World tree

Last updated
From Northern Antiquities, an English translation of the Prose Edda from 1847. Painted by Oluf Olufsen Bagge. Yggdrasil.jpg
From Northern Antiquities, an English translation of the Prose Edda from 1847. Painted by Oluf Olufsen Bagge.

The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European, Siberian, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the terrestrial world, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life, but it is the source of wisdom of the ages.

Contents

Specific world trees include égig érő fa in Hungarian mythology, Ağaç Ana in Turkic mythology, Andndayin Ca˙r [1] in Armenian mythology, Modun in Mongol mythology, Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, Irminsul in Germanic mythology, the oak in Slavic, Finnish and Baltic, Jianmu (Chinese :建木; pinyin :jiànmù) in Chinese mythology, and in Hindu mythology the Ashvattha (a Ficus religiosa ).

General description

Scholarship states that many Eurasian mythologies share the motif of the "world tree", "cosmic tree", or "Eagle and Serpent Tree". [2] More specifically, it shows up in "Haitian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Norse, Siberian and northern Asian Shamanic folklore". [3]

The World Tree is often identified with the Tree of Life, [4] and also fulfills the role of an axis mundi , that is, a centre or axis of the world. [3] It is also located at the center of the world and represents order and harmony of the cosmos. [5] According to Loreta Senkute, each part of the tree corresponds to one of the three spheres of the world (treetops - heavens; trunk - middle world or earth; roots - underworld) and is also associated with a classical element (top part - fire; middle part - earth, soil, ground; bottom part - water). [5]

Its branches are said to reach the skies and its roots to connect the human or earthly world with an underworld or subterranean realm. Because of this, the tree was worshipped as a mediator between Heavens and Earth. [6] On the treetops are located the luminaries (stars) and heavenly bodies, along with an eagle's nest; several species of birds perch among its branches; humans and animals of every kind live under its branches, and near the root is the dwelling place of snakes and every sort of reptiles. [7] [8]

A bird perches atop its foliage, "often .... a winged mythical creature" that represents a heavenly realm. [9] [4] The eagle seems to be the most frequent bird, fulfilling the role of a creator or weather deity. [10] Its antipode is a snake or serpentine creature that crawls between the tree roots, being a "symbol of the underworld". [9] [4]

The imagery of the World Tree is sometimes associated with conferring immortality, either by a fruit that grows on it or by a springsource located nearby. [11] [4] As George Lechler also pointed out, in some descriptions this "water of life" may also flow from the roots of the tree. [12]

Similar motifs

The World Tree has also been compared to a World Pillar that appears in other traditions and functions as separator between the earth and the skies, upholding the latter. [13] Another representation akin to the World Tree is a separate World Mountain. However, in some stories, the world tree is located atop the world mountain, in a combination of both motifs. [5]

A conflict between a serpentine creature and a giant bird (an eagle) occurs in Eurasian mythologies: a hero kills the serpent that menaces a nest of little birds, and their mother repays the favor - a motif comparativist Julien d'Huy dates to the Paleolithic. A parallel story is attested in the traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, where the thunderbird is slotted into the role of the giant bird whose nest is menaced by a "snake-like water monster". [14] [15]

Relation to shamanism

Romanian historian of religion, Mircea Eliade, in his monumental work Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy , suggested that the world tree was an important element in shamanistic worldview. [16] Also, according to him, "the giant bird ... hatches shamans in the branches of the World Tree". [16] Likewise, Roald Knutsen indicates the presence of the motif in Altaic shamanism. [17] Representations of the world tree are reported to be portrayed in drums used in Siberian shamanistic practices. [18]

Some species of birds (eagle, raven, crane, loon, and lark) are revered as mediators between worlds and also connected to the imagery of the world tree. [19] Another line of scholarship points to a "recurring theme" of the owl as the mediator to the upper realm, and its counterpart, the snake, as the mediator to the lower regions of the cosmos. [20]

Researcher Kristen Pearson mentions Northern Eurasian and Central Asian traditions wherein the World Tree is also associated with the horse and with deer antlers (which might resemble tree branches). [21]

Possible origins

Mircea Eliade proposed that the typical imagery of the world tree (bird at the top, snake at the root) "is presumably of Oriental origin". [16]

Likewise, Roald Knutsen indicates a possible origin of the motif in Central Asia and later diffusion into other regions and cultures. [17]

In specific cultures

American pre-Columbian cultures

A common theme in most indigenous cultures of the Americas is a concept of directionality (the horizontal and vertical planes), with the vertical dimension often being represented by a world tree. Some scholars have argued that the religious importance of the horizontal and vertical dimensions in many animist cultures may derive from the human body and the position it occupies in the world as it perceives the surrounding living world. Many Indigenous cultures of the Americas have similar cosmologies regarding the directionality and the world tree, however the type of tree representing the world tree depends on the surrounding environment. For many Indigenous American peoples located in more temperate regions for example, it is the spruce rather than the ceiba that is the world tree; however the idea of cosmic directions combined with a concept of a tree uniting the directional planes is similar.

Greek mythology

Like in many other Indo-European cultures, one tree species was considered the World Tree in some cosmogonical accounts.

Oak tree

The sacred tree of Zeus is the oak, [26] and the one at Dodona (famous for the cultic worship of Zeus and the oak) was said by later tradition to have its roots furrow so deep as to reach the confines of Tartarus. [27]

In a different cosmogonic account presented by Pherecydes of Syros, male deity Zas (identified as Zeus) marries female divinity Chthonie (associated with the earth and later called Gê/Gaia), and from their marriage sprouts an oak tree. This oak tree connects the heavens above and its roots grew into the Earth, to reach the depths of Tartarus. This oak tree is considered by scholarship to symbolize a cosmic tree, uniting three spheres: underworld, terrestrial and celestial. [28]

Other trees

Besides the oak, several other sacred trees existed in Greek mythology. For instance, the olive, named Moriai, was the world tree and associated with the Olympian goddess Athena.

In a separate Greek myth the Hesperides live beneath an apple tree with golden apples that was given to the highest Olympian goddess Hera by the primal Mother goddess Gaia at Hera's marriage to Zeus. [29] The tree stands in the Garden of the Hesperides and is guarded by Ladon, a dragon. Heracles defeats Ladon and snatches the golden apples.

