Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G9A — The field turns into virgin soil.
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 field that was cultivated the day before turns back into virgin soil by morning.
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations.
G9 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedG9. The forest cut down during clearing is reborn by morning.
G9a. The field that was cultivated the day before turns back into virgin soil by morning.
G9B. A man clears a plot of land of vegetation, but by morning it has grown back. At night, a certain character orders the trees and grass to rise up, turning the cultivated field back into virgin soil. He explains that there will be a flood, that there is no point in working, and advises people to prepare a means of transportation.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| D1A3 | 100.00% | A man marries a woman who is fire. She is mistreated, or her husband does not like her, and the marriage breaks down. |
| C12B | 95.59% | All people or individual ethnic groups, lineages, families are considered descendants of dogs (with which a man mated). |
| A11B | 95.33% | The sun or moon has one eye (usually the second eye is knocked out or sucked out, but sometimes the reason is not explained; among the Munduruku, the sun of the rainy season has lost both eyes, while the sun of the dry season has retained both). See motif 11A. |
| G15 | 93.55% | In another world or in the past, products or materials used by humans look or looked like people. |
| L58 | 93.33% | A man refuses to give food to his closest relatives or spouse; as punishment, he or his food changes its nature. |
| I80 | 93.13% | A character who finds himself in the locus of a deity responsible for atmospheric phenomena violates certain prohibitions or instructions, thereby causing excessively strong thunderstorms, rain, snowfall or wind. |
| B80 | 92.32% | The process of creation includes measuring the dimensions of the earth or the world as a whole. |
| A23 | 90.95% | The first ancestors come together to choose who will become the sun, to raise the sun to the sky, to see the sun rise for the first time, and to name the sun correctly. See motif A22. |
| A11A | 90.92% | The visible sun or moon are their eyes; if the eyes of the luminaries were not damaged, it would be much brighter and hotter. |
| E33 | 90.77% | People arise from grains, seeds, dough. |
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
11 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Nyatutu, Kiniramba, Isanzu, Ganda, (Ba)Nyoro, Nyankole, Masaba (Gisu), Luia (=Luyia, Haya, Luhya, Bantu Kawirondo; incl. Vugusu, Maragoli), Bemba (Wemba, Babemba; incl Ambo, Lala, Lamba, Bisa), Holoholo, Kaonde, Zulu, Swazi, Tswana (Chwana), Suto (Soto; incl Pedi, Mbire), Hausa, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Namuci (Namuyi), Naxi; Pumi (Primi), Lisu, Lolo (incl. Bai), Achang, Yi, Axi, Nasu, Jino, Taungyo, Scythians, Scythe
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