I68B. Night of Fulfilled Wishes. .27.-.36.

On a certain night of the year, any wish expressed or conceived will come true. Cf. motive M13.

Serbs, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Greeks, Romanians, Poles, Slovaks, Ukrainians (Transcarpathia), Abkhazians, Karachays, Ossetians, Kumyks, Terekemens, Avars, Mingrelians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Persians, Shugnans, Turkmens, Lithuanians, Komi, Udmurts, Mari, Chuvash, Kazan Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs (northern Kazakhstan), Khakass, Baikal Buryats, Khanty (northern?), central and western Yakuts.

Balkans. Serbs : Moshkov 1901 [the sky opens on Epiphany]: 65; Potanin 1899 [a man leaned out of a window on Christmas Eve so that when the sky opened he could ask God for a barrel-sized amount of gold; he accidentally asked for a head the size of a barrel; the head grew big and got stuck in the window]: 505; Janković 1951 [the sky opens on Epiphany, on Midsummer Day]: 25; Bulgarians : Agapkina 2002 [on a holiday (Christmas, Epiphany, Midsummer Day, less often before Maundy Thursday and Friday, Easter, Trinity, St. George's Day) the sky opens, a person can see God and angels, wishes made at that moment will come true]: 564; Daskalova-Perkovska et al. 1994, #775 [on the Annunciation an orphan began to look at the sky without blinking and wished that everything he touched would turn into gold or silver; his food, pets, and wife also turned into metal], 775* [on the Epiphany (Transfiguration) a man stuck his head out the window to ask for a cauldron of gold; having let it slip, he asked for his head like a cauldron; the head became big and got stuck in the window]: 274, 274-275; Nenov 2004 [on Easter (Ascension Day, on Spasovden) the sky opens, the Lord descends to earth and takes the souls of the dead]: 75; Stoynev 2006 [on Epiphany, Easter, Trinity, and other days the sky opens, paradise and God are visible; whatever you wish for at that moment will come true]: 206-207; Macedonians : Cenev 2004 [on Vojordane the sky opens; then wine flows from the springs instead of water, and any wish will come true; one man began to shout that he desired great glory, and the Lord heard that heads, gave him a big head; one woman saw the sky open when she stuck her head out the window, she wanted to ask for a barrel (shinik) of money, but said "shinik head", her head became like a barrel, she could not pull it out of the window]: 28-29; Douma 1893 [on the eve of August 6 (Transfiguration of the Lord) around midnight the sky opens; at this time the trees and all plants bend to the ground; only sinless people can observe this, any wish expressed will come true; (further about the three foolish wishes)]: 282-283; Greeks [on the eve of the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, a man leaned out the window and waited all night for the sky to open in order to express a wish; but he got it mixed up and instead of a large piece of gold he wished for a large head; they were able to pull him out of the window only with the help of a blacksmith]: Zochios sa, No. 14; Greeks [on the night of the Transfiguration of the Lord, a shepherd asked God for everything that he considers good; he received wealth, long life, health, children]: Zochios sa, No. 14; Montenegrins , Romanians [there is a belief that the sky opens up and wishes made at this time come true]: Chursin 1956: 157.

Central Europe. Ukrainians (Transcarpathia) [when the sky opens at night, a strong light comes from there, as if the road across the whole sky is illuminated; then a person can ask for the kingdom of heaven or wealth, etc.; but if he asks for both, he will receive nothing]: Bogatyrev 2007: 128; Poles , Slovaks [on a holiday (Christmas, Epiphany, Ivanov's Day, less often before Maundy Thursday and Friday, Easter, Trinity, St. George's Day) the sky opens, a person can see God and an angel, wishes made at that moment will come true]: Agapkina 2002: 564.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Abkhazians : Kogonia 2017 [if you see the sky open up, your wishes will come true; it happens that a person curses himself out of despair, “May I not live to see the dawn!” etc., and if this happens at the moment of revelation, his curse will come true]: 128; Chursin 1956 [sometimes the sky opens up; this is given to the lucky ones to see; you need to quickly say, Lari, uari, khazi, jhuari (“Dog, people, whey, the film of mamalyga remaining on the bottom and walls of the cauldron”), then any wish will come true; at this time a waterfall can freeze; one man asked for goats, there were so many of them that he exclaimed, God, kill me ; he died on the spot]: 156-157 (retold in Zukhba 1995: 51); Karachays : Dzhurtubaev 1991 [on the night of June 22, the "divine gates" open in the sky, the water in the rivers stops, the stones melt and "fall asleep" to all living things; if a person notices this moment and makes a wish, it will come true; var.: the gates open at any time of the year at night in front of a person with a pure soul; (approximately the same in Dzhurtubaev 2007: 453)]: 139; Karaketov 1995 [when the heavenly vaults open, then you need to wish for something, wishes will come true; the sky opens only to noble people]: 136; Ossetians [the sky sometimes opens; whoever notices it, a wish will come true; you need to express two good wishes and one bad one; David Begizov in his youth, being a church clerk, once saw how the sky suddenly blazed with different colors; a candle in the church lit up by itself and illuminated the entire village; three wishes came true: he acquired wealth, all his sons are alive, and his daughters died]: Chursin 1925a: 82; Kumyks [on the 9th, 10th, or 18th of Uraza the world is illuminated by a miraculous light; all waters dry up on this night; whoever sees this light can ask God to fulfill three wishes; one woman went to the mill with a small child; she saw the light, wished that the child's head would become as big as the mill; then, that it would become as big as millet; she did not have time to utter the third wish, the child remained with a small head]: Debirov 1884: 26; Terekemen [the Terekemen, like all Muslims, believed in gadir geje (lucky evening), laylat al-qadr (the night of destiny); a prayer addressed to God on this evening will be granted; such an evening was considered to be the 27th of Ramadan; at a certain hour of this evening the water in the river stops, then you can ask for anything; one miller saw this, asked God to make him big-headed (in the sense of authoritative); his head became huge; asked to make his head small, it became like a bird's; barely managed to ask to make the same as the head was]: Gadzhieva 1990: 195; Avars [there is a belief that the sky opens up and wishes made at this time come true]: Chursin 1956: 157; Megrels[sometimes it happens that the sky opens; if someone sees it and at that moment asks God for something, then everything will be heard and fulfilled]: Stepanov 1903, No. 191: 147-148; Georgians : Janashvili 1893, No. 9 (Ingiloys) [once a year water, earth, fire, air, every creature, angels, etc. fall asleep; at that time the doors of heaven open, the radiant God appears; whoever, looking at him, prays to him, will receive what he has conceived]: 150-151; Japaridze 1896 (Rachins) [sometimes the sky opens for a few seconds; whoever notices this will receive everything he wishes at that moment]: 149; Mamaladze 1893 (Guria) [sometimes the sky opens for a second, whoever notices and wishes for something will definitely have it come true]: 115; Mashurko 1894 [in September and October at 4 am the sky opens for 10 minutes; if you ask, your wish will come true; one old woman asked for a long life and lived until she became as small as a little finger]: 375; Stepanov 1894 [once every seven years the sky opens; whoever sees it will receive everything he wishes]: 79; Armenians (Nagorno-Karabakh, entries from the 1920s) [Only the righteous can see God when the sky opens; it does this on great holidays (for example, Ascension) or during a severe thunderstorm, when lightning swords sparkle behind the deafening peals of thunder (Sos village); If anyone is lucky enough to look into the sky at this time and express a wish, it will certainly come true]: Lisitsyan 1992: 168; Armenians [once a year on Ascension Day the door of Mher opens; M. makes a circle across the sky on a fiery horse; whoever sees it, their wish will come true]: Ghanalanyan 1979, No. 857: 274; Azerbaijanis [there is a belief that the sky opens up and wishes expressed at this time come true]: Chursin 1956: 157; Kurds [on the last Wednesday ("akhyr chershembe") before Novruz Bayram the water in the rivers and streams stops, all of nature falls asleep, the sky opens; whoever sees this phenomenon and manages to express a wish, it will come true]: Chursin 1925b: 16.