In the epic quest for the Golden Fleece of Argonautica , the object of the quest is found in the realm of Colchis, hanging on a tree guarded by a never-sleeping dragon (the Colchian dragon). [30] In a version of the story provided by Pseudo-Apollodorus in Bibliotheca, the Golden Fleece was affixed by King Aeetes to an oak tree in a grove dedicated to war god Ares. [31] This information is repeated in Valerius Flaccus's Argonautica. [32] In the same passage of Valerius Flaccus' work, King Aeetes prays to Ares for a sign and suddenly a "serpent gliding from the Caucasus mountains" appears and coils around the grove as to protect it. [33]

Roman mythology

In Roman mythology the world tree was the olive tree, that was associated with Pax. The Greek equivalent of Pax is Eirene, one of the Horae. The Sacred tree of the Roman Sky father Jupiter was the oak, the laurel was the Sacred tree of Apollo. The ancient fig-tree in the Comitium at Rome, was considered as a descendant of the very tree under which Romulus and Remus were found. [26]

Norse mythology

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree. [8] Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda , compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda , written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The Æsir go to Yggdrasil daily to hold their courts. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations: one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the harts Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór, the giant in eagle-shape Hræsvelgr, the squirrel Ratatoskr and the wyrm Níðhöggr. Scholarly theories have been proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasil, the potential relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr, and the sacred tree at Uppsala.

Circumbaltic mythology

In Baltic, Slavic and Finnish mythology, the world tree is usually an oak. [8] [lower-alpha 1] Most of the images of the world tree are preserved on ancient ornaments. Often on the Baltic and Slavic patterns there was an image of an inverted tree, "growing with its roots up, and branches going into the ground".

Baltic beliefs

Scholarship recognizes that Baltic beliefs about a World Tree, located at the central part of the Earth, follow a tripartite division of the cosmos (underworld, earth, sky), each part corresponding to a part of the tree (root, trunk, branches). [35] [36]

It has been suggested that the word for "tree" in Baltic languages (Latvian mežs; Lithuanian medis), both derived from Proto-Indo-European *medh- 'middle', operated a semantic shift from "middle" possibly due to the belief of the Arbor Mundi. [37]

Lithuanian culture

The world tree (Lithuanian : Aušros medis) is widespread in Lithuanian folk painting, and is frequently found carved into household furniture such as cupboards, towel holders, and laundry beaters. [38] [39] [40] According to Lithuanian scholars Prane Dunduliene and Norbertas Vėlius, the World Tree is "a powerful tree with widespread branches and strong roots, reaching deep into the earth". The recurrent imagery is also present in Lithuanian myth: on the treetops, the luminaries and eagles, and further down, amidst its roots, the dwelling place of snakes and reptiles. [7] The World Tree of Lithuanian tradition was sometimes identified as an oak or a maple tree. [36]

Latvian culture

In Latvian mythology the world tree (Latvian : Austras koks) was one of the most important beliefs, also associated with the birth of the world. Sometimes it was identified as an oak or a birch, or even replaced by a wooden pole. [36] According to Ludvigs Adamovičs's book on Latvian folk belief, ancient Latvian mythology attested the existence of a Sun Tree as an expression of the World Tree, often described as "a birch tree with three leaves or forked branches where the Sun, the Moon, God, Laima, Auseklis (the morning star), or the daughter of the Sun rest[ed]". [41]

Slavic beliefs

Old Russian ornament of the world tree Dolmatov World tree.png
Old Russian ornament of the world tree

According to Slavic folklore, as reconstructed by Radoslav Katičić, the draconic or serpentine character furrows near a body of water, and the bird that lives on the treetop could be an eagle, a falcon or a nightingale. [42]

Scholars Ivanov and Toporov offered a reconstructed Slavic variant of the Indo-European myth about a battle between a Thunder God and a snake-like adversary. In their proposed reconstruction, the Snake lives under the World Tree, sleeping on black wool. They surmise this snake on black wool is a reference to a cattle god, known in Slavic mythology as Veles. [43]

Further studies show that the usual tree that appears in Slavic folklore is an oak: for instance, in Czech, it is known as Veledub ('The Great Oak'). [44]

In addition, the world tree appears in the Island of Buyan, on top of a stone. Another description shows that legendary birds Sirin and Alkonost make their nests on separate sides of the tree. [45]

Ukrainian scholarship points to the existence of the motif in "archaic wintertime songs and carols": their texts attest a tree at the center of the world and two or three falcons or pigeons sat on its top, ready to dive in and fetch mud to create land (the Earth diver cosmogonic motif). [46] [47]

The imagery of the world tree also appears in folk medicine of the Don Cossacks. [48]

Finnic mythology

According to scholar Aado Lintrop, Estonian mythology records two types of world tree in Estonian runic songs, with similar characteristics of being an oak and having a bird at the top, a snake at the roots and the stars amongst its branches. [8]

Judeo-Christian mythology

The Tree of Knowledge depicted, with Adam and Eve, where the Tree of life is described as part of the Garden of Eden in the Hebrew bible. Lucas Cranach (I) - Adam and Eve-Paradise - Kunsthistorisches Museum - Detail Tree of Knowledge.jpg
The Tree of Knowledge depicted, with Adam and Eve, where the Tree of life is described as part of the Garden of Eden in the Hebrew bible.

The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the Tree of life are both components of the Garden of Eden story in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. According to Jewish mythology, in the Garden of Eden there is a tree of life or the "tree of souls" that blossoms and produces new souls, which fall into the Guf, the Treasury of Souls. [49] The Angel Gabriel reaches into the treasury and takes out the first soul that comes into his hand. Then Lailah, the Angel of Conception, watches over the embryo until it is born. [50]

Gnosticism

According to the Gnostic codex On the Origin of the World, the tree of immortal life is in the north of paradise, which is outside the circuit of the Sun and Moon in the luxuriant Earth. Its height is so great it reaches Heaven. Its leaves are described as resembling cypress, the color of the tree is like the Sun, its fruit is like clusters of white grapes and its branches are beautiful. The tree will provide life for the innocent during the consummation of the age. [51]

Mandaean scrolls often include abstract illustrations of world trees that represent the living, interconnected nature of the cosmos. [52] In Mandaeism, the date palm (Mandaic: sindirka) symbolizes the cosmic tree and is often associated with the cosmic wellspring (Mandaic: aina). The date palm and wellspring are often mentioned together as heavenly symbols in Mandaean texts. The date palm takes on masculine symbolism, while the wellspring takes on feminine symbolism. [53]

Armenian mythology

Armenian professor Hrach Martirosyan argues for the presence, in Armenian mythology, of a serpentine creature named Andndayin ōj, that lives in the (abyssal) waters that circundate the World Tree. [54]

Georgian mythology

According to scholarship, Georgian mythology also attests a rivalry between mythical bird Paskunji, which lives in the underworld on the top of a tree, and a snake that menaces its nestlings. [55] [56] [57]

Hittite culture

A similar imagery is attested in Hittite literature: a snake encircles the base of a tree, an eagle perches atop it, and a bee occupies its middle, [58] [59] which Craig Melchert considers to be a version of the "world tree" or "tree of life" motif. [60]

