I43B. The Milky Way is a snake, a fish.

.11.18.-.26.28.52.53.56.62.-.66.72.

The Milky Way is a reptile, a fish, or a chain of fish.

Malawi, Yualarai, Virageri, Majprat, Watut, Gilbert Islands (moray eel), Maori ("long fish", "dawn long shark", "Maui fish"), Hawaii ("lizard spine"), Tuamotu (" lizard tail", "long shark"), Mangaia ("long morning lizard"), Mangareva (from shark), Cook Islands (Pukapuka) ["shark"], Society Islands ["shark"], Burmese, Hinduism, Minangkabau, Nias, Hama Mapun [ snakes], ami (fish chain), Chinese, Belarusians, classical Maya, Maya Yucatana, Chorti, Quiche, Totonaki, (Veracruz Nahuatl?) , cabecar, shikuani, desana, manao (?) , Middle Amazon, Urubu, Tacana, Cimane, Moseten, Mocovi.

Bantu-speaking Africa. Malawi [Milky Way - Boa Constrictor]: Dornan 1927:30 in Baumann 1936:300; Sicard 1966:81-82.

Australia. Yualaray (NSW) [Curreach lives in deep water, swallows whole people; Mrs. Parker calls this creature a crocodile, but it's more of a rainbow serpent; it's seen as wavy dark shadow along the Milky Way; its serpentine sign is painted on poles to cause rain]: Radcliffe-Brown 1926:21 (=1930:544); Virageri (NSW) [shaman dives into the pond where the rainbow lives the serpent Wavi, learns corrosion songs from him; the black stripe on the Milky Way near the Southern Cross is one of V.'s ancestors; he encourages snakes to bite people]: Radcliffe-Brown 1926:21.

Melanesia. Majprat (Western Prat District) [during the day the snake is reflected in the form of a rainbow, at night it is the Milky Way, and it also holds the earth with the water surrounding the earth]: Elmberg 1968:207; cotton wool [The Milky Way - "worm"]: Fischer 1963:99

