Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
F45B — Conception by the sun.
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 conceived by (the rays or light of) the sun.
Berezkin category: Gender and sex
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.
F45 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedF45. There are or were settlements where only women lived or live (cf. motifs F8, F45C).
F45a. A woman or female animal conceives by deliberately exposing her genitals to the wind.
F45a1. A woman, against her will, conceives from the wind.
F45b. A woman gives birth to a son conceived by (the rays or light of) the sun.
F45C. There were men who lived separately from women. See also motif F8.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J57 | 98.69% | Conceived by the Sun, a woman gives birth to sons or a son; when they come of age, they visit their father. See motif J56. |
| F56 | 98.23% | Upon seeing the vagina of his mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, niece, or mother-in-law, a man or boy thinks about incest or commits it. |
| J22A | 98.07% | Two men or a brother and sister emerge from a single body or embryo cut in half, or the second emerges from a part of the body or from the secretions of the first. Cf. motif M37. |
| F64A | 97.94% | Leaving or pretending to be dying, the character gives instructions to a relative regarding what he or she should do to get married, indicating a partner with certain characteristics, or the character indicates the place of a future meeting with this partner; or (Philippines) describes a person who should be accepted as a guest; comes himself under the guise of the person mentioned. See motif F64. |
| A32B | 97.69% | The figure or imprint of a toad or frog is visible on the lunar disc; the moon is associated with this animal. |
| L40A | 97.22% | An unattractive woman sees the reflection of a young man sitting in a tree in the water and thinks that she has become beautiful. |
| J52 | 97.11% | A character (usually zoomorphic and female) treacherously kills another. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children. |
| J53B | 96.98% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her, brings her meat home and starts cooking it. The children of the deceased notice their mother's breasts (in California – eyes or liver), or the mother's breasts themselves turn to her children. |
| K18B | 96.58% | Men or women approach the little boy one after another or take him in their arms. The person who makes the boy stop crying is recognised as his parent. See motif K18. |
| K27N3A | 96.55% | The character who gives the hero difficult tasks or subjects him to trials is associated with the sun, moon, thunder or wind (cloud, downpour). See motif K27. |
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: Tonga, Samoa, Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Tuvalu (Ellice), Koreans, Portuguese, Portugal, Sicily, Sicilians, Mongols (Khalkha), Winnebago, Santee, Kiowa Apache, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Navajo, Jicarilla, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Zuni, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Eastern Keres (Cochiti, Sia, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Paguate, Seama), Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Guajiro, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Tonga (Tsonga; incl, Soli, Sala, Lenje), Tokelau, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)
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