Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue translated by Jon F White

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

I124. The Big Dipper is a boat. .11.13.15.17.20.22.24.27.29.31. (.34.) .38.40.47.59.

The Big Dipper is considered a boat.

Swahili, Malgash, Portuguese, Arabs (written tradition), Marshall Islands, Sre, Bali, Kedang, Okinawa, Greeks (archipelago), Romanians, Turks (Trabzon), Sea Sami Norway, (Dagurs?) , Aleuts, (Mikmaq), Alabama, Seminoles, Carinha Guiana, Caribbean Islands.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Swahili - see Western Asia, Arabs.

Sudan - East Africa. Malgashi - see Western Asia, Arabs.

Western Asia. Arabs (written tradition) [Ahmad ibn Majid's Book of Benefits on the Fundamentals and Rules of Marine Science, written in 1475-1490; "The first to make a ship was Noah, peace be upon him, according to a sign Gabriel, to whom peace, is from the Creator - may He be omnipotent, all-great! It was designed in the image of five stars from the Greater Virgos of the Hearse: its stern is the third Hearse, its keel is fourth, fifth and sixth, and its nose is Hearse seventh. Residents of Zanja, Madagascar {"In the text: al-kumr is an island against the region of Mozambique in East Africa"}, Mrima {"In the text: ar-rim is an area on the east coast of Africa, between 8 and 11° S"} and the Land of Sofal {"In the text: ard sufāla. Sofala is a port on the east coast of Africa"} is still called the fifth and sixth [stars] Hearse Kiel - these are two measurement stars during Mena's independence in the absence of Taurus - because they are their own the species match the image of Noah's keel - peace be upon him! - the ark"; "The fact is that Noah's Ark is depicted on the stars of the Hearse <... > They say that the Womb of Northern Fish is a brush hung from a Camel's neck, and the Hearse depicts Noah (peace be upon him!) The Ark"; comment by T.A. Shumovsky: "The Arabs called the constellation of Noah's Ark the configuration formed by the last five stars of the Ursa Major = γ, δ, ℉,, α"]: Ahmad ibn Majid 1985:64, 244, 285, 406, 453.

Southern Europe. Portuguese: Mladenova 2006 ["boat" (Barca), "boat of the north" (Barca de norte), "boat of life" (Barca da vida), Noah's Kocheg" (Arca de Noé)]: 85; Volpati 1933a ["North Ship", "Ship" David", "Ship of Life", "Noah's Ark"]: 475-476.

Western Asia. Arabs (written tradition) [Ahmad ibn Majid's Book of Benefits on the Fundamentals and Rules of Marine Science, written in 1475-1490; "The first to make a ship was Noah, peace be upon him, according to a sign Gabriel, to whom peace, is from the Creator - may He be omnipotent, all-great! It was designed in the image of five stars from the Greater Virgos of the Hearse: its stern is the third Hearse, its keel is fourth, fifth and sixth, and its nose is Hearse seventh. Residents of Zanja, Madagascar {"In the text: al-kumr is an island against the region of Mozambique in East Africa"}, Mrima {"In the text: ar-rim is an area on the east coast of Africa, between 8 and 11° S"} and the Land of Sofal {"In the text: ard sufāla. Sofala is a port on the east coast of Africa"} is still called the fifth and sixth [stars] Hearse Kiel - these are two measurement stars during Mena's independence in the absence of Taurus - because they are their own the species match the image of Noah's keel - peace be upon him! - the ark"; "The fact is that Noah's Ark is depicted on the stars of the Hearse <... > They say that the Womb of Northern Fish is a brush hung from a Camel's neck, and the Hearse depicts Noah (peace be upon him!) The Ark"; comment by T.A. Shumovsky: "The Arabs called the constellation of Noah's Ark the configuration formed by the last five stars of the Ursa Major = γ, δ, ℉,, α"]: Ahmad ibn Majid 1985:64, 244, 285, 406, 453.

Micronesia-Polynesia. Marshall Islands [five Ursa Major stars (without α and β) are a boat; α and β are ornaments that were attached to the stem {or vice versa to the stern}]: Erdland 1910:21.

