Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
A18 — The Sun Boat.
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 sun and/or moon make their daily and/or nightly (underground, in the land beyond the horizon, behind the mountain) journey in a boat.
Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 1, Sun and Moon.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A24A | 97.90% | At the moment of the first day or the first night, people transform into supernatural characters. |
| E22 | 97.30% | 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. |
| F6 | 95.73% | (The first) woman does not have a vagina at first. Usually, it is made for her by a bird, animal, fish, etc. |
| K13B | 95.19% | 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. |
| F37 | 95.15% | To summon her lover, the character taps on a calabash placed on the water. |
| B66 | 94.99% | 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 | 94.99% | A monstrous jaguar (puma) is locked in a cave or tree trunk. |
| C34A | 94.99% | 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 | 94.99% | 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 | 94.99% | The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives. |
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
33 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 33 traditions: Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Bari (incl Fajulu), Kakwa, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Yana, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Paya (Pech), Sumu, Misquito, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Bari, Tunebo, Guajiro, Sicuani, Yaruro, Makiritare (Yecuana), Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Wayana, Aparai, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Kofan, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Ticuna (Tucuna), Kanamari, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Russian Federation
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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