The Mythology and Folklore Database
A12A - A predatory beast eclipses the luminaries.
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Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of Motif
During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12.Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 1, Sun and Moon
A12 has 8 other sub-motifsA12. 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. During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12. A12b. During an eclipse or at sunset (marked *), the luminaries are swallowed by a toad or frog. A12c. 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. 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. A12e. The spider attacks the sun or moon (usually causing lunar eclipses). A12f. The stars fade because the moneylender demands that they repay their debt. A12g. The character tries to eclipse the moon for telling on him. A12H. Eclipses of the sun or moon are caused by a woman's attack. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of A12's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I62 | 93.72% | The Milky Way is a heavenly river, a body of water, a chain of creatures floating in the water. |
| F16 | 91.90% | Men possessed biological characteristics that are now characteristic of women, or vice versa (beards, menstruation, breasts, childbearing). |
| G23 | 91.00% | The origin of various (more than two) creatures or objects is explained by the metamorphosis of a living creature or part of its body. {Only texts of an aetiological nature are taken into account. For statistical purposes, all texts with motifs G23A and G23B are also included in motif G23}. |
| L40 | 90.90% | The character discovers (rarely: cannot discover) another person on a tree or rock, noticing their reflection or shadow. See motif L39. |
| G8D | 90.63% | A tree (pillar, mountain) is cut down (gnawed, ground down) or prevented from being cut down in order to save the world (or the gods, the king, etc.) from danger. |
| H1D | 90.61% | The deceased returns, but people send him back, dissatisfied with his appearance, refusing to accept him or burying him again. From then on, death is final. |
| A19B | 90.42% | Moving across the sky, the sun changes its mounts depending on the season – in summer it rides on a slow animal, in winter – on a fast one. Or in winter the sun is carried by a young man, and in summer – by an old man. |
| C2 | 90.05% | The inhabitants of the middle world (in part) are destroyed (or will be destroyed) once by fire or drought, another time by a flood, or the world is flooded with a stream of fire and boiling water. |
| C23 | 89.95% | The growth or fall of a giant tree determines the state of the sky and the celestial bodies in it (the tree blocks the light of the sun or threatens to destroy the sky, pulls the sun from the sky when it falls, etc.). |
| F86 | 89.94% | A character calls another character of non-human nature (a mate or ward) with a conventional signal; the other character sees this, makes the same signal or utters the same words, takes on the appearance of the character they have come to replace, kills those who come out to meet them, or makes use of their sexual services. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 66 traditions: Mehri; Harsusi, Jibbali (Shahri, Shauri), Timor: Amarasi, Tetum, Meto, Atoni (incl Mollo), Kedang (Lomblen island), Leti Islands (Leti, Moa, Lakor), Batak (Toba, Dairi), Lampung (Lampong); South Sumatra Malays (incl. Bengkulu), Burmese, Intha, Karen, Pa-O, Padaung, Kayah, Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), 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, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Kuki, Chiru, Falam (Hallam), Chin (Meitei =Manipuri, Khami, =Kumi), Lakher, Mizo (Lushei), Anal, Pawi (Lai), Purum, Koireng, Milhiem, Kolhen, Mru, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Lahu, Kucong, Nosu, Nisu, Nusu, Sani, Jino, Early Chinese written sources, Koreans, England, British, Bretons, France, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Hungarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Estonians, Swedes, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Western Ukrainians, Ossetians, Anatolia Turks, Southern Selkups, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Ainu, Udeghe, Nivkh, Manchu, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Oregon Athabaskans: Lower Umpqua, Tututni (incl Joshua), Upper Coquille, Galice, Tolowa, Shasta; Chimariko, Hupa, Chilula, Klamath, Modoc, Yurok, Alabama, Koasati, Wailaki, Mattole, Lassik, Sinkyone, Cahto, Pomo, Achomavi, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Western Mexico Nahuatl, Tequistlatec, Lacandon, Creols of Eastern and Central Cuba, Colorado (Tsachila), Cocama, Omagua, Tupinamba, Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Mojo, Baure, Itonama, Kanichana, Chiquito, Manasi, Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Kamakan; Kutasho, Sanapana, Lengua (incl Angaite), Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Vilela, Mataco, Ofaie, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Manao, Katawishi (Teffe lake); groups of uncertain affiliation mostly from Rio Jamunda, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Galicians, China