Mesopotamian traditions

Sumerian culture

Professor Amar Annus states that, although the motif seems to originate much earlier, its first attestation in world culture occurred in Sumerian literature, with the tale of "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld". [2] According to this tale, goddess Innana transplants the huluppu tree to her garden in the City of Uruk, for she intends to use its wood to carve a throne. However, a snake "with no charm", a ghostly figure (Lilith or another character associated with darkness) and the legendary Anzû-bird make their residence on the tree, until Gilgamesh kills the serpent and the other residents escape. [2] [4]

Akkadian literature

In fragments of the story of Etana, there is a narrative sequence about a snake and an eagle that live on opposite sides of a poplar tree (şarbatu), the snake on its roots, the eagle on its foliage. At a certain point, both animals swear before deity Shamash and share their meat with each other, until the eagle's hatchlings are born and the eagle decides to eat the snake's young ones. In revenge, the snake alerts god Shamash, who agrees to let the snake punish the eagle for the perceived affront. Later, Shamash takes pity on the bird's condition and sets hero Etana to release it from its punishment. Later versions of the story associate the eagle with mythical bird Anzû and the snake with a serpentine being named Bašmu. [61] [62]

Iranian mythology

Two winged bulls are guarding a sacred tree, on a rhyton from Marlik, Iran, currently at the National Museum of Iran A rhyton from Marlik, Iran, 1000 BC.jpg
Two winged bulls are guarding a sacred tree, on a rhyton from Marlik, Iran, currently at the National Museum of Iran

A world tree is a common motif in Persian mythology, the legendary bird Simurgh (alternatively, Saēna bird; Sēnmurw and Senmurv) perches atop a tree in the center of the sea Vourukasa. This tree is described as having all-healing properties and many seeds. [63] In another account, the tree is the very same tree of the White Hōm (Haōma). [64] Gaokerena or white Haoma is a tree whose vivacity ensures continued life in the universe, [65] and grants immortality to "all who eat from it". In the Pahlavi Bundahishn, it is said that evil god Ahriman created a lizard to attack the tree. [10]

Bas tokhmak is another remedial tree; it retains all herbal seeds and destroys sorrow. [66]

Hinduism and Indian religions

Remnants are also evident in the Kalpavriksha ("wish-fulfilling tree") and the Ashvattha tree of the Indian religions. The Ashvattha tree ('keeper of horses') is described as a sacred fig and corresponds to "the most typical representation of the world tree in India", upon whose branches the celestial bodies rest. [4] [10] Likewise, the Kalpavriksha is also equated with a fig tree and said to possess wish-granting abilities. [67]

Indologist David Dean Shulman provided the description of a similar imagery that appears in South Indian temples: the sthalavṛkṣa tree. The tree is depicted alongside a water source (river, temple tank, sea). The tree may also appear rooted on Earth or reaching the realm of Patala (a netherworld where the Nāga dwell), or in an inverted position, rooted in the Heavens. Like other accounts, this tree may also function as an axis mundi. [68]

North Asian and Siberian cultures

The world tree is also represented in the mythologies and folklore of North Asia and Siberia. According to Mihály Hoppál, Hungarian scholar Vilmos Diószegi located some motifs related to the world tree in Siberian shamanism and other North Asian peoples. As per Diószegi's research, the "bird-peaked" tree holds the sun and the moon, and the underworld is "a land of snakes, lizards and frogs". [69]

In the mythology of the Samoyeds, the world tree connects different realities (underworld, this world, upper world) together. In their mythology the world tree is also the symbol of Mother Earth who is said to give the Samoyed shaman his drum and also help him travel from one world to another. According to scholar Aado Lintrop, the larch is "often regarded" by Siberian peoples as the World Tree. [4]

Scholar Aado Lintrop also noted the resemblance between an account of the World Tree from the Yakuts and a Moksha-Mordvinic folk song (described as a great birch). [4]

The imagery of the world tree, its roots burrowing underground, its branches reaching upward, the luminaries in its branches is also present in the mythology of Finno-Ugric peoples from Northern Asia, such as the Khanty and the Mansi. [70]

Mongolic and Turkic folk beliefs

The symbol of the world tree is also common in Tengrism, an ancient religion of Mongols and Turkic peoples. The world tree is sometimes a beech, [71] a birch, or a poplar in epic works. [72]

Scholarship points out the presence of the motif in Central Asian and North Eurasian epic tradition: a world tree named Bai-Terek in Altai and Kyrgyz epics; a "sacred tree with nine branches" in the Buryat epic. [73]

Turkic cultures

Bai-Terek

The Bai-Terek (also known as bayterek, beyterek, beğterek, begterek, begtereg), [74] found, for instance, in the Altai Maadai Kara epos, can be translated as "Golden Poplar". [75] Like the mythological description, each part of tree (top, trunk and root) corresponds to the three layers of reality: heavenly, earthly and underground. In one description, it is considered the axis mundi. It holds at the top "a nest of a double-headed eagle that watches over the different parts of the world" and, in the form of a snake, Erlik, deity of the underworld, tries to slither up the tree to steal an egg from the nest. [74] In another, the tree holds two gold cuckoos at the topmost branches and two golden eagles just below. At the roots there are two dogs that guard the passage between the underworld and the world of the living. [75]

Aal Luuk Mas

Among the Yakuts, the world tree (or sacred tree) is called Ál Lúk Mas (Aal Luuk Mas) and is attested in their Olonkho epic narratives. Furthermore, this sacred tree is described to "connect the three worlds (Upper, Middle and Lower)", the branches to the sky and the roots to the underworld. [73] Further studies show that this sacred tree also shows many alternate names and descriptions in different regional traditions. [73] According to scholarship, the prevalent animal at the top of the tree in the Olonkho is the eagle. [76]

Researcher Galina Popova emphasizes that the motif of the world tree offers a binary opposition between two different realms (the Upper Realm and the Underworld), and Aal Luuk Mas functions as a link between both. [77] A spirit or goddess of the earth, named Aan Alahchin Hotun, is also said to inhabit or live in the trunk of Aal Luuk Mas. [77]

Bashkir

According to scholarship, in the Bashkir epic Ural-batyr , deity Samrau is described as a celestial being married to female deities of the Sun and the Moon. He is also "The King of the Birds" and is opposed by the "dark forces" of the universe, which live in the underworld. A similarly named creature, the bird Samrigush, appears in Bashkir folktales living atop the tallest tree in the world and its enemy is a snake named Azhdakha. [78] [79] After the human hero kills the serpent Azhdakha, the grateful Samrigush agrees to carry him back to the world of light. [80]