Micronesia-Polynesia. Gilbert Islands: Grimble 1922 [the sky was on the ground; Na Arean (Spider, although anthropomorphic; Na - "Master") felt for a booming place with his staff, told Sand to connect to the water, they gave birth to Na Atibu and Nei ("Mistress") Teakea; their children Older, Woman In The Middle, Wave, Octopus, Ricky's Eel; the youngest Na Arean Junior, a trickster, was born last; after that, Na Arean Sr. retired; NA Junior gave reason and movement to the Deaf and Dumb Fools (they are the children of Sand and Water); they slightly raised the sky, cut off the connection between it and the earth, Ricky raised the sky high, the earth fell; N. cut off R.'s legs (falling into the sea, they became eels), and R. himself is the Milky Way; to prevent the sky from falling, NA put four women on four sides of the world to hold it, they grew roots like trees; N. killed his father Na Atibu, turned his right eye into the sun, his left eye into the moon, his brain into stars, pieces of flesh into rocks and rocks, bones into trees, including the Samoa Tree, an ancestor]: 91-96; Koch 1966 (Nonouti Atoll, West 1963-1964): 15-19 [ at first there was no earth, no sky, everything was as if in a shell with Nareau on its bulge; he began to stomp so that heaven and earth were firm; he saw people lying in the depths of the dark shell, He stirred them with a stone tied to a fishing line, they gave their names; he bent their stiff joints with them; raised the sky a little, but it was still low and flat; N. called Katimoi, who caught a squid cut off two tentacles, made bait out of them, caught Riki (giant eel, moray eel) with it; R. began to raise the sky; N. ordered K. to support R. in the middle; ordered the stingray to pierce the muscle {world shells} so that it no longer closes and the sky remains high; cut off the tip of R.'s tail, it turned out to be the current moray eel; N. threw the mother-of-pearl shell, it became the sun, the sea shell snails became the moon; N. lives in Samoa, his wife Thunder, their two sons lightning], 20-21 [earth and sky were like a closed shell; Nareau cut through east, west, north, and south; standing on bulges, N. spoke, saying the name Riki (big eel, moray eel), the sky and the ground split, people could be seen inside, they began to move; N. told the Nei Aibong woman to catch the Tikutikutaungaunga bird, tied a rope to it, let it go to people, told NA to name their names; after recognizing them, N. became the master of the people; touched them, they became strong; raised the sky a little; but it was connected to the ground by muscle, N. ordered pierce his stingray; Ricky did not want to raise the ground, bit a man who came up; N. caught him with a horn, Ricky raised the sky; N. cut off his tail, he fell, became a moray eel, Ricky himself is the Milky Way]; Maude , Maude 1993, No. 1 [heaven and earth lay close to each other; between them were Baba ma Bono (Fools and Deaf Mutes are immovable slaves); in heaven, a Tangan-nang woman gave birth to a bird that brought Urua fish, T. put it in a vessel of water; the fish kept growing, ate a lot, it was released into the sea; the giant fish returned accompanied by other predatory fish, people fled from the shore; a lizard was born from a tumor on Tabakea's forehead, she was thrown into the fire; T. put ashes in the water, the ugly dwarf Nareau appeared; and he was thrown into the fire, a larger dwarf appeared from the ashes; he did not burn in the fire, but grew up, he was made a leader; he grabbed his hand and killed Urua fish; people ate flesh, gave bones to T.; put in the sink, they emitted thunder and lightning, N. trampled them, crushed them; giant Auriaria slipped a slide between heaven and earth, found Riki's eel there and Deaf and Dumb Fools; they came to life, raised the sky a little along with the eel; then R. pushed the sky far away with his head, and pushed the earth into the depths of the sea with his tail; A. hit the sky with a rod, the pieces broke off, fell, became islands; A. created Samoa, turned two shells into the sun and the moon; the white body of Ricky's eel was the Milky Way; A. planted a Samoa tree, from the branches of which all people came], 6 [the sky lay on the ground; Nareau he felt for a booming place with a staff, made a hole, connected the Earth to Water, the Earth gave birth to children, including Ricky's eel; the youngest Nareu was the last to be born; he gave reason and movement to the Deaf and Dumb Fools; they raised the sky , Ricky raised him high; N. cut off R.'s legs (now an eel without legs), and R. himself is the Milky Way; N. killed his father Na Atibu, turned his right eye into the sun, his left eye into the moon, his brain into stars, his spine into the Tamoa tree, the body in stones, the right god in the North, the left god in the South Solstice]: 14-21, 34-37; Maude, Maude 1994, No. 2 [Heaven and Earth lay close, gave birth to the giant Nareau; he then spread them apart; told Eel to raise the sky higher, Eel became the Milky Way], 3 [Eel became the Milky Way]: 60-61, 102; Maori: Best 1972 [The Milky Way - Te Ika a Maui {"Maui" Fish "}]: 42; Makemson 1941:153-155 [ Tongatonga ("Deep Darkness") - Milky Way; Te Ikaroa ("Long Fish") is part of the Milky Way, probably a dark rift; stars (these are young children) were sent in a boat (tail) Scorpio) to the sky; Te Ikaroa must look after them; at first, the Milky Way shared the areas of responsibility of the Sun and Moon with stars; then the Sun was placed on the head of Heaven, and the Moon and stars on it back; that made it light all the time; then the Sun was on the navel and the Moon and stars on its back], 183 [the Milky Way - Mango-roa (The Long Shark)], 185 [Mangoroiata (The Long Shark of Dawn)], 186 [titles Milky Way: Long Fish, Big Fish, Long Shark, Maui Fish, Tangaroa's ancestor Fish (Parent-Fish-of-Tangaroa), Sky Land Fish (i.e. Lizard)]; Hawaii: Makemson 1941:185 [The Milky Way - Kuamoo ("Lizard's Spine")], 213 [Milky Way - Ia ("Fish")]; Tuamotu [Milky Way - Vaero-o-te-Moko ("Lizard Tail"), Mango-roa ("Long Shark")]: Makemson 1941:185; Society Islands [Milky Way - Long-blue-cloud-fooding-shark]: Wegener 1844:148 in Nilsson 1920:126; Cook Islands (Pukapuka) [Te Mango ("Shark") is a dark band separating the Milky Way from Scorpio to A swan; Maui harpooned a monster and threw it into the sky; his spear trail was the Scorpio Nebula]: Beaglehole 1938:349 (paraphrase from a commentary in Makemson 1941:185); Mangaia [The Milky Way - Moko-roa-i-ata ( "The Long Lizard of the Morning")]: Makemson 1944:185; Mangareva [the song describes how Hina-raurega's body arose from the rays of the Milky Way; the Milky Way - Magaroa-i-ata; mago, "shark", changed to maga]: Buck 1938:317; Easter Island [two cannibal fish he goe and humu koreva took to heaven, became the Milky Way and dark spots on it ("Coal Sacks")]: Barthel 1962:1.

