Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I5A — Thunder tapir.
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
OverviewThe tapir is associated with the upper world (thunder, sky, moon).
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
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.
I5 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedI5. Thunder (lightning, rain) has the appearance of a four-legged mammal - a pig, buffalo, camel, anteater, tapir, dog, cat, leopard, monkey, etc.
I5a. The tapir is associated with the upper world (thunder, sky, moon).
I5b. The flying jaguar causes storms, rain, and thunderstorms.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K13D | 100.00% | A group of boys reaches the sky, the last one's leg is cut off or torn off. |
| K19F | 100.00% | A star or many stars descend from the sky to work in the fields. See motif K19B. |
| M139 | 100.00% | The fox caught the birds and put them in a bag. Another character secretly replaced them with thorns. |
| B99 | 99.98% | A person or their head left on a tree turns into an insect nest. |
| L88 | 99.94% | A man kills a demon, but when he touches its remains some time later, it comes to life. |
| J11 | 99.94% | The son in his mother's womb asks her to pick flowers or fruit for him (usually when a woman picks flowers, she is bitten by an insect). See motif J9. |
| J15A | 99.89% | Setting off on a journey (usually in search of a fiancé, husband, or relatives), a woman finds herself in the lair or settlement of large dangerous predators - pumas or jaguars. See motif J15. |
| B28A | 99.89% | A character pinned to the ground by a rod, transported somewhere to the edge of the world and associated with an object that continues to influence people. |
| B32 | 99.89% | As a result of conflict with their husbands, women turn into fish. |
| J10 | 99.89% | A woman loses her way after being stung by a wasp (or bee, ant, snake). She slaps her stomach (either to kill the insect or to punish her unborn sons, because of whom she went to pick a flower and was stung; see motif J11). The offended sons fall silent, ceasing to show the way. See motif J9. |
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
9 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Tanana, Sanema, Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Tacana, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Cariri
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