Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E5AA — People grew like grass.
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 first people grew out of the ground like trees, grass, and mushrooms.
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.
E5 has 6 other sub-motifs
RelatedE5. God makes man out of clay. He must wait until it dries, but tries to stand up earlier.
E5a. The first humans (or only the first men or first women) were not created by a demiurge, but emerged from under the ground (from a cave) or from a small object on its surface (a tree, stone, pumpkin, etc.). There are many emerging humans (or humans and animals). Cf. motif E5B: first ancestors from the underworld.
E5aa. The first people grew out of the ground like trees, grass, and mushrooms.
E5b. 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.
E5c. The first humans or deities-ancestors descend to earth from the sky.
E5d. The first people to arrive on earth and settle within a limited space are threatened by a predator or monster.
E5e. People or animals come out from under the ground or descend from the sky. The two-headed creature following them gets stuck in the opening or is not allowed to come out.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A32K | 94.64% | A character, discernible in the silhouette of the moon's spots, first headed for the sun and only then reached the moon, or the Sun and the Moon argued over who he should belong to. |
| M31 | 80.82% | A character who can't swim asks another to take him by water. He agrees, but throws the rider into the water. |
| I130 | 80.59% | One of the constellations – a hunting or fishing net, a seine, a trap, a snare. |
| L111 | 80.18% | The inhabitants of the sky or shamans catch or want to catch earthly people with a hook, net, noose, etc., dragging them up into the sky (somewhere above) like fishermen pull fish out of the water; the inhabitants of the earth fish with hooks for fish, which in their own world are people or domestic animals. |
| I55 | 79.55% | Stars – holes in the sky; or holes in the canopy, in the roof of a dwelling, appear to be stars. |
| M29N | 78.74% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| L17 | 78.33% | Mouth and eyes of an anthropomorphic creature on the chest, no head. |
| L19A | 77.96% | Creatures (any except ornithomorphs) with an even number (but not more than ten) of heads at one end of the body are described or depicted, except when such creatures are mentioned among others and the series ends with an odd number or a number greater than ten. |
| H42 | 77.83% | Having created human bodies or conceived creation, the creator or his representative leaves for a time. Another character, out of malice or incompetence, spoils or tries to spoil the results of the work, creating something that the creator would have done better. Most often, this leads to humans being mortal or susceptible to disease. See motif H40. |
| K8D | 77.30% | The character enters the body of an anthropomorphic creature, kills it from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. |
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
19 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 19 traditions: Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Toraja (Toradja), To Mori, Baree (=Eastern Toraja), Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Mari (Cheremis), Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Netsilik, West Greenland, Micmac, Warihio (Guarijío), Tarahumara, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna
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