Burma - Indochina. Burmese [Milky Way - Nagangue - "snake" + "lots of small droplets"]: Nikonov 1980a: 255

South Asia. Hinduism (post-Vedic literature) [the Milky Way is hardly mentioned in the Vedas (probably once in Atharvaveda); but it is likely that the Vedic designation for the Milky Way was Sarasvatī, "with many bodies of water"; in post-Vedic literature, "The Heavenly Ganga"; note 31: among the many synonyms are Nāgavīthī ("snake route")]: Witzel 1984:9.

Malaysia-Indonesia. Minangkabau [naga besar - 'great dragon']: Nikonov 1980a:254; Nias [The Milky Way, Dsawa Nagara ("ring around the world") is thought of as a reflection of a world serpent]: Suzuki 1959:21.

Taiwan - Philippines. Mapun [Big Dipper is a fish trap with a rope tied to it; if you see many stars, fishing will be successful; Pleiades - pig aimed at - Orion Belt; Pleiades indicate the beginning of agricultural work; the Milky Way is a snake; the V-shaped pig's jaw is associated with Orion and the hunting myth]: Peralta 2013:213; ami [the giant separated the sky from the ground, former at first close to each other; they were then connected by a golden staircase; along it (according to Kano 1941), the first people descended from the sky; while the sky was near the ground, the fish jumped out of the sea and remained in the sky forming the Milky Way]: De Beauclair in Yamada 2002:65.

China - Korea. Modern Chinese [Milky Way - Sky Dragon]: Ôbayashi 1999:44; (cf. Ancient China [image on the wall of a burial chamber {apparently from Han time} at Wou-leang ts'eu in Shandong: an arch in the form of a double-headed horned serpent {probably means sky or the Milky Way}; anthropomorphic characters are nearby, on and below it]: Coral-Rémusat 1937, pl.60a).

Central Europe. Belarusians (Minsk, Volozhin County) ["in Ukraine, the Milky Way designation zmije was noted; (Volozhin County in Belarus; probably Moshinsky's handwritten fund for Ukraine, Belarus and Poland; unique version)]: Gładyszowa 1960:87.

