Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E13A — Knowledge from the underwater world.
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
OverviewSacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world.
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 6, Origin and interpretation of culture elements, in particular related to agriculture, inadequate forms of subsistence and economic activity before the establishment of the present norms.
E13 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedE13. The shamanic tambourine is compared or associated with a lake.
E13a. Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world.
E13B. Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals received from the celestials.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J36 | 98.66% | The turtle drags the hero's parents under water. |
| J60 | 98.55% | A woman conceives twins from two different fathers. |
| D13C | 98.52% | Two companions or brothers live together. The older one has a wife, whom he hides. To discover her, the younger one, left alone in the house, makes her laugh. |
| I28A | 98.52% | Large animals that are hunted go underground and cause earthquakes. |
| C9A | 98.35% | During the flood or when crossing a river, those who drowned or were saved turn into aquatic or amphibious animals. |
| F44 | 98.04% | In the community of the first ancestors, women and men quarrel, leave, kill, maim each other, etc. |
| L9A | 98.00% | The character's leg is crippled (intentionally or accidentally) or originally pointed. He uses the pointed bone for hunting, fishing or killing people. |
| B36 | 97.84% | Birds, fish, and four-legged animals deliberately or accidentally smear themselves with colouring substances or divide parts of another's body among themselves, thereby acquiring their current appearance. |
| F42 | 97.76% | Feeling wronged, men leave their wives or sisters. |
| F43 | 97.11% | The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men. |
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
37 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 37 traditions: Sepik-Ramu stock: Abelam, Yatmul, Aibom, Ayom (incl Tembregak, Asai-river pygmies), Tangu, Porapora (Ambakich), Rao and other groups of Middle Ramu and Upper Keram River tribes; Kwanga, Watam, Kaian, Gamei, Awar; Kire (Lower Ramu), Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Bunak, Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Algonquin, unspecified Algonkians of the Midwest (probably Old Algonquin), Huron (incl Wyandot), Blackfoot, Kiowa Apache, Tillamook, Alabama, Koasati, Yana, Navajo, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Zuni, Diegueño: Ipai, Tipai, Kamia (Kumeai), Yaruro, Waiwai, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Wayapi, Emerillon, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Puinave, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Machiguenga, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Bakairi, Kamayura, Rikbaktsa, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Craho, Suya, Txukarramae, Shavante, Chamacoco (Ishir), Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Halkomelem (Snaymuk)
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