Burma - Indochina. Sre [after training the first generation of people, Surden ("a cultural hero of Ma, Sre and other peoples in southern Vietnam") took to heaven; placed the constellations so that people could shape their location do the right things; the Pleiades were seen as a stupa and women bringing down rice in it, the constellation Virgo as a plow, Ursa Major as a boat; ma and sre were descendants of Surden]: Chesnov 1982t: 428.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Bali [Big Dipper - laden boat]: Maaβ 1921:49; kedang [male tene 'Ursa Major; guardian spirit (lit. boat star) ']: Samely, Barnes 2013:389

The Balkans. Greeks (on the archipelago) ["Noah's Ark"]: Mladenova 2006:85; Romanians (rare) ["boat" (Corabie)]: Mladenova 2006:86

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Turks (Trabzon) ["Star Boat" (Gemi yeldizi)]: Mladenova 2006:85.

Baltoscandia. The Norwegian Sea Sami [Ursa Major - Vanca ("boat"), Orion's three stars - "fishermen"]: Porsanger 2005:26-27.

(Wed. Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Dagurs [{constellation not identified; cf. Stuart et al. 1994, p.34: Big Dipper - Doloohad; S.Yu. Neklyudov: Doloo Had, "seven khans"}; two older brothers are married, the younger Esurong is single; his brothers reproach him for extravagance, his father tells him to live separately; in the mountains he meets an old man; he tells him to go to a pine tree, she will turn into a girl; E. takes her as a wife; his wife teaches how to carry out her father's instructions; 1) split the logs (tells her to put it on the log is a piece of magic paper, the logs fly to pieces from the very first blow of the ax); 2) pay a visit to the mother-in-law; the wife orders to put a sword on her head, the mother-in-law turns into a boa constrictor, E. kills him; the wife tells him to run ; father and warriors chase, wife fights with her father, kills him; they come to live with E.'s parents; E. has a maternal uncle, one eye like a rooster, the other like a chicken; he tells daughters-in-law to sew a dowry for her own daughter, E.'s wife magically creates everything she needs; an uncle carries a giant net to catch her daughter-in-law, who kills him with a sword; the couple is forced to leave again; the wife gives birth to a child; the king sends hunters bring her; she turns the handkerchief into a boat, takes her child and husband to the sky; the boat stops with her nose turned sideways; this is a constellation, three stars are E., his wife and child {three stars may be Orion's Belt, but when talking about a boat, there are other stars; it's likely that Big Dipper}]: Bender, Su Huana 1984:164-173).

Japan. Okinawa [a boat sails around the North Star - five handle stars and part of the Ursa Major bucket (without α and β); also in Okinawa and in Japan proper (Hiroshima) Ursa Major senses like the steering wheel of a boat]: Kitao 2002:25.

The Arctic. The Aleuts [six big stars Ursa major from - Itmagim changii, "Itmagim nose"; stars south of γ are Itmagim ukangaa, "Korma Itmagim"]: Bergsland 1994:218.

(Wed. Northeast. Mikmak [according to Chretien LeclercQ (between 1675 and 1683) [Mikmaq Major and Ursa Minor are also Big and Lesser Bears; three guards of the North Star are a boat with three people chasing a bear]: Whitehead 1988:233).

Southeast USA. Alabama [The Big Dipper is a sky boat; the image is related to the story of a heavenly wife who returned to heaven with her children in a boat; her husband comes for them (p.114-115); cf. Swanton 1929, #19]: Monroe, Williamson 1987:111; (cf. Swanton 1929, No. 19 [people regularly go down from heaven to earth in a boat, sing and laugh, play ball; a man grabs a woman running after the ball, the rest return to heaven; the wife gives birth children; tells them to ask their father to bring a deer from the hunt; gets into a boat with the children, starts to climb, but the husband manages to stop them; then the wife makes the boat smaller, takes to the sky in it, and the children the father manages to grab it; follows his wife with them in another boat; the wife dances, they throw a corn cob at her, she returns to the ground with them; then runs again in the boat with the children; a person follows them one in another boat, looks down, falls, crashes]: 138-139); Seminoles [Big Dipper is a boat that carries the souls of the dead along the Milky Way to the City of the Dead]: Greenlee 1945:138-140.

Guiana. Carinha [Kuriala ("The Big Dipper") is a boat; referred to in Pelleprat 1655:24 as a colliara]: Magaña, Jara 1982:115; Caribbean Islands [Big Dipper was considered a boat]: Robiou -Lamarche 1986:484.