Kazakh

Scholarship points to the existence of a bird named Samurik (Samruk) that, according to Kazakh myth, lives atop the World Tree Baiterek. Likewise, in Kazakh folktales, it is also the hero's carrier out of the underworld, after he defeats a dragon named Aydakhara or Aydarhana. [81] In the same vein, Kazakh literary critic and folklorist Seyt Kaskabasov  [ ru ] described that the Samruk bird travels between the three spheres of the universe, nests atop the "cosmic tree" (bәyterek) and helps the hero out of the underworld. [82]

Other representations

An early 20th-century report on Altaian shamanism by researcher Karunovskaia describes a shamanistic journey, information provided by one Kondratii Tanashev (or Merej Tanas). However, A. A. Znamenski believes this material is not universal to all Altaian peoples, but pertains to the specific worldview of Tanashev's Tangdy clan. Regardless, the material showed a belief in a tripartite division of the world in sky (heavenly sphere), middle world and underworld; in the central part of the world, a mountain (Ak toson altaj sip') is located. Upon this mountain there is "a navel of the earth and water ... which also serves as the root of the 'wonderful tree with golden branches and wide leaves' (Altyn byrly bai terek)". Like the iconic imagery, the tree branches out to reach the heavenly sphere. [83]

Mongolic cultures

Finnish folklorist Uno Holmberg reported a tale from the Kalmuck people about a dragon that lies in the sea, at the foot of a Zambu tree. In the Buryat poems, near the root of the tree a snake named Abyrga dwells. [84] He also reported a "Central Asian" narrative about the fight between the snake Abyrga and a bird named Garide - which he identified as a version of Indian Garuda. [84]

East Asia

Korea

The world tree is visible in the designs of the Crown of Silla, Silla being one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. This link is used to establish a connection between Siberian peoples and those of Korea.

China

In Chinese mythology, a manifestation of the world tree is the Fusang or Fumu tree. [85] In a Chinese cosmogonic myth, solar deity Xihe gives birth to ten suns. Each of the suns rests upon a tree named Fusang (possibly a mulberry tree). The ten suns alternate during the day, each carried by a crow (the "Crow of the Sun"): one sun stays on the top branch to wait its turn, while the other nine suns rest on the lower branches. [86]

Tanzania

An origin myth is recorded from the Wapangwa tribe of Tanzania, wherein the world is created through "a primordial tree and a termite mound". [87] As a continuation of the same tale, the animals wanted to eat the fruits of this Tree of Life, but humans intended to defend it. This led to a war between animals and humans. [88]

Kenya. In the agikuyu community, the "mūgumo" tree is held sacred and it is a taboo to even fetch firewood from it. In the past, the tree served as a altar to offer sacrifices as well as being a place of prayer. If a mùgumo tree falls, it is believed to be an end of an era for a "god"/dynasty and a ritual should be done by elders to cleanse the area and the community because it might be a bad omen.

In folk and fairy tales

ATU 301: The Three Stolen Princesses

The imagery of the World Tree appears in a specific tale type of the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, type ATU 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses", and former subtypes AaTh 301A, "Quest for a Vanished Princess" (or "Three Underground Kingdoms") and AaTh 301B, "The Strong Man and His Companions" ( Jean de l'Ours and Fehérlófia ). The hero journeys alone to the underworld (or a subterranean realm) to rescue three princesses. He leads them to a rope that will take them to the surface and, when the hero tries to climb up the rope, his companions cut it and the hero is stranded in the underworld. In his wanderings, he comes across a tree, on its top a nest of eggs from an eagle, a griffin or a mythical bird. The hero protects the nest from a snake enemy that slithers from the roots of the tree. [41] [89] [90]

Serbian scholarship recalls a Serbian mythical story about three brothers, named Ноћило, Поноћило и Зорило ("Noćilo, Ponoćilo and Zorilo") and their mission to rescue the king's daughters. Zorilo goes down the cave, rescues three princesses and with a whip changes their palaces into apples. When Zorilo is ready to go up, his brothers abandon him in the cave, but he escapes with the help of a bird. [91] Serbian scholar Pavle Sofric (sr), in his book about Serbian folkmyths about trees, noted that the tree of the tale, an ash tree (Serbian: јасен), showed a great parallel to the Nordic tree as not to be coincidental. [92]

While comparing Balkanic variants of the tale type ATU 301, researcher Milena Benovska-Sabkova noticed that the conflict between the snake and the eagle (bird) on the tree "was very close to the classical imagery of the World Tree". [93]

Other fairy tales

According to scholarship, Hungarian scholar János Berze Nágy also associated the imagery of the World Tree with fairy tales wherein a mysterious thief comes at night to steal the golden apples of the king's prized tree. [94] This incident occurs as an alternative opening to tale type ATU 301, in a group of tales formerly classified as AaTh 301A, [lower-alpha 2] and as the opening episode in most variants of tale type ATU 550, "Bird, Horse and Princess" (otherwise known as The Golden Bird ). [96]

Likewise, historical linguist Václav Blažek argued for parallels of certain motifs of these fairy tales (the night watch of the heroes, the golden apples, the avian thief) to Ossetian Nart sagas and the Greek myth of the Garden of the Hesperides. [97] The avian thief may also be a princess cursed into bird form, such as in Hungarian tale Prince Árgyilus (hu) and Fairy Ilona [94] and in Serbian tale The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples (both classified as ATU 400, "The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife"). [98] This second type of opening episode was identified by Romanian folklorist Marcu Beza as another introduction to swan maiden tales. [99]

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. Lithuanian scholar Libertas Klimka (lt) indicated that the oak was considered a sacred tree to pre-Christian Baltic religion, including being a tree associated to thunder god Perkunas. [34]
  2. The third revision of the Aarne-Thompson classification system, made in 2004 by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther, subsumed both subtypes AaTh 301A and AaTh 301B into the new type ATU 301. [95]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creation myth</span> Symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it

A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths – metaphorically, symbolically, historically, or literally. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths – that is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tree of life</span> Motif in art and culture

The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree. The concept of the tree of life may have originated in Central Asia, and was absorbed by other cultures, such as Scandinavian mythology and Altai shamanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yggdrasil</span> Immense tree in Norse cosmology

Yggdrasil is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds.

The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind and represent dual expression of good and evil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veles (god)</span> Slavic god of earth, waters and the underworld

Veles, also known as Volos, is a major god of earth, waters, livestock, and the underworld in Slavic paganism. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Odin, Loki and Hermes.

