The Mythology and Folklore Database
A27 - Crowns of the sun and moon.




59 Myths, Legends and Folktales
57 Unique Narratives for Motif A27
31 Cultures & Traditions where A27 is told
79 Mythemes Indexed
0 Sub-Motifs of Motif A27


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 Motif Summary  -   Motifs with Simlar Dispersals  -    Map of Myth Distribution   -   List of Traditions  -   Myths



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 light and/or heat of the sun and/or moon is contained in their crowns, necklaces or clothing (made of feathers or animal teeth).

Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon

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



Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
K13A98.93%The character's leg (rarely: both legs) is cut off, bitten off, torn off, or damaged. The character ascends to the sky: to the moon; becomes the moon; turns into a star or constellation; becomes the sun; blood flowing from the leg colours the sky.
L2498.86%Demons (or one of them) attack people and then hide. People destroy the demons' lair and kill all or most of them by spreading a smoky fire around the demons' refuge.
F1298.47%A husband kills his wife by inserting her lover's severed penis into her body.
F40A98.46%A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women.
G1398.41%Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba – Ceiba L., balsa – Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood.
F1398.40%The genitals of humans or monkeys acquire their current shape and colour as a result of copulation with a girl who had a toothy womb or no vagina.
J4398.35%To destroy his antagonists, the hero creates edible bait for them, usually a fruit tree on the other side of the river.
M10798.35%A small character kills or maims a large four-legged animal by clinging to its genitals.
D798.29%The frog or toad possesses the first fire, steals it from its original owner, and tries to extinguish it or save it from dying out. See motif D4.
I8397.89%Birds (especially vultures and eagles) lived or live in the sky, usually on one of several tiers of the upper world.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 31 traditions: Konds (Khonds; language is Kui, incl Kuttia, Konda-Dora), Koya; Pengo, Mandan, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Yana, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Hopi, Western Mexico Nahuatl, Kekchi; Mopan, Bari, Guajiro, Waiwai, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Locono, Colorado (Tsachila), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Chayahuita , Karijona, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Witoto, Ocaina, Juruna, Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Machiguenga, Culina, Paumarí, Arauá, Apurina, Cuniba, Rikbaktsa, Paresi, Bororo, Tapirape, Craho, Apinaye (Apinage, Apinaje), Botocudo


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