Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
D9 — Vultures and 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
OverviewThe raven or other large dark-coloured bird of prey is the owner, embodiment, spouse, provider or thief of fire, the sun or daylight.
Berezkin category: Fire and Laughter
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B37 | 93.66% | The character decorates various birds (less often fish) and distributes fat to animals. Since then, the corresponding species have possessed their current characteristics. |
| F80 | 92.97% | The first men and/or women have no genitals, then they acquire them. |
| B27A | 92.37% | The characters ponder what they should transform into and decide to become thunder and/or lightning. |
| K87 | 92.13% | A woman becomes the wife of an animal (rarely another non-human creature). The husband takes care of her, but the marriage ends with the murder of the husband, the woman, their offspring, the woman's relatives, the transformation of the woman herself into an animal, leading to hostility between humans and animals, etc. |
| D13H | 91.48% | Those who have entered the world of the dead should not laugh. |
| D8 | 90.78% | The first fire (or summer) is stolen from a large predator – a lion or leopard in Africa, a tiger in Asia, a bear in northern Asia and North America, and a jaguar in South America. |
| B18 | 90.67% | Daylight, warmth, sun or moon are stored in a vessel, under a vessel, under a cover, in a bag, etc. |
| B31 | 90.18% | A woman (usually after coming into conflict with a man or being left alone), or a man and a woman (spouses, lovers, brother and sister) turn into aquatic mammals. |
| J37 | 89.41% | Transforming into a powerful bird or creating one, the hero lifts his opponent into the air and carries him away. |
| F46 | 88.84% | At the beginning of time, two or more men (human-animals) had only one woman. |
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
65 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 65 traditions: Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Southeast Australia: Kamilaroi, Yualarai (Ualarai, Euahlayi), Milpulo (Mailpurgu), Wuradjeri (Wiradjurim, Wiradjeri, Wurundjeri, Yarra, Yarra Yarra), Wongaibon (Wonghibon), Noongahburrah (Narran, Narran River), Kurnai, and many others (see file 0.doc), Semang, Senoi, Koreans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Ainu, Oroch, Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Chukchi, Aleuts, Central Yupik, Chugach, Chipewyan, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Han, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Athna, Ingalik (Der Hit’an), Koyukon, Tanana, North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Heiltsuk (Bellabella), Oowekeeno, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Chilkotin, Yurok, Cherokee, Pomo, Hopi, Wayapi, Emerillon, Juruna, Xipaya, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Tenetehara, Piro (Yine), Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Parintintin; Villa Bella (tribal affiliation unknown), Bakairi, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Kamayura, Trumai, Kayabi, Caraja, Tapirape, Botocudo, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Mataco, Chorote, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa, Kodiak, China
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