Lithuanian mythology is the mythology of Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-Europeans, ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. In pre-Christian Lithuania, mythology was a part of polytheistic religion; after Christianisation mythology survived mostly in folklore, customs and festive rituals. Lithuanian mythology is very close to the mythology of other Baltic nations – Prussians, Latvians, and is considered a part of Baltic mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnish paganism</span> Polytheistic religion in Finland, Estonia, and Karelia prior to Christianisation

Finnic paganism is the indigenous pagan religion in Finland, Karelia, Ingria and Estonia prior to Christianisation. It was a polytheistic religion, worshipping a number of different deities. The principal god was the god of thunder and the sky, Ukko; other important gods included Jumo (Jumala), Ahti, and Tapio. Jumala was a sky god; today, the word "Jumala" refers to all gods in general. Ahti was a god of the sea, waters and fish. Tapio was the god of forests and hunting.

Estonian mythology is a complex of myths belonging to the Estonian folk heritage and literary mythology. Information about the pre-Christian and medieval Estonian mythology is scattered in historical chronicles, travellers' accounts and in ecclesiastical registers. Systematic recordings of Estonian folklore started in the 19th century. Pre-Christian Estonian deities may have included a god known as Jumal or Taevataat in Estonian, corresponding to Jumala in Finnish, and Jumo in Mari.

Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used the relationships between different myths to trace the development of religions and cultures, to propose common origins for myths from different cultures, and to support various psychoanalytical theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trees in mythology</span> Significance of trees in religion and folklore

Trees are significant in many of the world's mythologies, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Human beings, observing the growth and death of trees, and the annual death and revival of their foliage, have often seen them as powerful symbols of growth, death and rebirth. Evergreen trees, which largely stay green throughout these cycles, are sometimes considered symbols of the eternal, immortality or fertility. The image of the Tree of life or world tree occurs in many mythologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkic mythology</span> Beliefs related to the nomadic existence of the Turkic peoples

Turkic mythology refers to myths and legends told by the Turkic people. It features Tengrist and Shamanist strata of belief along with many other social and cultural constructs related to the nomadic and warrior way of life of Turkic and Mongol peoples in ancient times. Turkic mythology shares numerous points in common with Mongol mythology. Turkic mythology has also been influenced by other local Asiatic and Eurasian mythologies. For example, in Tatar mythology elements of Finnic and Indo-European mythologies co-exist. Beings from Tatar mythology include Äbädä, Alara, Şüräle, Şekä, Pitsen, Tulpar, and Zilant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snakes in mythology</span> Serpent that only appears in myths and legends

Snakes are a common occurrence in myths for a multitude of cultures. The Hopi people of North America viewed snakes as symbols of healing, transformation, and fertility. Snakes in Mexican folk culture tell about the fear of the snake to the pregnant women where the snake attacks the umbilical cord. The Great Goddess often had snakes as her familiars—sometimes twining around her sacred staff, as in ancient Crete—and they were worshipped as guardians of her mysteries of birth and regeneration. Although not entirely a snake, the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl, in Mesoamerican culture, particularly Mayan and Aztec, held a multitude of roles as a deity. He was viewed as a twin entity which embodied that of god and man and equally man and serpent, yet was closely associated with fertility. In ancient Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl was the son of the fertility earth goddess, Cihuacoatl, and cloud serpent and hunting god, Maxicoat. His roles took the form of everything from bringer of morning winds and bright daylight for healthy crops, to a sea god capable of bringing on great floods. As shown in the images there are images of the sky serpent with its tail in its mouth, it is believed to be a reverence to the sun, for which Quetzalcoatl was also closely linked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican world tree</span> Arepa

World trees are a prevalent motif occurring in the mythical cosmologies, creation accounts, and iconographies of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. In the Mesoamerican context, world trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which also serve to represent the fourfold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi which connects the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial realm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Égig érő fa</span> Element of Hungarian Shamanism

The égig érő fa, also called életfa, világfa, or tetejetlen fa, is an element of Hungarian shamanism and native faith, and a typical element of Hungarian folk art and folk tales, and also a distinct folk tale type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungarian mythology</span> Mythology of the Hungarians

Hungarian mythology includes the myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales and gods of the Hungarians, also known as the Magyarok.

Elements of a Proto-Uralic religion can be recovered from reconstructions of the Proto-Uralic language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perun</span> Slavic supreme god of the sky and war

In Slavic mythology, Perun is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, firmament, horses and carts, and weapons. The supreme god in the Kievan Rus' during the 9th-10th centuries, Perun was first associated with weapons made of stone and later with those of metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythology of Indonesia</span>

The mythology of Indonesia is very diverse, the Indonesian people consisting of hundreds of ethnic groups, each with their own myths and legends that explain the origin of their people, the tales of their ancestors and the demons or deities in their belief systems. The tendency to syncretize by overlying older traditions with newer foreign ideas has occurred. For example, the older ancestral mythology might be merged with foreign mythology, such as Hindu, Islam, or Christian biblical mythology.

The Slavic creation myth is a cosmogonic myth in Slavic mythology that explains how the world was created, who created it, and what principles guide it. This myth, in its Christianized form, survived until the nineteenth and twentieth century in various parts of the Slavdom in chronicles or folklore. In the Slavic mythology there are three versions of this myth: the first version is the so-called earth-diver myth, which intertwines two main motifs: the dualistic motif – the cooperation of God and the Devil is required to create the world, and the oceanic motif – the pre-existence water, where the seed of the Earth comes from; the second version speaks about the origin of the universe and the world from the Cosmic Egg and the World Tree; the third one about creation from a dismemberment of a primordial being.

