Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
D2 — Birth of the sun/fire.
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 gives birth to a son who is very hot.
Berezkin category: Fire and Laughter
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.
D2 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedD2. A woman gives birth to a son who is very hot.
D2a. A woman gives birth to a son who is the embodiment of fire or the sun and dies from burns.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I29 | 97.62% | A character climbs into an animal's burrow and finds himself in the underworld, or digs a deep hole and finds himself in a world inhabited by burrowing animals. |
| F24 | 95.74% | Women lose blood when they are bitten by fish, snakes, etc. |
| E17 | 94.94% | People get the idea of ornamentation of vessels, baskets, bodies, etc., or of a sign system after someone manages to see a pattern on the body of a zoomorphic or supernatural creature or make an imprint of it. |
| J2 | 94.81% | Husband or lover â tree (temporarily transformed into a human). |
| E5D | 93.68% | The first people to arrive on earth and settle within a limited space are threatened by a predator or monster. |
| I14A | 93.11% | People without anuses regurgitate what they have eaten through their mouths or other (marked) orifices. See motif I14. |
| E25 | 92.50% | People learn the art of weaving from a spider or from a person who later becomes a spider; the spider makes fabrics for humans. |
| H8 | 92.17% | Unable to bring themselves to touch something unclean, poisonous, dangerous or hot, people lost their immortality (var.: did not receive the blessings that came to Europeans). |
| E18 | 91.52% | People learn to make or decorate ceramics or baskets (usually learning to apply patterns) thanks to a water creature. |
| E26 | 90.93% | People, or only women, go underwater and turn into fish. Men catch them with fishing gear. Those who are caught become human (women) again. (Narratives about the transformation of only one caught fish into the hero's wife are not included; see motif F7). |
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
11 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Finns, Tanana, Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Ashaninca (Campa), Machiguenga, Tacana, Paresi, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Japan
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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