Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
I79A — Kirtimukha/Sisiutl.
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 creature has a head or bulge in the middle of its body and snake-like protrusions extending on both sides (from the head, cheeks, mouth) or across the head in profile symmetrically at both ends. In the art of the Nanai, Ulch, Orochi, Udegei, Nivkh, and Ainu peoples (less obviously, the Negidal and Uilto peoples), it is curvilinear. The Orochi, Udegei, and Nivkh peoples draw from a well, then thin out. The goat finds him asleep, the kids jump out, the goat puts a vmnament with central symmetry based on a similar image.
Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures
I79 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedI79. The monster is beheaded or deprived of its body. Its head is depicted on temples and vessels (narrative texts and/or iconography).
I79A. The creature has a head or bulge in the middle of its body and snake-like protrusions extending on both sides (from the head, cheeks, mouth) or across the head in profile symmetrically at both ends. In the art of the Nanai, Ulch, Orochi, Udegei, Nivkh, and Ainu peoples (less obviously, the Negidal and Uilto peoples), it is curvilinear. The Orochi, Udegei, and Nivkh peoples draw from a well, then thin out. The goat finds him asleep, the kids jump out, the goat puts a vmnament with central symmetry based on a similar image.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | 0.00% | Another sun â less powerful or less favourable to humans â existed before the appearance of the current one. |
| A10 | 0.00% | The sun gets its sparkling eyes (eye) from an animal. |
| A11A | 0.00% | The visible sun or moon are their eyes; if the eyes of the luminaries were not damaged, it would be much brighter and hotter. |
| A11B | 0.00% | 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. |
| A11C | 0.00% | The Sun and Moon kill a monster whose eyes shine differently. At first, the Moon takes the brighter eye, but then swaps with the Sun. |
| A12 | 0.00% | A creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, winter and summer, night and day, phases of the moon) or occasionally (eclipses, eschatological catastrophes) attack the luminaries or block their light. |
| A12A | 0.00% | During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12. |
| A12B | 0.00% | During an eclipse or at sunset (marked *), the luminaries are swallowed by a toad or frog. |
| A12C | 0.00% | Eclipses of the sun, moon or their setting (marked*) are caused by a snake, lizard, dragon, fish or crocodile; these creatures attack the luminaries now or attacked them at the beginning of time. See motif A12. |
| A12D | 0.00% | Birds attack the sun or moon during an eclipse (covering them with their wings) or (*) cover the sun during sunrise or sunset. See motif A12. |
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
30 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 30 traditions: Tiv, Bamum (Bamun), Mungaka (Mgaka, Bali), Beba, Anaguta, Bete (Mbete, Karang), Ekoi, Nyang, Vute (Wute), Jukun, Chamba, Bamileke, Kwotto, Kirri; Denya (Nyang), Ontong Java, Nukumanu, Takuu, Nukuria, Bali, Lombok, Khmer, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Western Ukrainians, Ainu, Udeghe, Oroch, Nanai, Olcha (Ulch), Nivkh, Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Comox, Pentlatch, Tillamook, Tepehua, Totonac, Zapotec, Chatino, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Moseten, Chimane, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Costa Rica, Greece, Vietnam, Halkomelem (Snaymuk)
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