Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B29 — Eschatological festival.
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
OverviewPeople turn into animals, birds or stones, living beings acquire their current characteristics at a general meeting, festival, after a festival, after performing a ritual or after defeating a common enemy.
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M8A | 98.63% | Animals, and more often birds, find it difficult to break through a rock from the outside or inside, make a hole in the tree, in the body of an absorber creature, tear fetters, etc., to help a character or get out of the confined space by yourself. The list <b><i>includes</i></b> groups whose texts deal with the exit of the first ancestors to earth from a confined space. |
| F53 | 98.53% | An unattractive man marries, but hides his face. When he is seen, the marriage is dissolved. |
| K10 | 96.90% | A monstrous bird (bat) attacks people, heroes engage in battle with it. See motifs K10A – K10G. |
| F33 | 96.56% | A woman or group of women take a water animal or water monster as their lover. The husband(s), brother(s) or (adopted) children of the woman(s) kill or maim the lover and (in some cases) the woman(s). |
| C34 | 96.31% | The flood begins after people kill (harm, maim) some kind of creature (usually aquatic). |
| J44 | 96.01% | The hero lures the enemy onto a rickety bridge. The enemy falls into the water, into the abyss (see motif J46). See motif J52. |
| H20 | 95.68% | All the fish or (rarely) molluscs were concentrated in one place. A certain character allows them to escape or deliberately releases them into rivers or the sea. {In some cases, the theme of the spread of fish concentrated in a small container is difficult to separate from the theme of the spread of water. In any case, neither of these exist in Africa}. |
| J59 | 95.42% | To reach the sky, one must shoot an arrow that will pierce the vault of heaven. See motif J58; see motif J59A: a man flies after or on an arrow (without the motif of an arrow piercing the vault of heaven). |
| B28 | 94.68% | Travelling from one locality to another, the character successively transforms people into birds and animals, into stones, sanctuaries (or transforms monstrous animals into ordinary ones), establishes cultural norms, determines the biological characteristics of creatures, the appearance of the locality, etc. |
| K3 | 94.44% | The hero climbs a tree or rock to get bird eggs, chicks, fruit, honey, etc. He cannot climb down because another character makes the tree (rock) very tall or makes the tree trunk thick. See motif K1A. |
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
57 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 57 traditions: Melanesians of the islands of Massim District ( =Milke Bay Province) to the east of New Guinea: Dobu, Rossel, Fergusson, Goodenough, Murua (Woodlark), Trobrian Islands, d'Entrecasteau Islands, Ceram: Alune and Wemale (West Ceram), Patasiwa (Ceram), Honitetu (West Ceram Highlands); Nusawele, Hatuolu, Huaolu, Patasiwa; Ambon; Buru, Andamanese, Svans, Inland Tlingit, Ingalik (Der Hit’an), Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Tlingit, Haida, Micmac, Shawnee, Yuchi, Crow, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Klamath, Modoc, Yuki (Yuki proper, Coastal Yuki, Huchnob), Wappo, Pomo, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Sierra Miwok, Lake Miwok, Plains Miwok, Coastal Miwok, Achomavi, Yokuts, Tubatulabal, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Southern Paiute, Diegueño: Ipai, Tipai, Kamia (Kumeai), Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Yupa (Yukpa), Guajiro, Piaroa, Waiwai, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Waorani, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Wanana, Tucano proper, Pira-Tapuya, Arapaso, Yagua, Maue (Mawe), Tenetehara, Harákmbet (=Mashco), Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Siriono, Sherente, Botocudo, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Chorote, Ofaie, Northern and Southern Tehuelche, Lisu, Lolo (incl. Bai), Achang, Yi, Axi, Nasu, Jino, Taungyo
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