The Mythology and Folklore Database
A23D - Who is first in the calendar?
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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
Animals argue about which of them should start the cycle of 12 months or years. The mouse wins the primacy.Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar
A23 has 5 other sub-motifsA23. 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. A23a. Arguing about superiority or seniority, the characters agree to decide in favour of the one who first sees the rising sun (the beginning of the year). The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely. (In Uther 2004(1), No. 120: 87, the definition of the motif includes the detail that the winner looks not to the east but to the west and sees the tops of trees illuminated by rays of light. In Europe, in most cases (except for the Scots) that have been verified, this detail is indeed present. However, it is absent in American and some Asian traditions). A23b. Two characters argue about who will be the first to see the rising sun. The winner is the one who first notices not the sun itself, but its reflection or the trees and mountains illuminated by its first rays. A23c. Birds argue about which of them will fly higher or arrive first. The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely (he hides in the feathers of a strong bird and flies away with it). A23d. Animals argue about which of them should start the cycle of 12 months or years. The mouse wins the primacy. A23E. Two birds argue about who will get up first, or agree to consider the one who gets up first to be the better singer. The bird that sings the most melodious trills wins, and the one with a shrill or hoarse voice loses. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of A23's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M149A | 99.18% | The character, either recklessly or against his own will, finds himself bound by a contract with a predator, which he cannot or does not want to fulfil, or which he breaks. The predator intends to eat him, but the character remains alive. |
| M157A3 | 98.40% | A character demands that another provide him with offspring or milk from a male animal. |
| L128 | 98.19% | When a demonic character or predator reveals who he is, the hero or herbivorous animal responds by calling himself a name that implies his superiority over his opponent. |
| L44 | 97.64% | A demon or powerful beast demands that a person or weak animal show certain parts of their body. The person shows parts of a large animal's body or certain objects. The opponent decides that the hero is more frightening and powerful than them. |
| K100E | 97.56% | Fairy tales act as separate characters: they usually try to harm people, believing that a certain person does not treat them with due respect. Cf. motif L94d, "The Tale with a Tail". |
| K116C | 97.37% | In order to take possession of the girl, the priest arranges for her father to agree to place her in a chest (barrel) and lower it into the river (leave it in a deserted area). |
| K145A | 97.34% | A person is predicted to die at the hands of an animal. He is killed (or attempted to be killed) by a living image of an animal or a statue in the form of an animal that falls on him. |
| N37 | 97.30% | The character is said to sleep under the sky (like a blanket). |
| K136C | 97.21% | Upon leaving, the demon temporarily kills or puts the girl to sleep, and upon returning, revives her. |
| M60A2 | 97.08% | The servant must lick the master or mistress's feet or wound. The hero comes disguised as a servant and instead of licking his heels, touches them with the animal's cut off tongue. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Thai of Vietnam, Tai Lue, Khao (Kho, Tai Don, White Tai), Tai Dam (Black Tai), Nung; Zhuang, Buyi; Shui, Tats, Kalmyk, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Tlingit, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, China