Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
A24A — First day or night: transformation into spirits.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewAt the moment of the first day or the first night, people transform into supernatural characters.
Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
A24 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedA24. The first ancestors live in twilight. When they first find themselves in the rays of the sun, they (spontaneously or by someone's will) perish, turning into animals, spirits, or stones.
A24a. At the moment of the first day or the first night, people transform into supernatural characters.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| E22 | 97.98% | Once inside a certain creature, the swallowed character learns rituals, songs, ornamental motifs, obtains drugs or poison, and, once outside again, passes this knowledge on to people. |
| A18 | 97.90% | The sun and/or moon make their daily and/or nightly (underground, in the land beyond the horizon, behind the mountain) journey in a boat. |
| H26 | 94.75% | A vessel containing stinging insects or reptiles should be thrown into a river or the sea, or buried in a remote place. See motif H24B. |
| F6 | 91.89% | (The first) woman does not have a vagina at first. Usually, it is made for her by a bird, animal, fish, etc. |
| B66 | 91.29% | Characters climb to the sky using a rope or chain of arrows; when it falls to the ground, it turns into forest vines. See motif J47. |
| C15 | 91.29% | A monstrous jaguar (puma) is locked in a cave or tree trunk. |
| C34A | 91.29% | A supernatural character goes with people to catch fish or lives on the sand by the river; he is buried in the sand or thrown into the river, into a swamp, or otherwise persecuted. Usually, he himself or his father sends a flood. |
| H32B | 91.29% | A girl and/or boy, who are the children of a deity, come to live with humans, leading to an abundance of food/resources. Due to the hurt they have caused, the children return to their own world, and human life becomes difficult or meagre. |
| L1D | 91.29% | The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives. |
| K13B | 91.02% | A man crosses a body of water on the back of a caiman. The caiman bites off his leg. The cripple undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a constellation or an animal. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
8 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Western Ukrainians, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Huastec (Teenek), Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Matses (Mayoruna), Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians
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