Caucasus – Asia Minor. Abkhazians : Kogonia 2017 [if you see the sky open up, your wishes will come true; it happens that a person curses himself out of despair, “May I not live to see the dawn!” etc., and if this happens at the moment of revelation, his curse will come true]: 128; Chursin 1956 [sometimes the sky opens up; this is given to the lucky ones to see; you need to quickly say, Lari, uari, khazi, jhuari (“Dog, people, whey, the film of mamalyga remaining on the bottom and walls of the cauldron”), then any wish will come true; at this time a waterfall can freeze; one man asked for goats, there were so many of them that he exclaimed, God, kill me ; he died on the spot]: 156-157 (retold in Zukhba 1995: 51); Kumyks [on the 9th, 10th, or 18th of Ramadan the world is illuminated by a miraculous light; all waters dry up on this night; whoever sees this light can ask God to fulfill three wishes; one woman went to the mill with a small child; she saw the light and wished for the child’s head to be as big as the mill; then, for it to be as big as millet; she did not have time to utter the third wish, and the child remained with a small head]: Debirov 1884: 26; Avars [a widow waited until the fifteenth night of Ramadan to make three wishes; 1) let my son’s head become big (become like a cauldron); 2) Oh, no, let it become small (become the size of a grain); 3) Let it be what it was]: Dirr 1920, no. 15: 85-86; Terekemen people [Terekemen people, like all Muslims, believed in gadir geje (lucky evening), leylat al-qadr (the night of destiny); a prayer addressed to God on this evening will be granted; such an evening was considered to be the 27th of Ramadan; at a certain hour of this evening the water in the river stops, then one can ask for anything; one miller saw this and asked God to make him big-headed (in the sense of authoritative); his head became enormous; he asked to make his head small, it became like a bird's; he barely managed to ask to make it the same as his head was]: Gadzhieva 1990: 195; Armenians [once a year two star spouses meet, everyone rejoices, one can ask for whatever one wishes; one person wanted to say, "Let my shovel become golden," but accidentally said "wooden"; and so it became]: Ghanalanyan 1979, No. 856: 274.

Iran – Central Asia. Persians [there is a belief that the sky opens up and wishes made at this time come true]: Chursin 1956: 157; Shugnans (west of a resident of the village of Tusen Makhbatshoev Maghribi, 80 years old) ["I saw the sky open with my own eyes when I was in the 7th or 8th grade. We didn't have a cauldron and we wanted to buy one instead of a ram. At night we went to Khorog. In the area of ​​today's Botanical Garden the sky suddenly seemed to open from east to west and it became light. Different colors appeared in the sky (green, red, yellow, etc.). This phenomenon lasted for about five minutes. They usually say: Whoever sees the sky open, all his wishes will come true"]: Yusufbekov 2009; Turkmens [the happiest night of the year is "kadir gidje" on the 27th of the month of Ramadan; On this night God accepts every request, which is why they do not go to bed, but spend time in prayer; on this night the prophet Khizir appears to pious people]: Tolstov 1931: 303.

Baltoscandia. Lithuanians [a person sees the sky open, does not think to ask for anything]: Kerbelyte 2001: 463; Lithuanians [when the gates of heaven open (it suddenly becomes light at night), one must think of what to ask God for: everything will come true]: Laurinkienė 2019: 309.

