Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

D2A — Mother dies giving birth to fire or the sun.

13 Myths, legends and folktales
13 Unique narratives for motif D2A
5 Cultures & traditions where D2A is told
1 Sub-motifs of motif D2A
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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

Overview

A woman gives birth to a son who is the embodiment of fire or the sun and dies from burns.

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

Related

D2.  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.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of D2’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny
MotifSimilarityMotif summary
F4798.21%Pieces of a creature cut into many parts or a lump of living flesh are scattered or dispersed. After that, people emerge from them. Cf. motifs E38A and K98.
E1796.73%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.
E38C96.48%The first humans were mute and began to speak after being struck by something, made to laugh, etc.
F20A90.58%At first, people mated as dogs do now, but then it became as it is now.
H36G89.69%God sends a messenger to the people to tell them to eat infrequently (once a day, once every three days, etc.). The messenger says that one should eat often – at least two or three times a day.
F18D89.00%Female genitals were enormous in size.
H1E88.31%A certain character is the first to enter the world of the dead, after which all people follow the same path; he paves the way to the world of the dead; the first to die becomes the master or guardian of the afterlife.
H24G88.07%A woman returned from the other world or obtained there disappears when a man opens the vessel in which she is kept prematurely.
D287.83%A woman gives birth to a son who is very hot.
G8D86.29%A tree (pillar, mountain) is cut down (gnawed, ground down) or prevented from being cut down in order to save the world (or the gods, the king, etc.) from danger.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

5 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 5 traditions: Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Ashaninca (Campa), Machiguenga, Japan

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