Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E6 — Because of a woman, the connection between worlds is broken.
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
OverviewWhen a woman of childbearing age (she is menstruating, miscarrying, pregnant, with a child, or simply fat) tries to pass from one world to another, the connection between the worlds is severed forever.
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.
E6 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedE6. When a woman of childbearing age (she is menstruating, miscarrying, pregnant, with a child, or simply fat) tries to pass from one world to another, the connection between the worlds is severed forever.
E6a. People walk across a (frozen) body of water to reach their current place of residence, while some remain on the other side or drown.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M5 | 98.47% | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. |
| F27 | 97.68% | It is dangerous for girls or women to approach water (water creatures drag them away or swallow them; a girl who approaches water dies; she becomes pregnant by a snake; through her fault, a flood or other disaster occurs; water spirits themselves come to a girl who has her first period). |
| F34 | 97.38% | A woman takes a large land animal as her lover. Her husband, brother or (adopted) children kill or maim the lover and (sometimes) the woman herself. Sometimes there is mention of a group of women and their husbands. (Unlike motif K102, "The Demon's Mistress," the lover is not dangerous to the hero and plays a passive role, and the woman, if she becomes hostile and dangerous, does so only after the lover's death. Unlike motif K76, the woman and her husband/lover of non-human nature are clearly evaluated negatively). |
| F40A | 97.31% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| A27 | 96.77% | The light and/or heat of the sun and/or moon is contained in their crowns, necklaces or clothing (made of feathers or animal teeth). |
| L3 | 96.69% | The demon takes on human form and comes to his wife (less often to another woman). Usually, the woman (alone or with a child) runs away and/or kills the monster, either by herself or with someone's help. |
| F34B | 96.26% | A girl, woman or group of women voluntarily take as their lover a penis that exists as a special creature, snake, moray eel, lizard, worm, crab, large aquatic animal or aquatic monster, or large terrestrial mammal. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or her offspring, or she herself loses her human nature. The woman's behaviour is condemned. |
| G13 | 96.05% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba – Ceiba L., balsa – Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
| H37 | 96.04% | A magical item that makes hunting or fishing easy and reliable falls into the hands of a character who is unable to control it or abuses it. |
| F12 | 95.94% | A husband kills his wife by inserting her lover's severed penis into her body. |
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
26 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 26 traditions: Turkana, Toposa, Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Southern Taiwan: Rukai, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa, Ketangalan, 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, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Cheyenne, Mandan, Kiowa, Gros Ventre, Rama, Guatuso, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Yaruro, Warao, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Mai Huna (Coto, Orejon), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Piro (Yine), Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Marubo, Yuracare, Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Paresi, Mataco
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