Mesoamerica Mayan art of the classical period: Garza Camino 1999 [in the codes, the dragon's body (Itzam Na) is represented as a stripe dotted with stars and symbolizes the Milky Way]: 189; Milbrath 1999 [Cosmic The monster has a different body shape; in most cases it is covered with reptile skin, which depicts a stripe of heaven or curls (cloud symbols); less often the grid is shown]: 275-282; Schele, Miller 1986 [The Sky Monster has two heads and one body, passed down as a crocodile or as a series of symbols; the front head often includes the sign of Venus; has reindeer ears, sometimes deer hooves under it; and the body of a monster refers to the front head; the back is usually turned out, has a blunt snout, plump eyes and a skeleton jaw; the forehead is a deep vessel with a curved corolla, merges with the hieroglyph of the sun; it seems like a monster embodies dawn (the sun follows Venus); while an architectural detail is designed in the form of a monster, the front head usually faces west]: 45, fig.22; Maya Yucatana [current data and sources Colonial times, the Milky Way is associated with a snake; the Space Monster is depicted with a beard, which makes it possible to associate this image with the Fair de Lance snake, known in Mesoamerica as the "yellow beard"; she identified with the Milky Way]: Milbrath 1999:40, 282-283; kekchi [while the great kasik was hunting turtles in the forest, the Sun covered his face with a tortoiseshell shell that cast a pleasant shadow on his daughter casik; took the girl away with one of his rays; Kasik ordered a giant sarbakan and clay balls to be made to him; when he was about to shoot, the Sun threw pepper into his sarbakan; since then people have been coughing; the second time the casik managed to shoot, the Sun dropped the girl, she fell into the sea, crashed into small pieces; the fish collected the pieces, each covered with its shiny scales; each took the other's tail in her mouth, they formed a chain, lifted the girl to the sky; lost her way home, became the Milky Way; the girl became the Moon, trying in vain to catch up with the Sun; he cannot stop because she is in a hurry to wake up the birds in the morning]: Gordon 1915:116-117; chorti [The Milky Way is a white snake; its mouth is south, its tail is north]: Girard 1948:76; 1949:458, 461 in Milbrath 1999:40; quiche [The Milky Way and the Ecliptic are associated with four by the rivers of mountainous Guatemala, flowing from the intersection of the Milky Way and the ecliptic; the Milky Way is the river in which a crocodile swims; where its open mouth is the road to the afterlife]: Bassie- Sweet 2008:266-267; coastal Totonaki [see motif A24; ancestors live in a dark, cold world; only a heavenly serpent shines - the Milky Way; its mouth is open; a lizard finds a hot stone, cooks on it food; four birds manage to break a stone, get a shining egg; animals bring it to the spring; an orphan girl finds an egg, brings it home; it returns to the spring three times; on the fourth girl grabs it with her teeth, it bursts, she swallows it; nine days later she gives birth to twin sons; born first stronger; the girl dies, her grandmother leaves babies on the branches of the magician, they do not die; puts an anon on a tree, whose fruits look like women's breasts; babies feed on honey like hummingbirds; the old woman is happy to bring them home; the Great Serpent shines poorly, feeds on young girls; brothers are hot stones in the temazcal, they throw it into its mouth; it gets completely dark, many people turn into stones and idols; brothers send a green fly to check if the snake is dead; it flies into the mouth, flies out of the anus - dead; the elder tells the animals that he will become the Sun; they should not show his younger brother the path he took; the youngest spends time at the holidays; explains to numerous mistresses that this is he will become the sun; the elder tells the animals to make a fire, jumps into it from the mountain, flies east; his uncle comes later, when the coals are almost extinguished, follows him; the younger brother finds only ash animals show him the way west; the old man predicts that three will soon appear in heaven; he is considered crazy, thrown to the ground; he turns into a dog, says he will be a guide to souls the dead, leading them to the Sun on its trail; the Morning Star rises, all ancestors (tutu na cu) die; the dog takes their souls to the Sun, which judges them; tells the good ones to repopulate the earth]: Münch 1993:37-40; ( cf. Veracruz Nahuatl (Sierra de Zongolica) [a giant snake glowed faintly in the sky before the sun rose {Milky Way?} ; the brothers took his sparkling eyes, the Sun took a brighter one, the Month was weaker]: Oropeza Escobar, p. 220 in Chinchilla Mazariegos 2011:84; tlapanecas [Cassiopeia is a scorpion, the Milky Way is his stream poison]: Schultze-Jena 1938:157).

