Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B2B — The earth devours the dead.
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 earth feeds on the people buried in it. See motif B2A.
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.
B2 has 8 other sub-motifs
RelatedB2a. The earth is a female character (alone or alongside a male character) and is considered to be female or associated with women.
B2b. The earth feeds on the people buried in it. See motif B2A.
B2c. The earth as a whole, elements of the landscape or fertile soil arise from the human body and (or) the earth (islands) are born of a woman.
B2d. The sky (the Sun, Thunder, the Wind living in the sky) is considered male and marries the Earth, who is female; The sky is combined with the female Water; with the daughter of the Earth; the creator (master) of the sky and the creator (mistress) of the earth are husband and wife; rarely: the female Sky (or Sun) is combined with the male Earth.
B2e. The Earth or the world as a whole is a male character (alone or alongside a female character).
B2f. The character cannot bury the deceased, not knowing how to do it or not finding a place for burial.
B2f1. (While the earth does not yet exist or has not yet hardened), birds bury the dead in their bodies – usually in their beaks or heads, which explains the unpleasant smell or the origin of the crest, swelling on the beak, etc.
B2f2. The character carries the body of the deceased for a long time, unable to bury it or not knowing how to do so, but eventually buries the body in the ground.
B2g. The chameleon walked on the ground when it had not yet hardened.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A22A | 98.42% | Two characters burn; one turns into the present sun, and the other into a less significant celestial object. See motif A22. |
| B62 | 98.34% | Man believes that vultures live better than humans, changes his appearance to that of a vulture. The former vulture lives with the man's wife, and the man usually does not like his new life. |
| G3 | 98.27% | Cultivated plants or fertile soil for their cultivation are hidden inside the rock. Birds or thunder gods pierce a hole in the rock. |
| K30A | 98.11% | 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. |
| A47 | 98.08% | The sun is born or emerges from an egg. |
| A10 | 98.06% | The sun gets its sparkling eyes (eye) from an animal. |
| A11C | 98.06% | The Sun and Moon kill a monster whose eyes shine differently. At first, the Moon takes the brighter eye, but then swaps with the Sun. |
| B23 | 98.06% | The deity forbids the use of fire for cooking and punishes those who violate the prohibition. |
| B39 | 98.06% | An insect or character, which later turns into an insect, knows where food (cultivated plants) or water is located, but refuses to share this knowledge. To find the valuables (usually to force the insect to reveal its secret), the first ancestors pull on a rope tied around the character's waist (the origin of the bridge between the abdominal and thoracic sections of insects). |
| G12 | 98.06% | A huge tree bearing various fruits and/or containing water in its trunk grows out of a human body or is a transformed human being. |
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
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Ngbakka, Mbum (incl Mbai), Mundang, Fali, Tupuri, Maya (=Bali), Nyong, Aka, Baka (Badjue) and other Western (Bantu speaking) Pygmies, Igbo (Ibo); Isoko, Urhobo, Catalan, Karachays, Balkar, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Mayo, Yaqui, Sinaloa, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Popoloca; Tlapanec, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Tzotzil, Bribri, Cabecar, Terraba; Chiriqui (AD 800-1500) iconography, Guaymi, Bocota, Dorasque; XVI century data on Western Panama, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Kamayura
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