Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G13A — People ate earth.
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
OverviewBefore the advent of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills), people ate earth, clay, and stones.
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 6, Origin and interpretation of culture elements, in particular related to agriculture, inadequate forms of subsistence and economic activity before the establishment of the present norms.
G13 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedG13. Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba – Ceiba L., balsa – Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood.
G13a. Before the advent of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills), people ate earth, clay, and stones.
G13b. Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate mushrooms. Creatures of a non-human nature feed on mushrooms. Mushrooms are imaginary, inferior food.
G13c. Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| E8 | 98.22% | The first humans or the wife of the first ancestor were made of wood. |
| F40A | 96.68% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| L3 | 95.99% | 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. |
| G13C | 95.56% | Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms. |
| M72 | 95.49% | The character puts his hand into the anus of a tapir or other large herbivore and is unable to pull it out. The animal rushes to run and drags a person with it for a long time. |
| M5 | 95.26% | 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. |
| B17 | 95.19% | Darkness is a special object that can be carried and transferred (usually brought from the original owner in a vessel or bag). |
| G28 | 94.84% | The tree contains a fish in its trunk. |
| F27 | 94.60% | 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). |
| E6 | 94.54% | 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. |
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
20 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Lega, Bangubangu, Society Islands: Tahiti, Borabora, Raiatea, Khmer, Wa (incl Kawa), Bulang, Chukchi, Iglulik, Yokuts, Cahuilla, Cupeño, Popoloca; Tlapanec, Makiritare (Yecuana), Yanomamo (Yanoama): Yanomam, Yanomami, Mai Huna (Coto, Orejon), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Chayahuita , Witoto, Ocaina, Ashaninca (Campa), Machiguenga, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Papua-New Guinea Northern Lowland Papuan groups (Trans New Guinea and unclassified): Komba, Gimi, Susure, Orokaiva, Bogadjim, Ngain, Sentani, Bargam, Imonda, Nankina, Yupta Valley, Urawa Valley, Warupu (Barupu), Pondoma (Anam), Matses (Mayoruna)
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