Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B16A — Sea of urine.
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 sea is formed from urine or blood.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
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.
B16 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedB16. The water of the sea, rivers, etc. comes from the fluid that flows from the body of a living being, or is contaminated by it; therefore, it is salty or opaque.
B16a. The sea is formed from urine or blood.
B16b. The sea is salty because a wolverine or a fox bathed in it or urinated in it.
B16c. The magic mill is ordered to grind salt, but is not given the command to stop. The mill sinks into the sea, usually grinding salt to this day.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M81C | 92.34% | A person goes to heaven or (rarely) to the lower world, where he meets blind people (one or two), usually makes them sighted, and returns to earth himself. |
| K27K | 88.74% | Test: to dive underwater for a long time or deeply. See motif K27. |
| K31 | 88.59% | The character makes a marine mammal or fish out of wood. It kills his enemies or drags them out to the open sea. |
| F15 | 88.45% | The character sticks his plant-like penis out of the ground (provoking a woman to sit on it). |
| J23C | 88.39% | People in general or older brothers (siblings, older sister) disappear one after another. A woman raises a boy from infancy or, left alone, miraculously conceives a son or finds a baby. He defeats the antagonists, usually reviving or freeing the missing ones. |
| M81D | 87.50% | A person meets (most often in the sky) one or two blind people and restores their sight. |
| E30A | 86.86% | A man without a wife or a woman without a husband uses a substitute spouse made of wood or other material until a real spouse appears. |
| L56 | 86.40% | A large animal or monster perishes from a fire kindled in its belly. See motif K8A. |
| K26 | 86.17% | Approaching an opening or making one, the character sees the world below (usually seeing the earth from the sky). See motif K25. |
| J57 | 85.72% | Conceived by the Sun, a woman gives birth to sons or a son; when they come of age, they visit their father. See motif J56. |
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
13 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Central Vanuatu: Espiritu Santo, Araki, Aore, Maewo, Malekula, Vao, Efate (Vate), Nguna, Mae, Ambrim, Pentecost, Oba (=Aoba, East Ambae, Lepers'), Omba, Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, England, British, Bretons, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Asiatic Eskimo (Sirenek, Naukan, Chaplino), Yurok, Ohlone (Costanoan), Luiseño, Juaneño, Navajo, Hopi, Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Kodiak
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