I93. The Milky Way is the backbone of the sky.
.11.14. (.17.) .35.42.44.46.48.-.50.
The Milky Way is the spine, support, pillar of heaven or peace.
Bushmen, Tuaregs, (Babylonia), Nenets (Yenisei only?) , Nganasana, Kwakiutl, Ojibwa Oriental, Potauatomi, Kiowa, Assiniboine, Chumash, Oloni, Louisenho, Kawaiisu, Western and Northern Shoshones, Utah, Chemewevi, Diegueño, Tewa (San Ildefonso), Western Ceres ( Acoma).
SW Africa. The Bushmen [The Milky Way is generally considered the "backbone of the night"]: Silberbauer 1981 in Warner 1996:311.
North Africa. Tuaregs [The Milky Way - "sky beam, crossbar"]: Basset 1910:17.
(Wed. Western Asia. Babylonia [to strengthen the earth, it was tied to the sky with ropes and pegs; these rope ropes are the Milky Way]: Afanasieva 1982b: 653).
(Wed. Melanesia. A cow [Yokhemel Yambin woman placed tobacco leaves on a leaf stalk of a sago palm tree, Ginol, "the Little Mouselike", collected dry leaves but could not light it; and the woman's uterus ignited, tobacco leaves caught fire, the whole world burned down; G. turned into a swift; raked up ash, water poured over, Faül boar swam on it, G. killed him, made earth out of sternum bone and meat on his chest (more precisely put it all down), and from the spine - the sky, shoved the sky higher with arrows from palm leaf cuttings; this spine smeared the dead dog with breast fat; ratan seeds burst, the youngest came out of them and older brothers, as well as the moon and the sun; the elder cut off the younger penis and testicles, turning him into a woman, began to copulate with her; the elder smeared (vagina) with snake fat - did not like it, fish - the same tree larvae - I liked it, let the woman stay like this; the woman gave birth to snakes, animals, people]: Enk, de Vries 1997:163-170).
Western Siberia. Nenets: Holmberg 1927 (Turukhansky District) [The Milky Way is the "spine of the sky", connected to the world's pillar; it has seven iron larches with iron cradles]: 434; Golovnev 2004 [Milky The path is nouve' pud ("the ridge of heaven")]: 310; Tretyakov 1971 [Nua-chirrie, "God's Back"]: 415 {Potanin 1883:740, quoting Tretyakov, mistakenly attributed this information to the Yenisei Ostyaks, i.e. Kets); nganasany [Milky Way - 1) Celestial Dorsal Ridge; 2) Sky Caravan; 3) Seine]: Popov 1984:47.
NW Coast. Quakiutl: Werner 1955:18 [The Milky Way is a global pillar], 21 [in the ritual house, the Milky Way symbolizes the long beam under the roof (The Religion of the Kwakiutl Indians II: 112f)].
The Midwest. Ojibwa and Potauatomi (Parry Island in George Bay) [The Milky Way holds the Earth like a basket handle or a bucket; if it splits, the world will end; if it turns around in another direction, all life will change]: Miller 1997:60.
Plains. Kiowa [the name of the Milky Way literally means 'star back']: Harrington 1928b: 162 (=Gibbon 1972:240); assiniboine [The Milky Way is the spine of the sky]: Gibbon 1972: 240; Miller 1997:237.
California. Oloni ['The Spine of the World', 'The Spine of the Night']: Hudson 1982:110; Chumash [The Milky Way - The Spine of the Night]: Harrington 1942, No. 1143:30; Luiseno [The Milky Way - Spine of the Night]: Harrington 1942, no. 1143: sky]: Gibbon 1972:240; kawaiisu [The Milky Way is the backbone of heaven]: Driver 1937, No. 1323:87
Big Pool. Western Shoshones [Milky Way: bi (sky) ta (straight?) waoda (spine?)] : Steward 1941:267; Northern Shoshones [The Milky Way - The Spine of the Sky]: Steward 1943b:353; Utah, Chemewevi [The Milky Way - The Spine of the Sky]: Driver 1937, No. 1323:87
The Great Southwest. Diegeño [The Milky Way - Back, Spine of Heaven]: Drucker 1937:26; Teva: Gifford 1940, No. 2271 (San Ildefonso) [The world is man, the Milky Way is its spine]: 60; Harrington 1916 [The Milky Way is the backbone of the sky]: 41, 51; Western Ceres (Akoma) [The Milky Way is the beam that holds the earth]: Parsons 1939:213.