Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

A1 — The ancient sun.

85 Myths, legends and folktales

85 Unique narratives for motif A1

53 Cultures & traditions where A1 is told

1 Sub-motifs of motif A1

Please log on to view the narratives.

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

Overview

Another sun — less powerful or less favourable to humans — existed before the appearance of the current one.

Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 1, Sun and Moon.

A1 has 1 other sub-motifs

A1. Another sun — less powerful or less favourable to humans — existed before the appearance of the current one.
A1a. Before the sun appeared, the world was lit by a large bird with bright colours (a parrot or toucan).

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of A1’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
K16	93.59%	Taking the form of a bird, bat, insect, small animal, or fish, the man enters the young woman's home (her father's house).
J50	91.71%	The father or mother of twin heroes dies or is killed. An attempt to revive the deceased fails.
H24	91.40%	A vessel or other small container with valuables or living beings (creatures) is opened (prematurely). Its contents get out of control or disappear.
A11B	91.28%	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.
K15A	91.12%	The hero secretly replaces the weapon or magical tool of a powerful character with a worthless fake. Traditions in which the replaced weapon belongs to Grom are highlighted in bold.
A24	91.12%	The first ancestors live in twilight. When they first find themselves in the rays of the sun, they (spontaneously or by someone's will) perish, turning into animals, spirits, or stones.
J29	90.71%	Murdered parents themselves inform their children about the circumstances of their death.
D4G	90.68%	Hummingbird steals, finds or spreads fire. See motif D4A.
E22	90.55%	Once inside a certain creature, the swallowed character learns rituals, songs, ornamental motifs, obtains drugs or poison, and, once outside again, passes this knowledge on to people.
I10B	90.28%	Individual layers or categories of earth differ in colour (and other characteristics).

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

Drag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below

🌐 Open as Airocean (Dymaxion) map ↗

Cite this map

Distribution of the traditions attesting motif A1, ‘The ancient sun.’, as recorded in the Berezkin–Duvakin Analytical Catalogue of Folklore Motifs (53 traditions mapped). Geolocation and cartography by Jonathan Fielder-White, Folklore Database, release 1.26206.1 (25 July 2026), https://www.folkloredatabase.com/motif/A1 (accessed 8 August 2026). Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Traditions

53 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 53 traditions: Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Svans, Nenets, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Tonkawa, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Comox, Pentlatch, Cherokee, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Panamint, Eastern Shoshone, Southern Paiute, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), tarasques, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Yucatec, Itza, Lacandon, Kekchi; Mopan, Kogi (Cagaba), Sanha, Creols of Aritama Valley, Chimila (Ette), Guajiro, Panare (Eñape), Hoti, Colorado (Tsachila), Chayahuita , Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Witoto, Ocaina, Juruna, Xipaya, Amuesha, Machiguenga, Harákmbet (=Mashco), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Iranxe, Nambikwara, Northern and Southern Tehuelche, Selknam, Yamana (Yaghan), Alacaluf

Please log on to view the narratives.

If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help

How to cite: Fielder-White, Jonathan (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com

0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.

Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.

Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.

Designed and Developed by Jonathan Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.