Volga - Perm. Komi-Zyryans [if you make a wish when the sky opens, it will come true; the Zyryans also believe that the opening of the sky foretells trouble]: Konakov 2003: 135; Udmurts : Vladykin 1994 [special doors and gates sometimes open in the sky; at this time all people's requests come true]: 72; Kelmakov 1978, No. 6 [if the sky lights up at night, this is the opening of the heavenly door; if you wish for something at this time, the wish will come true; a woman, instead of "make me happy," said "make me bearded," and she grew a beard; a man, instead of "give me bees," said "give me a beard," and his beard grew to his knees; a beggar asked to close all his holes (in his clothes), and the holes in his body were closed, and he died]: 119-120; Mari [when the gates of heaven open, people can be seen in the sky; you can ask God for anything you want; the woman didn’t think to ask for children, and remained childless]: Toydybekova 1997: 98; Chuvash : Egorov 1995 [from time to time, Tur ă opens the gates of heaven (kavak khuppi) and surveys the earth; then you can ask T. for anything you want; they usually ask for a halter, which turns out to be herds of cattle]: 121; Holmberg 1927 [if a star falls, a door opens in the sky, and a wish made at that time will come true]: 336; Bashkirs [ kük kabagy asylyu 'opening of the vault of heaven, dome'; kük kapy h y asylyu 'opening of the gates of heaven'; the dome of heaven opens for the chosen ones; wishes made at this time come true]: Khisamitdinova 2010: 159; Kazan Tatars : Vorobyov, Khisamutdinov 1967 [both the earth and the sky open from time to time; only worthy people can see the opening of the heavenly gates; people's requests and prayers are accepted only if the heavenly gates are open at this time]: 314; Mesarosh 2000 (1906-1908) [every year once (according to another version - three times a year) the firmament, the "heavenly gates", opens for a moment, and at this time whatever a person wishes for, Allah will fulfill his request; at night a girl went with a yoke to the river for water; as she walked, she thought to herself how good it would be if Allah took her to the moon; at that moment the "heavenly gates" opened, and Allah fulfilled her request; since then, a girl carrying water with a yoke can be seen on the moon]: 75-76.

Turkestan. Kazakhs (northern Kazakhstan: Syrymbet) [every person sees Kyzyr {Khizr} three times in his life, but does not recognize him; if one were to recognize him at this time and ask for happiness, he would make him happy for life; the night of "kadr", "kadyr kiche" is the 27th day of Ramadan; on this night Kyzyr appears to people]: Potanin 1972, No. 4: 57.

Southern Siberia – Mongolia. Khakass : Butanaev 1975 [when the Pleiades conjunct the Moon and the night sky suddenly lights up (for example, a meteor flares up), one must lie on one’s back, reach over one’s shoulder with one’s hands to get some earth, and say, Тöнис бай полым (I will be as rich as bai Tengiz); then, without lifting one’s hands from the ground, find the first pebble one comes across and hide it; some lived in anticipation of such a moment]: 234 (=2003: 46); Katanov 1907, No. 74 [the Moon, changing its phase, sometimes sheds a strong light for a moment; one must lie on one’s back, throw a lump of earth, a stone, or something else over one’s shoulder, and wish for wealth; if one keeps this stone and does not tell others, one will become rich]: 583.

