The Mythology and Folklore Database
A12E - The spider – enemy of the sun and moon.
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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
The spider attacks the sun or moon (usually causing lunar eclipses).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 |
|---|---|---|
| I31 | 94.29% | In the afterlife, the souls of the dead are met by a pair of mythological characters – a man and a woman, or the master of the dead appears to women in female form and to men in male form. |
| M7 | 90.75% | The character goes to the lower world, to the sky, to the country on the horizon, etc. and waits for someone to give him a ride to his goal. Usually, some animals/birds or celestial bodies follow by, and the last (often the Sun or Month) delivers. |
| G23A | 90.35% | Parts of the body and organs of living beings are transformed into various plants (teeth into corn, testicles into yams, etc.). |
| E27 | 89.64% | People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. |
| G20 | 88.81% | Edible (cultivated or wild) plants emerge from the body of an old woman, a young woman or a girl. |
| E12 | 86.89% | A character draws an object or creature on sand, ash, a wall or the surface of water, and it comes to life. |
| I133A | 86.85% | There is a constellation that represents a bird and corresponds to several large constellations in European traditions (mainly equatorial, rather than circumpolar). |
| I96 | 86.67% | A rainbow consisting of blood either heralds war and death. |
| I16 | 86.66% | Early humans have no mouth, anus, or genitals, and their women are unable to give birth. |
| H9 | 86.26% | People are mortal (they get sick and grow old) because they are compared to something weak, fragile, easily subject to destruction or decay (upper Tanana: people have not died out because they are made of durable material rather than ephemeral material). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 5 traditions: Negrito (incl. Mamanwa), Mindanao and Sulu: Blaan (Bilaan), Bagobo, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Hiligáynon, Binukid, Magindaan (=Magindanao: main Muslim population), Mandaya, Mansaka, Manobo (Agusan, Ata, Dibabawon, Sarangani, Ilianen), Maranao, Samal, Subanon (=Subanun), Subanen, Tboli, Hare (K'ahsho Got'ine), Cañari, Paresi