Honduras-Panama. Kabekar [Shibu makes his home, that is, the sky; he needs a vine to tie structures; he sends people to the sunrise, giving them his rod made of his umbilical cord; tells the snake to ask how he sleeps; I sleep with my eyes open, awake with my eyes closed; one man pulled out a snake's mustache, S. brought him; the man died; S. tied his mustache around his house; every knot on it is a star]: Stone 1962:55.

Llanos. Guajibo [Kuwai (Furnamali) turns into an insect, clings to the genitals of Puacali (Mashunashunali), daughter of Quemi (anaconda, Eunectus murinus), who in at that time he "occupied the world"; takes her as his wife; one day Kuwai's son enters the house in the guise of Aguchi, Quemi devours him; Kuwait picks up pieces of his flesh and creates two eagle chicks from them; raises them to take Quemi to heaven; to lure him out of his lair, Kuwai releases Attalea sp. ants, Quemi crawls out to eat them; his body footprint is the Milky Way; eagles they take him to heaven, he himself is the Milky Way; his widow Yaniluava (= Tenteluva = Tsikiri) is the mother of all poisonous creatures (scorpions, spiders, snakes, ants); she is trying to take revenge for the death of her husband, falls into the trap of Kuwai, is eaten by piranhas; her daughter grabs her thigh bone, cuts off the leg of Kuwaii's other son, Kahuyali (Orion), throws it into the water, she turns into catfish; K. is considered a jaguar and creator of shamanism; he used to ride his stone boat, spreading fish along rivers; the giant eagle became an ogre, Kuwait killed him; where he fell , savannahs appeared in the forest]: Baquero 1989, No. 1:80-81; Sicuani: Wilbert, Simoneau 1992, No. 11 [Kvemeini sets a trap, Furna falls into it; turns into a turtle; Kvemeini sends her daughter for her; Furna turns into a human being, a girl takes him into a husband; turns into a tick, she brings him home on her genitals; at night, her father-in-law hears someone blowing the wind; realizes that a man is sleeping with his daughter because he and his family do not have anuses; later Quemeini turns into a snake, into the Milky Way]: 64-65, 668 [The Milky Way is identified with an anaconda ( Euneces murinus) or with coral macho (Pseudoboa neuwiedii neuwiedii)].

NW Amazon. Desana: Reichel-Dolmatoff 1968, No. 4 [the girl was in a separate hut for her period; a seven-headed serpent converges with her; shamans (paye) killed and burned him; he came to life, turned into the Milky Way]: 200; 1982:170 [The Milky Way can be seen as a river, a path in the forest, a crowd of people walking, dropped snakeskin, a stream of fertilizing seed, etc.], 171 [The Milky Way is two snakes; starry, the luminous part is the rainbow boa constrictor, the masculine part, and the dark part is the anaconda, the feminine principle; the cycle of emanation from the sky is marked by the movement of the Milky Way, understood as movements wriggling snakes]; (tucano? ethnicity not specified, Rio Negro Basin, Brazil, recorded in lingua geral [the stars form the figure of the big snake Boyaçu in the sky; during the rainy season, it descends and swims up the river that overflows its banks; swallows fish and then burps it]: Brüzzi 1994:90.

Central Amazon. Lower reaches of Japura (manao?) [the girl has a period; she bathes, leaving her clothes on the shore; a snake crawls into her clothes; the girl is pregnant, gives birth to a son; at night he is a snake, in the daytime he is a man; every evening she returns to her mother's bosom; everything grows; her brother and father ask for help from the forest owners, a man Curupira and a woman Caa-Maña; a snake son climbs a tree, sheds his mother's fruit; she runs; she does not want her son to be killed; he rises to the sky, becomes Boyusu's great serpent; during the day he's a rainbow, at night he's a spot on the Milky Way]: Tastevin 1925:178-183; Middle Amazon [a woman gets pregnant by a demon, gives birth to a snake; he's always with her; one day he climbs a tree, she runs away; he goes up to the sky where he can see it now (the Milky Way?) ; people sleep without hearing his call; reptiles and trees hear, they now change their skin and they don't die]: Barbosa Rodrigues 1890:234-235.