References

  1. Farnah : Indo-Iranian and Indo-European studies in honor of Sasha Lubotsky. Lucien van Beek, Alwin Kloekhorst, Guus Kroonen, Michaël Peyrot, Tijmen Pronk, Michile de Vaan. Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press. 2018. ISBN   978-0-9895142-4-8. OCLC   1104878206.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)[ page needed ]
  2. 1 2 3 Annus, Amar (2009). "Review Article. The Folk-Tales of Iraq and the Literary Traditions of Ancient Mesopotamia". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions. 9 (1): 87–99. doi:10.1163/156921209X449170.
  3. 1 2 Crews, Judith (2003). "Forest and tree symbolism in folklore". Unasylva (213): 37–43. OCLC   210755951.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Lintrop, Aado (2001). "The Great Oak and Brother-Sister". Folklore. 16: 35–58. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2001.16.oak2 .
  5. 1 2 3 Senkutė, Loreta. "Varuna "Rigvedoje" ir dievo įvaizdžio sąsajos su velniu baltų mitologijoje" [God Varuna o f the Rigveda as related to images in ancient Baltic mythology]. In: Rytai-Vakarai: Komparatyvistinés Studijos XII. pp. 366-367. ISBN   9789955868552.
  6. Usačiovaitė, Elvyra. "Gyvybės medžio simbolika Rytuose ir Vakaruose" [Symbolism of the Tree of Life in the East and the West; Life tree symbols in the East and West]. In: Kultūrologija [Culturology]. 2005, t. 12, p. 313. ISSN   1822-2242.
  7. 1 2 Straižys, Vytautas; Klimka, Libertas (February 1997). "The Cosmology of the Ancient Balts". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 28 (22): S57–S81. doi:10.1177/002182869702802207. S2CID   117470993.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Kuperjanov, Andres (2002). "Names in Estonian Folk Astronomy - from 'Bird's Way' to 'Milky Way'". Folklore. 22: 49–61. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2002.22.milkyway .
  9. 1 2 Annus, Amar & Sarv, Mari. "The Ball Game Motif in the Gilgamesh Tradition and International Folklore". In: Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact, Continuities, Parallels. Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium of the Melammu Project Held in Obergurgl, Austria, November 4–8, 2013. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag - Buch- und Medienhandel GmbH. 2015. pp. 289-290. ISBN   978-3-86835-128-6.
  10. 1 2 3 Norelius, Per-Johan (2016). "The Honey-Eating Birds and the Tree of Life: Notes on Ṛgveda 1.164.20-22". Acta Orientalia. 77: 3–70–3–70. doi: 10.5617/ao.5356 . S2CID   166166930.
  11. Paliga, Rodica (1994). "Le motif du passage. La sémiotique de l'impact culturel pré-indoeuropéen et indoeuropéen" (PDF). Dialogues d'histoire ancienne. 20 (2): 11–19. doi:10.3406/dha.1994.2172.
  12. Lechler, George (1937). "The Tree of Life in Indo-European and Islamic Cultures". Ars Islamica. 4: 369–419. JSTOR   25167048.
  13. Tolley, Clive (2013). "What is a 'World Tree', and Should We Expect to Find One Growing in Anglo-Saxon England?". Trees and Timber in the Anglo-Saxon World. pp. 177–185. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680795.003.0009. ISBN   978-0-19-968079-5.
  14. d'Huy, Julien (18 March 2016). "Première reconstruction statistique d'un rituel paléolithique : autour du motif du dragon". Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée (in French) (3): http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/archive/2016/03/18/julien.
  15. Hatt, Gudmund (1949). Asiatic influences in American folklore . København: I kommission hos ejnar Munksgaard, p. 37.
  16. 1 2 3 Fournet, Arnaud (2020). "Shamanism in Indo-European Mythologies" (PDF). Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies. 8 (1): 12–29.
  17. 1 2 Knutsen, Roald (2011). "Cultic Symbols". Tengu. pp. 43–50. doi:10.1163/9789004218024_007. ISBN   978-1-906876-22-7.
  18. Hultkrantz, Åke (1991). "The drum in Shamanism: some reflections". Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis. 14. doi: 10.30674/scripta.67194 .
  19. Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam (1996). "Flights of the Sacred: Symbolism and Theory in Siberian Shamanism". American Anthropologist. 98 (2): 305–318. doi:10.1525/aa.1996.98.2.02a00070. JSTOR   682889.
  20. Eastham, Anne (1998). "Magdalenians and Snowy Owls ; bones recovered at the grotte de Bourrouilla (Arancou, Pyrénées Atlantiques)/Les Magdaléniens et la chouette harfang : la Grotte de Bourrouilla, Arancou (Pyrénées Atlantiques)" (PDF). Paléo. 10 (1): 95–107. doi:10.3406/pal.1998.1131.
  21. Pearson, Kristen. Chasing the Shaman's Steed: The Horse in Myth from Central Asia to Scandinavia . Sino-Platonic Papers nr. 269. May, 2017.
  22. 1 2 Miller & Taube 1993, p. 186.
  23. Roys 1967: 100.
  24. 1 2 3 Knowlton, Timothy W.; Vail, Gabrielle (1 October 2010). "Hybrid Cosmologies in Mesoamerica: A Reevaluation of the Yax Cheel Cab , a Maya World Tree". Ethnohistory. 57 (4): 709–739. doi: 10.1215/00141801-2010-042 .
  25. Freidel, et al. (1993)[ full citation needed ]
  26. 1 2 Philpot, Mrs. J.H. (1897). The Sacred Tree; or the tree in religion and myth. London: MacMillan & Co.
  27. Philpot, Mrs. J. H. (1897). The Sacred Tree; or the tree in religion and myth . London: MacMillan & Co. pp. 93-94.
  28. Marmoz, Julien. "La Cosmogonie de Phérécyde de Syros". In: Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée n. 5 (2019-2020). pp. 5-41.
  29. "Hesperides". Britannica online. Greek mythology.
  30. Godwin, William. Lives of the Necromancers . London: F. J. Mason, 1876. p. 41.
  31. Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca 1.9.1. Translation by Sir James George Frazer.
  32. Valerius Flaccus. Argonautica . Translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Book V. Lines 228ff.
  33. Valerius Flaccus. Argonautica . Translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Book V. Lines 241 and 253ff.
  34. Klimka, Libertas. "Medžių mitologizavimas tradicinėje lietuvių kultūroje" [Mythicization of the tree in Lithuanian folk culture]. In: Acta humanitarica universitatis Saulensis [Acta humanit. univ. Saulensis (Online)]. 2011, t. 13, pp. 22-25. ISSN   1822-7309.
