Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
A25 — Getting used to light.
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
OverviewWhen coming out onto the earth (for the first time or after a global catastrophe) or witnessing the first sunrise, people should not look directly at the light.
Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J68 | 100.00% | Characters who have been chasing an animal for a long time see increasingly fresh droppings on the trail and finally catch up with their prey (usually the droppings correspond to how long they have been lying there); or the pursuers see areas where less time has passed since sowing. |
| L39A | 99.95% | A supernatural character emerges from the underworld and attacks a man who has climbed a tree. |
| L78 | 99.91% | In the images, the character has the features of a jaguar and a toad; the toad/frog turns into a jaguar; the toad/frog is the mother or wife of the jaguar. |
| B42D | 99.85% | In the cosmic hunting plot, the object of pursuit is a bear. See motif B42. |
| E9G | 99.85% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a vulture. |
| H38 | 99.85% | A supernatural character changes appearance and comes to the hero's children (less often to the hero himself). Unaware of the trick, they hand over the magical object they have obtained to its former owner, and the character disappears with it. |
| K11B | 99.85% | The bones of a huge bird are turned into reeds or bamboo for making arrows or sarbacanes. |
| M1A | 99.85% | The caiman transports one of the brothers or a group of brothers, who then turn into the Pleiades. It usually bites off the leg of the youngest. Cf. motif K13B. |
| F9B | 99.47% | A biting piranha in a woman's genitals. |
| J43 | 99.30% | To destroy his antagonists, the hero creates edible bait for them, usually a fruit tree on the other side of the river. |
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
8 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Batak (Toba, Dairi), Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Witoto, Ocaina, Kechua-speaking communities of Apurimac, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno departments; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Callawaya (Kechua with Pukina substratum), Chipaya, Mataco, Chorote, Toba (incl Pilagá)
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