The Mythology and Folklore Database
A36A - Sun and immortality.
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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
The sun is contrasted with humans as immortal to mortals; responsible for the mortal nature of humans.Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 1, Sun and Moon
A36 has 1 other sub-motifsA36. The moon (month) is contrasted with humans as immortal to mortals; it decides whether humans will be mortal; those who live on the moon are immortal. (Cf. Latvians, Dolgans). A36a. The sun is contrasted with humans as immortal to mortals; responsible for the mortal nature of humans. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of A36's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M109C | 95.54% | A character is invisibly tied by the tail and tries to break free (successfully or unsuccessfully). Cf. motif M109. |
| L110A | 95.50% | A character swallows a person or (usually) many people and animals, the hero kills the monster, and while cutting it open, accidentally wounds one of those who were swallowed. Usually, the wounded person is offended and when those who were swallowed come out, they harm or destroy the hero. |
| M102 | 95.18% | The character believes that another has temporarily separated his head or leg from himself, asks to do the same to him, and dies or is maimed. |
| L45 | 95.02% | A strong character traps a weak one and leaves someone to guard the prey. The guard fails to fulfil his duties (usually tricked by the weak one), and the weak one escapes. {African borrowings in America are difficult to distinguish from possible local cases} |
| H36A | 94.89% | The character distorts the message conveyed to him, deliberately lies, brings the wrong thing, loses what he is carrying, delays (and is overtaken by another messenger). As a result, people become mortal (they do not revive after death). |
| I41A | 94.67% | A rainbow rises from an anthill or termite mound. |
| F8 | 94.59% | In the beginning (.55.60.67.73.) women and men lived separately from each other, then came together. Cf. motif F45 (Amazons). |
| H1C | 94.56% | People cease to be reborn (or no longer come to the living) after the deceased is buried in the ground for the first time or someone tramples the earth on a fresh grave, preventing the deceased from rising from the grave. |
| M182 | 94.41% | A character threatens to hit another character and, as a result, gets stuck with all his limbs. Usually, it is a doll covered with something sticky, which the character mistakes for a living creature. |
| M119 | 94.38% | A character repeatedly shows another person the same object or creature; the other person believes that there are as many objects or creatures as the character has shown them. Usually, the character takes care of the other person's young, eats them or they die due to his negligence, or he is hired as a shepherd and eats the other person's livestock. When checked, he shows the parent (the owner of the herd) the same un-eaten young (or the same sheep), and the parent believes that all the young (animals) are safe. In ATU, this is plot 37, but two other plots are included as variants, and the sources are indicated for all three collectively. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Acoli (Acholi), Lur (Alur, Luri), Lango, Songe (Kisonge), Bena-Matembo, Luchasi (Ngangela), Chokwe (Konwe); Mbukushu, Enenga, Mpongwe, Kuta (Koto), Nkomi, Masango, Mindumu, Mbede, Mitsogo, Bawunga, Ndumu (Ndumbo), Duma, Teke, (B)wende, Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, SW Arunachal Pradesh: Sherdukpen, Tawang (Monpas), Aka (Hrusso), Miji, Lithuanians, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov