Thank you so much for sharing this information, dearest sister in Christ!
Indeed, the sheer universality of this cultural memory is the most striking, really amazing thing!
It's this sort of thing that makes it impossible for me to simply "diss" or dismiss our cultural forebears as ignorant, superstitious rubes. You simply cannot say that "all the people" (i.e., universal humanity and its experience) are wrong all the time.
Thanks so much for writing, dearest sister in Christ — and for your encouragements!