Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
H12B — The dead feed on excrement.
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
OverviewIn the afterlife, the dead or demons feed on excrement.
Berezkin category: Paradise Lost
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
H12 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedH12. The living visit the afterlife to bring back the dead (except for texts about a shaman bringing back the soul of a sick person), or, without a specific goal, go there accompanied by or following in the footsteps of the recently deceased.
H12a. The wife dies, the husband comes for her, or he kills her himself for adultery; she turns into a monster and haunts him.
H12b. In the afterlife, the dead or demons feed on excrement.
H12c. The husband follows his dead wife into the afterlife, but cannot bring her back, or brings her back but loses her again.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L112 | 97.25% | A physically defective boy is born (tiny, with one head, half a body, etc.). After a series of adventures, he gains physical completeness. |
| L85B1 | 96.38% | After ascending to the sky (meeting God, returning from the sky to earth), a physically disabled young man (usually with only half a body) becomes whole. |
| A21A | 96.22% | The moon is an object that was accidentally released by its owners or stolen from them and ended up in the sky. |
| B118 | 96.22% | A character who was unable to reach the sky or returned from the sky to earth becomes an owl. |
| B74B | 96.22% | The owl is forced to part with the moon and now cries out when it sees the moon. Usually, the story tells how the marriage of the owl and the moon fell apart or did not take place. |
| E39A | 96.22% | An animal (snake, pig) conceives from a man's urine and gives birth to a human child (or twins). |
| F43C | 96.22% | The husbands of the first women, Amazons or single women are small animals - usually flying foxes. |
| K32F | 96.22% | A woman or girl raises a bird of prey chick, which brings her food and fire. This usually happens after an evil spirit leaves the girl or young woman in a tree or on an island. |
| K37D | 96.22% | The character recognises the presence of another by noticing traces of their teeth or nails on fruit or leaves. |
| L132 | 96.22% | When one member of a small (family) group, left alone, secretly eats food, this leads to serious conflict, often resulting in the murder of the guilty party. |
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
6 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Melanesians of Admiralty Islands (incl Manus); Seimat (Western Islands), Wallis (=Uvea, different from Melanesian Uvea), Futuna, Tikopia, Bellona, Rennell, partly Aneytium, Futuna (=Erronan, not to be mixed with Futuna in Western Polynesia), Vaeaka-Taumato, incl Matema, Nifeloli, Nukapu, Nupani, Pileni
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