Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
A22B — Hot fire and cold embers.
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 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.
Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 1, Sun and Moon.
A22 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedA22. One or two people fall into fire or boiling water and ascend to the sky, turning into the sun and/or the moon.
A22a. Two characters burn; one turns into the present sun, and the other into a less significant celestial object. See motif A22.
A22b. 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.
A22c. In order for the sun to rise, move to the right distance from the earth, or follow its heavenly path, a human being must be sacrificed.
A22d. The burned character turns into a constellation or a dark spot on the Milky Way.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K30A | 99.98% | 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. |
| G4 | 99.71% | Cultivated plants found on or inside a mountain. |
| A22A | 99.53% | Two characters burn; one turns into the present sun, and the other into a less significant celestial object. See motif A22. |
| G16 | 99.50% | Ants are the first to find cultivated plants that are unknown to others and concentrated in one place. |
| A13B | 99.47% | During an eclipse or at the first appearance of night, ants eclipse the sun. |
| A9 | 99.47% | The moon-woman does not allow her son or husband, the Sun, to destroy people. |
| L3A | 99.47% | Left alone, a woman carelessly calls for someone to help her with the housework; a demon comes and kills the woman or her child. |
| I27B | 99.15% | A dog carries a person across a river to another world. See motif I27. |
| M47 | 99.15% | When punishing a person or animal or restoring a dismembered body, a character intentionally or accidentally puts his head to his ass. |
| A10 | 98.99% | The sun gets its sparkling eyes (eye) from an animal. |
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
6 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Pame, Jonaz (Chichimeca-Jonaz), Mazahua, Otomi, Tepehua, Totonac, Chinantec, Mazatec, Mai Huna (Coto, Orejon), Yagua
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements Š Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
Š 2024â2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.