Yu.E. Berezkin, E.N. Duvakin

Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area

Analytical catalogue

Introduction
Bibliography
Ethnicities and habitats

I35A. Thunder is an old woman. .15. (.28.) .29.-.31.33.

The

thunder is produced by an old woman in the sky.

Galicians, (Russians: Arkhangelsk), Adygs, Nogais, Armenians, Talysh, Turkmens, Ishkashim, Vakhans, Mountain Tajiks, Yagnobs, Lithuanians, Kazakhs (Syr-Darya), Karakalpaks, Uighurs ( Yarkand).

Southern Europe. Galicians [Ai, como chove! Ai, como trona! Hay ybha vella tocando a zanfona (Oh, how it pours, oh how it rattles! This old woman hits her hurdy-gurdy)]: Mariño 1921:5.

(Wed. Central Europe. Russians (Arkhangelskaya, Pomors) [the tsar tells his sons to shoot arrows; where he falls, take his wife there; Vasily and Fedor's arrows fell on the royal court, on the princely court, and the youngest Ivan on the swamp; there is an old lady in a hut; wanted to leave, but immediately began to sink; the king tells my daughters-in-law to sew on a shirt; the old woman cut the silk into pieces, threw it out the window: nannies, mothers, serve me as they served mine father and mother; the older daughters-in-law did the same, but only spoiled the silk; I had to buy it at the bazaar; and I. brought the best shirt; the next day he baked bread; the old woman poured the dough into the mouth of the oven; the elder daughters-in-law too; bought bread; I. brought it, the tsar tried: eat a piece - your soul hurts in a different way; the king asks you to weave the carpet; the old woman promises a flying carpet; "Take it yourself. And when you sit down at the table and the thunder thunders, you say: This is my woman wearing colorful dresses. When it rains, you say: It's my woman who washes her face with spring water. And when the lightning flashes, say: This is my woman coming and go out to meet me." A beautiful woman comes out of the carriage; puts pieces behind her sleeve at the table; shook her sleeve: the Neva River was formed, ducks and eiders swam on it; the older daughters-in-law tried it - pieces and crumbs flew to the table and to the guests ; I. burned an old woman's outfit; Elena Prekrasnaya: now Koschey the Immortal will take me away; took me away; I. came to an elderly woman, this is an EP aunt; sent me to her mother, she tells her husband, i.e. the father of the EP, to ask forgiveness; father sends to take his wife away from Koshchei, he himself cannot; Koschey suggests throwing a sword: who is taller; I.: I want to throw your sword on the cloud; Koschey angered, turned I. into an egg; Eagle Orlovich pecked, broke shell, but told I. to work in his kitchen; after a year of service and drinking kvass, I. threw a sword that fell back 3 hours - not enough; he still served - 6 hours; enough; the Eagle teaches: Hit Koshchei with my sword and only once, 12 Koshcheev brothers to his own; I. killed Koshchei and his brothers, freed the EP, brought her to Orel; he tells her to work and drink kvass for two years; after the first year, like I., she throws a sword that falls three hours, after the second - six; we reached the house, the tsar gave I. the throne]: Razumova, Senkina 1987:72-82).

Caucasus - Asia Minor. Adygi (bzhedugi) [thunder pursues witches, genies, devils whom he kills, and the mother of thunder runs after her son and rattles, saying, "don't kill people, son!"] : Outlev 1965:190; Nogais [thunder - an old woman turns her full leather bags]: Kapaev 2012:14: Bagriy 1930 (3) (Shamakhi and Goychay counties) [thunder is produced by an old woman who fills several buffalo skins run with stones and with them through the wavy mountains of the sky; when they climb the mountain, the stones fly out of these skins, and when they go down, they fall back into them]: 127; Lisitsyan 1992 (Nagorny Karabakh, records from the 1920s) [thunder comes from an old woman filling a bag with stones and rolling it across the sky, and lightning is a sword (staff) in the hands of angels (God) with which they chase and smash the evil spirits of kowls; from blows demons try to hide underground or hide under high rocks and trees of this sword]: 170; Melik-Shakhnazarov 1904, No. 6 (Zangezur district) ["The thunder comes from the sound of Prophet Elijah's chariot, or from an old woman rolling stones"]: 92; Talyshi [There is an old woman in the sky who does not love people and is at odds with them. When she is angry, she gets on a horse and jumps across the sky from side to side. Whenever a horse's foot hits the firmament, a spark that we call lightning flies out, and thunder is the sound of hooves trampling]: Asatryan 2005:23.

