Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I19 — They feed on the smell of food.
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
OverviewAnthropomorphic creatures satisfy their hunger with the vapours of food being prepared. See motifs I14 (people without anuses), I15 (people without mouths).
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I17 | 92.43% | Creatures without mouths, anuses, or genitals, unable to give birth, live underground, in the sky, across the sea, or in certain areas. (Traditions describing women unable to give birth are marked with an asterisk*). |
| C12B | 91.47% | All people or individual ethnic groups, lineages, families are considered descendants of dogs (with which a man mated). |
| A11A | 91.27% | The visible sun or moon are their eyes; if the eyes of the luminaries were not damaged, it would be much brighter and hotter. |
| H34B | 90.91% | Somewhere there is or was a river that flowed or, according to the plan, was supposed to flow in two directions at once. |
| A23 | 90.71% | 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. |
| I18 | 90.13% | Visiting the world of people without an anus or mouth (the underworld, if not otherwise), the hero or heroine enters or attempts to enter into sexual relations with the local inhabitants. See motif I14. |
| I7A | 90.09% | Lightning is associated with a snake. |
| A11B | 90.03% | 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 | 89.99% | In another world or in the past, products or materials used by humans look or looked like people. |
| A22C | 89.19% | In order for the sun to rise, move to the right distance from the earth, or follow its heavenly path, a human being must be sacrificed. |
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
56 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 56 traditions: Saibai, Dauan, Boigu, Badu, Waraber, Wet, Warei, Dauar, Badu, Moa, Trans-New Guinea and unclassified Papuan groups of Irian Jaya: Mejprat, Arandai-Bintuni, Inanwatan-Berau, Papua of Gelvink (Cenderawasih) Bay, Kamoró, Marind Anim, Sawi, Mafore; Korowai; Kwerba; Momina, Eipo, Yale, Awyu, Minahasa (incl. Tondano, Tentemboan), Bantik, 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, Northern Taiwan: Atayal (Tayal; Taruko (Toda, Taokas, Torok, Taroko), Pazeh, Sedeq (Sediq, Seedeq, Sazek), Saisiyat (Saixia), Ami, Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), Northern Naga: Konyak, Lungshang, Wancho, Nokte, Moclum, Lunshan, Chang, Maring, Naga of Myanmar, Basques, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Khakas, Nenets, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Central Yupik, Koyukon, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Copper, Menominee, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Mandan, Carrier, Tillamook, Chumash, Yokuts, Mono (Monache), Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Ute, Zuni, Lipan, Warihio (Guarijío), Tarahumara, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Tepehua, Totonac, Huastec (Teenek), Gulf Nahuatl, Zapotec, Chatino, Tzotzil, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Paya (Pech), Sumu, Misquito, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Sibundoy: Kamsa, Ingano (Inga), Colorado (Tsachila), Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Kofan, Ticuna (Tucuna), Tacana, Northern and Southern Tehuelche, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Guinea
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