The Mythology and Folklore Database
A1A - Before the sun, a parrot shone.




2 Myths, Legends and Folktales
2 Unique Narratives for Motif A1A
2 Cultures & Traditions where A1A is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
1 Sub-Motifs of Motif A1A


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 Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths



Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.



Summary of Motif

Before the sun appeared, the world was lit by a large bird with bright colours (a parrot or toucan).

Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 1, Sun and Moon


A1 has 1 other sub-motifs


A1.  Another sun — less powerful or less favourable to humans — existed before the appearance of the current one.
A1a.  Before the sun appeared, the world was lit by a large bird with bright colours (a parrot or toucan).

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
A26100.00%The bird embodies the sun, daylight; it can be caught, released, killed.
B25100.00%Characters who climb trees or vines and then fall turn into wild pigs or other game animals.
B75D100.00%The sound of leaves or grass rustling in the wind has been heard since the time of creation.
F29A100.00%To kill a woman's lover, who has the appearance of a worm or snake and crawls into her vagina from under the ground, boiling water, resin or hot coals are poured on him.
J12C100.00%A girl meets her fiancé at a dance and then follows in his footsteps. See motif J12.
K8F100.00%The swallowed one discovers a living deer in the belly of the monster. See motif K8A.
B5699.70%The crocodile/caiman is left without a tongue after swallowing or losing the fire (which it previously possessed); something associated with heavenly fire (lightning, sunbeams, etc.) emerges from the crocodile's severed tongue.
F1999.59%After copulating with a frog, a man's penis is crippled (unless otherwise stated: it becomes long, see motif F18A).
M9A99.59%A character who eagerly sucks honey from a hollow and/or gets stuck in a hollow turns into a tree frog. See M9 motif.
L7899.50%In the images, the character has the features of a jaguar and a toad; the toad/frog turns into a jaguar; the toad/frog is the mother or wife of the jaguar.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 2 traditions: Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Sanema


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