Iran - Central Asia. Turkmens: Atdayev 2020 [during the drought, people asked the ruler Tuis-Khatyn for help; a special water cloud lives at the heart of the cloud cluster; if a particle of this cloud is placed in the pumpkin vessel, all the other clouds will follow him; riding the wind horse, TX rushed into the sky; the lady of the clouds, old Mamaka, resisted and began to shake her thunder bag forcefully, causing lightning; TX asked the clouds for rain and, having given people water, could not return (Mary Velayat, recorded in 2017); when there is calm silence before the rain, they say:" It is Tuis-Khatyn who freezes, homesick"; if a humid wind starts to blow out, they say: "Tuis-Khatyn rides a wind horse and carries rain clouds"; TH is also known as Tyuytatyn: "They flow from the sky Burkut's showers, /Old Mamak shakes her bag./Tyutatyn brings us a cloud, /She is followed by a thousand clouds"; Mamak's grandmother is the patron saint of the clouds; she hits a huge leather bag of sanach and Rain shakes out of it; at the first drops of rain, adults frightened children: "Hide at home, or Mamaka will put you in a bag and take you to heaven"]: 90-91, 93; Ishkashim, Vakhans [thunder attributed to an old woman living in the sky, shaking out her pants]: Andreev, Polovtsov 1911:35; Ishkashim (Tavon village, Ishkashim in Afghanistan) [the main stars for which at night They know the time, is the constellation own zat - Seven Sons (Ursa Major); these are the seven sons of Pyradu - Old Woman, Mistress of the Sky (North Star); her name means Decrepit Old Woman (var: Old woman in rags); P. wanders across the sky all the time and if clouds interfere with her, pierces them with her staff; water flows out of them, it's rain; P.'s staff is iron-tipped; when she hits them rocks, sparks are carved, this is lightning]: Abayeva 1978:110; mountain Tajiks, Yagnobs [in the upper reaches of Pyanj, in the upper reaches of Zeravshan and elsewhere, thunder is made by shaking out trousers; in Matcha and Yagnobe fly to the ground from Grandma knocking out the trousers, which cause a lot of mushrooms to grow after spring thunderstorms; a similar belief about the origin of mushrooms from the old fur being knocked out Turkmen have Tekins]: Tolstov 1931:339; Turkmens (Yomudis) [the thunder occurs because an old woman tears her fur coat]: Tolstov 1931:339.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [during a thunderstorm, a wagon with a woman rides and thunders]: Laurinkene 2019:303.

Turkestan. Kazakhs: Andreev, Polovtsov 1911 (?) [Turkic tribes still have traces of the idea of thunder in the form of an old woman shaking out a leather bag; in the Turkestan region, you can see children running away from the thunder they hear and screaming, m āmā sanách īny k a k you, "grandmother shook out her leather bag"]: 35; Tolstov 1931 (Tashkent District) [Grandmother produces thunder by rolling two large stones across the sky; or divas roll millstones]: 339; karakalpaks ["When thunder thunder, we say Guldur mama ('Guldur mama kele atyr') is coming. Mom is an old woman]: Islam Saparbayev, personal message 27.03.2021; Uighurs (Yarkand) [Jalmouz-Kempir shakes his naked coat, making a loud noise (thunder); genies who get tired of it start throw hot coals (lightning) at it, causing the fur coat to smolder; wanting to extinguish it, the DK pours water (rain)]: Tolstov 1931:339.