Volga - Perm. Komi-Zyryans : Nalimov 1903 [sometimes Yen opens the sky, showing people his home; at this time the sky shines brightly (northern lights)]: 81; Konakov 2003 [if you make a wish while the sky is opening, it will come true; the same among the northern Russians ; the Zyryans also have a belief that the opening of the sky foretells trouble]: 135; Udmurts : Vladykin 1994 [special doors and gates sometimes open in the sky; at this time all people's requests are fulfilled]: 72; Kelmakov 1978, No. 6 [if the sky is lit up with light at night, this is the opening of the heavenly door; if you wish for something at this time, the wish will come true; a woman, instead of "make me happy," said "make me bearded," and a beard grew on her; the man said "give me a beard" instead of "give me bees"; his beard grew to his knees; the beggar asked to close all his holes (in his clothes), the holes in his body were closed, he died]: 119-120; Mari : Aktsorin 1991, No. 27 [when the sky opens, you can see the Goose and the Sickle fighting; the Sickle wins, cuts the Goose; when the sky opened, the informant in his youth saw trees and a horseman there], 28 [the gates opened in the sky; Yumo was sitting on a cloud, playing the gusli; since then people began to pray to him]: 60; Toydybekova 1997 [when the gates of heaven open, people are visible in the sky; you can ask God for whatever you want; the woman did not think to ask for children, she remained childless]: 98; Chuvash : Egorov 1995 [from time to time Tur ă opens the heavenly gates (kavak khuppi) and surveys the earth; then one can ask T. for anything; usually they ask for a halter, which turns out to be herds of cattle]: 121; Holmberg 1927 [if a star falls, a door opens in the sky, a wish made at this time will come true]: 336; Bashkirs [ kük kabagy asylyu 'opening of the vault of heaven, dome'; kük kapy h y asylyu 'opening of the heavenly gates'; the dome of heaven opens for the chosen ones; wishes made at this time come true]: Khisamitdinova 2010: 159; Kazan Tatars : Vorobyov, Khisamutdinov 1967 [both the earth and the sky open from time to time; only worthy people can see the opening of the heavenly gates; people's requests and prayers are accepted only if the heavenly gates are open at that time]: 314; Mesarosh 2000 (1906-1908) [every year once (according to another version - three times a year) the firmament, the "heavenly gates", opens for a moment, and at that time whatever a person wishes, Allah will fulfill his request; at night a girl went with a yoke to fetch water from the river; while she was walking, she thought to herself how good it would be if Allah took her to the moon; at that moment the "heavenly gates" opened, and Allah fulfilled her request; since then a girl carrying water with a yoke can be seen on the moon]: 75-76.

Southern Siberia - Mongolia. Baikal Buryats : Potanin 1883, No. 41 [when the "opening of heaven" occurs, the Alar Buryats think that certain verses should be recited, and heaven will give you what you wish]: 207; Khangalov 1958b [the visible heaven has a special door, which the Western Tengrins and Zayans, who are in heaven, occasionally open and look at the earth to see if any misfortune has happened on earth among people; if a misfortune happens on earth, i.e. illnesses and high mortality, then the Tengrins and Zayans take measures against it; if any of the earthly people sees that the heavenly door has opened, then he will be very happy; if this person asks the Tengrins for something, then his request will be fulfilled, because the Tengrins and Zayans do not refuse; When the heavenly door ( tengrin uden ) opens, it becomes unusually light on earth; a wonderful white light can be seen from the heavenly door; the whole earth shines with an unusual light, but this, according to the Buryats, does not last long]: 419-420 (note 1); 1960 (balaganskie) [Occasionally the tengrins open the door of heaven; if a person sees this and makes a wish, it will come true; if the door opens from the south or west, it is good, if from the northeast, it is bad]: 13.

Western Siberia. Khanty (conditionally – northern; original source not available) [God will fulfill all wishes when the door of heaven opens]: Karjalainen 1908, Jugralaisten uskonto, p. 303 (cited in Holmberg 1927: 336).

Eastern Siberia. Western (Vilyuy) Yakuts [there was a widespread belief about the “opening of the sky,” when suddenly in the middle of the night it becomes blindingly light; during such a phenomenon they prayed and asked the sky or God for everything they wanted, including children: “Endow us with a golden knife, endow us with golden scissors”; the knife means a boy, and the scissors—a girl]: Popov 1949: 261 (= Ergis 1974: 136); Central Yakuts [“The Yakuts have a belief about the opening of the sky. They say: “paradise has opened.” The opening itself lasts no more than a minute. During this time they pray, bow and ask God for everything they want, and everything is given according to desire. Obviously, the concept of an opening paradise was borrowed from the Russians, but the very idea of ​​the ability of the sky to open is based on more ancient ideas. The Milky Way is hallaan siigya , i.e. heavenly seam"]: Pekarsky, Popov 1928: 3-4.