Eastern Amazon. Urubu [the huge snake Madjou-ã lived in water, swallowed people; the shaman Karará-ramoui sharpened the edges of two calebas, let himself be swallowed; the swallowed knives could not cut M. from the inside, and Calebas K. cut all his ten hearts one by one; M. began to swallow water, but K. cut his side, emerged, went home, died of fatigue; another shaman revived him; M. died, went up to the sky, its shadow there is the Milky Way; he himself fell, pushing the ground, so the sea was formed]: Ribeiro 2002:611-612 (=2008:557-558); tenetehara {it does not directly say that the serpent is associated with By the Milky Way, but given the data from urbu and moseten (below), this is probably the case} [a girl meets a snake, takes a lover; gives birth to an adult son; he comes out of her womb, makes arrows in the forest, at night returns to the womb; the girl's brother finds out about this, advises her to hide while her son is away; he rises to heaven, breaks his bow and arrows there, they turn into stars; only a spider sees it; since then only spiders change their skin and don't die, and humans and animals have lost this ability]: Wagley, Galvão 1949, No. 24:149.

The Central Andes. Huaca el Dragon, Sican culture (Moche Valley, Dep. La Libertad) [relief decoration on the temple wall: a snake-shaped arch with heads on both ends of the body; each head has an ear (horn?) ; each pair of jaws has a standing anthropomorphic figure]: Donnan 1989, fig. 15; Chotuna, sican culture (Lambayeque Valley, Dep. Lambayeque) [relief on the temple wall similar to Huaca el Dragon, but worse preserved]: Donnan 1989, fig. 16; Kroeber 1944, pl.63; mochica culture, period IV [anthropomorphic character under the arch in the form of a two-headed snake, each mouth has a human head]: Donnan 1989, fig. 19; mochica culture, periods III, IV [a snake-shaped creature with heads at both ends of the body framing the scene or separating upper tier (sky) from lower tier (ground)]: Donnan, McClelland 1999, fig. 4.90, 4.102, 5.23.

Bolivia - Guaporé. Takana [the sky was close to the ground, people were afraid of it, everything could be heard from there; the rainbow snake Suse-Nai-Bakua (she has heads at both ends of her body, a jagged back) and Grandma Beba-Zarara separate them; the rainbow snake arches its back, raising the sky; people are no longer afraid of the sky]: Hissink, Hahn 1961, No. 31:77; chimane [the sky was low; a woman catches an iguana; brings home, holds her son; Iguana grows, the woman transfers her to increasingly larger vessels; when one day she falls asleep, Iguana raises the sky higher, turns into the Milky Way]: Hissink, Hahn 1989, No. 6:64; moseten [spouses want to have an animal at home, find the Nyoko worm; the husband feeds it with the hearts of birds, then animals, then people; N. grows, he is transferred to larger vessels; his owner is killed; his wife sends N. him search; N. raises his head to the sky, finds a corpse; surrounds the village with a ring, kills everyone; revives the owner, they eat the hearts of the dead together; N. helps the owner fish, damming the river; rises to the sky, turning into the Milky Way; causes thunder; stars are arrows that pierce its body]: Nordenskiöld 1924:143-144.

Chaco. Mocovi [The Milky Way, or rather the dark spots on it, is Mañik; it is, on the one hand, a giant nanda driven into the sky by dogs (Centaur stars), and on the other hand, a snake-shaped monster, Nandu's owner and snake master at the same time]: Giménez Benítez et al. 2002:48.