Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B5B — Universal mother.
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
OverviewA woman (alone or with her companion) creates or gives birth not only to humans, but also to various creatures, objects, and parts of the universe.
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.
B5 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedB5a. At the beginning of time, female and male characters meet and engage in dialogue.
B5b. A woman (alone or with her companion) creates or gives birth not only to humans, but also to various creatures, objects, and parts of the universe.
B5c. At the beginning of time, there are an old woman and a young woman. One or both of them conceive in a miraculous way. A son or twins are born, who settle the world.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F40B | 93.23% | A single man finds himself in a village of women. Usually, he is forced to satisfy a woman against his will, or each woman demands to have sex with him. |
| B2D | 88.42% | 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. |
| H9A | 88.38% | Of two women, one of whom is associated with a stone and the other with a plant, only the plant woman leaves offspring, which is why people are what they are (mortal, capable of speech, etc.). Alternatively, children born to two women have opposite characteristics (skilled and unskilled, etc.). |
| B38 | 88.30% | The character decorates birds or animals, or they decorate each other. Some are dissatisfied with the result. |
| B77 | 87.80% | The sky was close to the ground, then rose. |
| M29O | 86.31% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| A41 | 85.63% | Two characters have children (brothers and sisters, mothers). One suggests killing these children (mothers), giving reasons in favour of such a decision. In fact, he hides his own children, while his interlocutor actually kills his children. One of the characters and/or the surviving child is the sun. |
| K27N3B | 85.59% | The character who gives the hero or heroine difficult tasks or subjects them to trials lives in the sky, but is not associated with the sun, moon, thunder or wind. See motif K27. |
| E5B | 84.31% | The first human (a group of brothers) or the first human couple emerge from underground (from a cave) or from a small object on the surface (a mound, a reed, a tree, a stone, a pumpkin). Cf. motif E5A: people from the underworld. |
| H44A | 84.26% | Two characters, one associated with the sky or water, and the other with the earth or the world of spirits and humans, divide the child they have given birth to or the people they have created. Usually, the sky (water, spirit) takes the imperishable part, and the earth (human) takes the perishable part. |
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
38 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 38 traditions: Mangbetu (Ngbetu), Mangbutu, Moru, Madi, Lugbara, Lendu (=Bale), Shone (Shona, =Mashona, =Karanga), Makoni (Shoni dialect), Remba (=Hungwe, Wahungwe); Zezuru, Rozwi, Ndau (Vandau), Mongo (Mongo-Nkundu), Nkundu, Ngelima, Ngombe, (Ba)Tetela), Pende, Wu(Kusu), (Ba)Mbala (incl Saie, Kwilu), Aka, Baka (Badjue) and other Western (Bantu speaking) Pygmies, Mandingo (Manden, incl San, Samo), Kagoro, Bambara (Bamana), Malinke, Kassonke, Diula, Society Islands: Tahiti, Borabora, Raiatea, Mangareva, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Yap, Ot Danum, Ngadju, Dusun, Murut, Kelabit, Tombonuwo, Bajau, Tidong, Central islands and Bikol: Vizaya, Mansaká, Bikol, Mangyan, Panayan, Sulod, Cebuano (Cebu), Capiz, Romblomanon, Manuyu, Mon, Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, SW Arunachal Pradesh: Sherdukpen, Tawang (Monpas), Aka (Hrusso), Miji, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Bengali, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Nganasans, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Kaska, Tlingit, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Plains Ojibwa, Yokuts, Luiseño, Juaneño, Navajo, Zuni, Paresi, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Japan
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