997 [Sibö saw women bathing in the sky at the mouth of two rivers; one splashed water into him so he would not look; he ran away, stumbled, fell down, turning women into butterflies and dragonflies (since then these two rivers have been called the Butterfly River and the Dragonfly River); S. fell through the green, red, yellow, black, white cloud, none managed to hold him; the Bat also failed; falling further, S. found himself in one of the upper worlds named Sotaba Sokola Ká; it is inhabited by vultures; shattered to pieces, the chief of the Vultures swallowed his heart; assistant S. Sula collected the pieces, hit Vulture on the head with a stick, he regurgitated his heart; S. returned to the upper sky; the shadow of S.'s heart remained in the vulture's stomach; it is a stone found there and used against worms 1997 []: 46]: 46.

Southern Amazon. Bororo [there are several heavens of different colors; evil spirits live on white, good on red, father and mother of spirits on blue, and souls of dead shamans and shamans]: Albisetti, Venturelli 1962:776- 777 in Baldus 1968-1969:20.

Chaco. Chamacoco: Metraux 1946b [Chamacoco distinguishes five layers of the world above earth and two below, each in its own color]: 366; Wilbert, Simoneau 1987a, No. 8 [the shaman's wife died; he rose to the upper world; on in the first sky where Nemurt lives, everything is on fire; the next is yellow, the uppermost is blue]: 40.