  35. Čepienė, Irena. "Kai kurie mitinės pasaulėkūros aspektai lietuvių tradicinėje kultūroje" [Certain aspects of mythical world building in Lithuanian traditional culture]. In: Geografija ir edukacija [Geography and education]. 2014, Nr. 2, p. 57. ISSN   2351-6453.
  36. 1 2 3 Běťáková, Marta Eva; Blažek, Václav. Encyklopedie baltské mytologie. Praha: Libri. 2012. p. 178. ISBN   978-80-7277-505-7.
  37. Kalygin, Victor (30 January 2003). "Some archaic elements of Celtic cosmology". Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie. 53 (1). doi:10.1515/ZCPH.2003.70. S2CID   162904613.
  38. Straižys and Klimka, chapter 2.
  39. Cosmology of the Ancient Balts - 3. The concept of the World-Tree (from the 'lithuanian.net' website. Accessed 2008-12-26.)
  40. Klimka, Libertas. "Baltiškasis Pasaulio modelis ir kalendorius" [Baltic Model of the World and Calendar]. In: LIETUVA iki MINDAUGO. 2003. p. 341. ISBN   9986-571-89-8.
  41. 1 2 Ķencis, Toms (20 September 2011). "The Latvian Mythological Space in Scholarly Time". Archaeologia Baltica. 15: 144–157. doi:10.15181/ab.v15i1.28.
  42. Šmitek, Zmago (5 May 2015). "The Image of the Real World and the World Beyond in the Slovene Folk TraditionPodoba sveta in onstranstva v slovenskem ljudskem izročilu". Studia mythologica Slavica. 2: 161. doi: 10.3986/sms.v2i0.1848 .
  43. Eckert, Rainer (January 1998). "On the Cult of the Snake in Ancient Baltic and Slavic Tradition (based on language material from the Latvian folksongs)". Zeitschrift für Slawistik. 43 (1). doi:10.1524/slaw.1998.43.1.94. S2CID   171032008.
  44. Hudec, Ivan. Mýty a báje starých Slovanů. [s.l.]: Slovart, 2004. S. 1994. ISBN   80-7145-111-8. (in Czech)
  45. Gerasimenko, I. A.; Dmutrieva, J. L. (15 December 2015). "The Image of the World Tree in the Aspect of Russian Linguistic Culture". Russian Language Studies (4): 16–22.
  46. Goshchytska, Tеtyana (21 June 2019). "The tree symbol in world mythologies and the mythology of the world tree (іllustrated by the example of the ukrainian Carpathians traditional culture)". The Ethnology Notebooks. 147 (3): 622–640. doi:10.15407/nz2019.03.622. S2CID   197854947.
  47. Szyjewski, Andrzej (2003). Religia Słowian. Krakow: Wydawnictwo WAM. pp. 36-37. ISBN   83-7318-205-5. (in Polish)
  48. Karpun, Mariia (30 November 2018). "Representations of the World Tree in traditional culture of Don Cossacks". Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski. 9 (2): 115–122. doi: 10.31648/pw.3088 . S2CID   216841139.
  49. Scholem, Gershom Gerhard (1990). Origins of the Kabbalah. ISBN   0691020477 . Retrieved 1 May 2014 via Google Books.
  50. "The Treasury of Souls for Tree of Souls". Scribd. The Mythology of Judaism. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  51. Marvin Meyer; Willis Barnstone (2009). "On the Origin of the World". The Gnostic Bible. Shambhala . Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  52. Nasoraia, Brikha H.S. (2021). The Mandaean gnostic religion: worship practice and deep thought. New Delhi: Sterling. ISBN   978-81-950824-1-4. OCLC   1272858968.
  53. Nasoraia, Brikha (2022). The Mandaean Rivers Scroll (Diwan Nahrawatha): an analysis. London: Routledge. ISBN   978-0-367-33544-1. OCLC   1295213206.
  54. Martirosyan, Hrach (2018). "Armenian Andndayin ōj and Vedic Áhi- Budhnyà- "Abyssal Serpent"". In: Farnah: Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Studies. pp. 191–197.
  55. "Religious Beliefs of the Caucasian Society of the Early Iron Age (According to Archaeological Evidence)". Gesellschaft und Kultur im alten Vorderasien. 1982. pp. 127–136. doi:10.1515/9783112320860-018. ISBN   9783112309674.
  56. Gogiashvili, Elene (2013). "About Georgian Fairytales". Bulletin de l'Académie Belge pour l'Étude des Langues Anciennes et Orientales: 159–171. doi: 10.14428/babelao.vol2.2013.19913 .
  57. Gogiashvili, Elene (2009). ფრინველისა და გველის ბრძოლის მითოლოგემა უძველეს გრაფიკულ გამოსახულებასა და ზეპირსიტყვიერებაში [The Myth about a Conflict Between a Bird and a Snake on the Old Graphics and in Folklore]. In: სჯანი [Sjani] nr. 10, pp. 146-156. (in Georgian)
  58. Ünal, Ahmet. "Parts of Trees in Hittite According to a Medical Incantation Text (KUB 43, 62)". In: Hittite and Other Anatolian and Near Eastern Studies in Honour of Sedat Alp [Sedat Alp Festschrift]. Heinrich Otten, Ekrem Akurgal, Hayri Ertem, Aygül Süel (eds.). Ankara: TÜRK TARlH KURUMU BASIMEVl, 1992. p. 496.
  59. Collins, B. J. (2002). "ANIMALS IN HITTITE LITERATURE". In: A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 244-245. doi : 10.1163/9789047400912_008
  60. Melchert, H. Craig. "Hittite antaka- “loins” and an Overlooked Myth about Fire". In: Hittite Studies in Honor of Harry A. Hoffner Jr. on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. Edited by Gary Beckman, Richard H. Beal and Gregory McMahon. University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2003. pp. 284-285. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781575065434-025
  61. Winitzer, Abraham (2013). "Etana in Eden: New Light on the Mesopotamian and Biblical Tales in Their Semitic Context". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 133: 444–445. doi:10.7817/JAMERORIESOCI.133.3.0441..
  62. Valk, Jonathan (2021). "The Eagle and the Snake, or Anzû and bašmu? Another Mythological Dimension in the Epic of Etana". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 140 (4): 889–900. doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.140.4.0889. S2CID   230537775..
  63. Rose, Jenny (2019). "Near Eastern and Old Iranian myths". In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics. doi : 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8150
  64. Schmidt, Hanns-Peter (2002). "Simorgh". In: Encyclopedia Iranica .
  65. Philpot, Mrs. J. H. (1897). The Sacred Tree; or the tree in religion and myth . London: MacMillan & Co. pp. 123-124.
  66. Taheri, Sadreddin (2013). "Plant of life in Ancient Iran, Mesopotamia, and Egypt". Honarhay-e Ziba Journal. Tehran. 18 (2): 15.
  67. Lechler, George (1937). "The Tree of Life in Indo-European and Islamic Cultures". Ars Islamica. 4: 369–419. JSTOR   25167048.
  68. Shulman, David (1 January 1979). "Murukan, the mango and Ekāmbareśvara-Śiva: Fragments of a Tamil creation myth?". Indo-Iranian Journal. 21 (1): 27–40. JSTOR   24653474. S2CID   189767945.
