Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E33 — People from grains.
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
OverviewPeople arise from grains, seeds, dough.
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| G16 | 98.32% | Ants are the first to find cultivated plants that are unknown to others and concentrated in one place. |
| G4 | 98.21% | Cultivated plants found on or inside a mountain. |
| A47 | 97.64% | The sun is born or emerges from an egg. |
| B62 | 97.40% | Man believes that vultures live better than humans, changes his appearance to that of a vulture. The former vulture lives with the man's wife, and the man usually does not like his new life. |
| B2B | 97.32% | The earth feeds on the people buried in it. See motif B2A. |
| A22A | 97.32% | Two characters burn; one turns into the present sun, and the other into a less significant celestial object. See motif A22. |
| I8E | 97.23% | The sky or the earth is supported by four anthropomorphic male characters located at the four cardinal points. |
| K30A | 97.13% | The wife of the first ancestor flies away with the vultures (usually voluntarily, after she has already cheated on her husband), and the chief (Uito: her brother) brings her back. See motif K30. |
| G3 | 97.12% | Cultivated plants or fertile soil for their cultivation are hidden inside the rock. Birds or thunder gods pierce a hole in the rock. |
| A22B | 97.07% | The sun and its companion burn up. The companion burns in a less intense fire (is thrown into the ashes, etc.); therefore, the moon (or star) is cold. See motif A22. |
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
16 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 16 traditions: Yao, Makua, Burmese, Intha, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Manchu, Arikara, Navajo, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Tzotzil, Paya (Pech), Sumu, Misquito, Bribri, Cabecar, Terraba; Chiriqui (AD 800-1500) iconography, Boruca (Brunka), Guaymi, Bocota, Dorasque; XVI century data on Western Panama, Chayahuita , Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries)
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