Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
H26 — Mosquitoes had to be drowned.
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
OverviewA vessel containing stinging insects or reptiles should be thrown into a river or the sea, or buried in a remote place. See motif H24B.
Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A24A | 94.75% | At the moment of the first day or the first night, people transform into supernatural characters. |
| I77 | 92.99% | A powerful character associated with thunderstorms and rain, lame. |
| E22 | 92.83% | 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. |
| H27 | 91.73% | Before spreading throughout the world, stinging or blood-sucking insects or reptiles, diseases or evil spirits were kept in a vessel, bag or other small container. See motif H24. |
| A8B | 91.29% | Setting beyond the horizon, the sun shines on the anthropomorphic inhabitants of the underworld – the dead, dwarves, etc. |
| I20C2 | 89.00% | The inhabitants of the land on the horizon (where the sky meets the earth) are dwarves. |
| A18 | 88.37% | 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. |
| K15A | 86.64% | The hero secretly replaces the weapon or magical tool of a powerful character with a worthless fake. Traditions in which the replaced weapon belongs to Grom are highlighted in bold. |
| K17 | 86.23% | A male character in the form of a winged creature approaches a girl and either magically or unnoticed by her impregnates her. See motif K16: taking the form of an animal or bird, he enters the girl's house. |
| J24 | 85.46% | The hero, ground into powder, is reborn. |
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
32 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 32 traditions: Poles, Czech, Czechs, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Armenians, Huichol, Tepecano, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Mam, Ixil, Aguatec, Avakatec, Tepehua, Totonac, Chontal, Mixtec, Trique, Cuicatec; Amuzgo, Tzotzil, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Lacandon, Kekchi; Mopan, Paya (Pech), Sumu, Misquito, Yaruro, Colorado (Tsachila), Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Kofan, Northern Peru: Sierra (Kechua-speaking communities, Cajamarca, Ancash, Huanuco and San Martin departments; Chavin pre-Columbian iconography; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Kayabi, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation
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