  69. M. Hoppál. “Shamanism and the Belief System of the Ancient Hungarians”. In: Ethnographica et folkloristica carpathica 11 (1999): 59.
  70. Sanjuán, Oscar Abenójar (2009). "El abedul de hojas doradas: representaciones y funciones del " Axis Mundi" en el folclore finougrio". Liburna (2): 13–24.
  71. "The Tree Of Life In Turkic Communities With Its Current Effects". ULUKAYIN. 2021-10-03. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  72. Lyailya, Kaliakbarova (6 May 2018). "Spatial Orientations of Nomads' Lifestyle and Culture". Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities. 10 (2). doi: 10.21659/rupkatha.v10n2.03 .
  73. 1 2 3 Pavlova, Olga Ksenofontovna (30 September 2018). "Mythological Image in Olonkho of the North-Eastern Yakut Tradition: Sacred Tree". Journal of History Culture and Art Research. 7 (3): 79. doi: 10.7596/taksad.v7i3.1720 . S2CID   135257248.
  74. 1 2 Dochu, Alina (December 2017). "Turkic etymological background of the English bird name terek ' Tringa cinereus '" (PDF). Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 70 (4): 479–483. doi:10.1556/062.2017.70.4.6. S2CID   134741505.
  75. 1 2 Zhernosenko, I. A.; Rogozina, I. V. "WORLDVIEW AND MENTALITY OF ALTAI'S INDIGENOUS INHABITANTS". In: Himalayan and Central Asian Studies; New Delhi Vol. 18, Ed. 3/4 (Jul-Dec 2014): 111.
  76. Satanar, Marianna T. (25 December 2020). "К семиотической интерпретации мифологического образа древа Аал Луук мас в эпосе олонхо". Oriental Studies. 13 (4): 1135–1154. doi: 10.22162/2619-0990-2020-50-4-1135-1154 . S2CID   241597729.
  77. 1 2 ПОПОВА, Г. С. (2019). "ДРЕВО МИРА ААЛ ЛУУК МАС В СОВРЕМЕННОЙ КУЛЬТУРЕ ЯКУТОВ САХА". doi:10.24411/2071-6427-2019-00039.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  78. Хисамитдинова, Ф.г. (2014). "Божества верхнего мира в мифологии башкир". Oriental Studies (4): 146–154.
  79. Батыршин, Ш.ф. (2019). "Образы мифических животных в русской, башкирской и китайской лингвокультурах". Мир науки, культуры, образования. 2 (75): 470–472.
  80. Равиловна, Хусаинова Гульнур (2012). "Отражение мифологических воззрений в башкирской волшебной сказке". Вестник Челябинского государственного университета. 32 (286): 126–129.
  81. Хисамитдинова, Ф.г. (2014). "Божества верхнего мира в мифологии башкир". Oriental Studies (4): 146–154.
  82. Kaskabasov, Seit (2018). "Iranian Folk Motifs And Religious Images In Kazakh Literature And Folklore". Astra Salvensis. VI (Sup. 1): 423–432.
  83. Znamenski, Andrei A. (2003). "Siberian Shamanism in Soviet Imagination". Shamanism in Siberia. pp. 131–278. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-0277-5_3. ISBN   978-90-481-6484-4.
  84. 1 2 Holmberg, Uno (1927). Finno-Ugric and Siberian. The Mythology of All Races Vol. 4. Boston: Marshall Jones Company. 1927. p. 357.
  85. Yang, Lihui; An, Deming. Handbook of Chinese Mythology. ABC-Clio. 2005. pp. 117-118, 262. ISBN   1-57607-807-8.
  86. Yang, Lihui; An, Deming. Handbook of Chinese Mythology. ABC-Clio. 2005. pp. 32, 66, 91, 95, 117-118, 212, 215-216, 231. ISBN   1-57607-807-8.
  87. Penprase, Bryan E. The Power of Stars . Springer, 2017. p. 146. ISBN   978-3-319-52597-6.
  88. Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia . Second Edition. Volume I: Parts I-II. ABC-Clio. 2010. p. 273. ISBN   978-1-59884-175-6.
  89. Radulović, Nemanja. "Arbor Mundi: Visual Formula and the Poetics of Genre". In: Epic Formula: a Balkan Perspective. Edited by Mirjana Detelić and Lidija Delić. Belgrade: Institute for Balkan Studies/Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. 2015. p. 67. ISBN   978-86-7179-091-8.
  90. Levin, Isidor (January 1966). "Etana. Die keilschriftlichen Belege einer Erzählung". Fabula. 8 (Jahresband): 1–63. doi:10.1515/fabl.1966.8.1.1. S2CID   161315794.
  91. Мeдан, Маја Ј. (2017). "'Од немила до недрага' Милана Дединца: есејизација лирске прозе или лиризација есеја". Есеј, есејисти и есејизација у српској књижевности ; Форме приповедања у српској књижевности. Научни састанак слависта у Вукове дане. Vol. 46/2. pp. 185–194. doi:10.18485/msc.2017.46.2.ch20. ISBN   978-86-6153-470-6.
  92. Vukicevic, Dragana. "БОГ КОЈИ ОДУСТАЈЕ (Илија Вукићевић Прича о селу Врачима и Сими Ступици и Радоје Домановић Краљевић Марко по други пут међу Србима)" [The Resigning God]. In: СРПСКИ ЈЕЗИК, КЊИЖЕВНОСТ, УМЕТНОСТ. Зборник радова са VI међународног научног скупа одржаног на Филолошко-уметничком факултету у Крагујевцу (28–29. X 2011). Књига II: БОГ. Крагујевац, 2012. p. 231.
  93. Benovska-Sabkova, Milena. ""Тримата братя и златната ябълка" — анализ на митологическата семантика в сравнителен балкански план ["The three brothers and the golden apple": Analysis of the mythological semantic in comparative Balkan aspect]. In: "Българска етнология" [Bulgarian Ethnology] nr. 1 (1995): 90-102.
  94. 1 2 Bárdos József. "Világ és más(ik) világok tündérmesékben" [Worlds and Other Worlds in Fairy Tales]. In: Gradus Vol. 2, No 1 (2015). p. 16. ISSN   2064-8014.
  95. Uther, Hans-Jörg. The types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Folklore Fellows Communications (FFC) n. 284. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia-Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004. p. 177.
  96. Tacha, Athena. Brancusi's Birds . New York University Press for the College Art Association of America. 1969. p. 8. ISBN   9780814703953.
  97. BLAŽEK, Václav. "The Role of "Apple" in the Indo-European Mythological Tradition and in Neighboring Traditions". In: Lisiecki, Marcin; Milne, Louise S.; Yanchevskaya, Nataliya. Power and Speech: Mythology of the Social and the Sacred. Toruń: EIKON, 2016. pp. 257-297. ISBN   978-83-64869-16-7.
  98. BLAŽEK, Václav. "The Role of "Apple" in the Indo-European Mythological Tradition and in Neighboring Traditions". In: Lisiecki, Marcin; Milne, Louise S.; Yanchevskaya, Nataliya. Power and Speech: Mythology of the Social and the Sacred. Toruń: EIKON, 2016. p. 184. ISBN   978-83-64869-16-7.
  99. Beza, M. (1925). "The Sacred Marriage in Roumanian Folklore". The Slavonic Review. 4 (11): 321–333. JSTOR   4201965.

Literature

Further reading