The Mythology and Folklore Database
A7A - Torches in the hands of celestial bodies.




31 Myths, Legends and Folktales
31 Unique Narratives for Motif A7A
15 Cultures & Traditions where A7A is told
82 Mythemes Indexed
1 Sub-Motifs of Motif A7A


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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 of the sun (moon, Venus) is a burning torch in the hand of a celestial body.

Berezkin category: The Sun and Moon

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


A7 has 1 other sub-motifs


A7.  The sun and the moon (month) are two characters, one of which eternally pursues the other across the sky or pursued it when they rose into the sky from the earth.
A7a.  The light of the sun (moon, Venus) is a burning torch in the hand of a celestial body.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
M46B96.31%The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif.
I13396.09%Star objects in different parts of the sky are associated with separate parts (as well as items of clothing, jewellery, etc.) of a single anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figure.
M46C95.70%The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif.
L42A95.67%The cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves.
F30A95.66%A woman nurses a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) instead of a child; people kill the monster.
M46D95.31%A small child cries and calms down only after being given a valuable item hidden in the house to play with. After receiving an item, a child or an associated character takes it away.
M6894.06%Because of his own stubbornness, the character suffers from an irrepressible gas eruption and scares away the game with a loud sound. Almost starves to death.
K51B93.56%The bodies of the slain are left in such a position that it seems as if they are rejoicing – smiling, laughing, dancing.
L7993.31%The girl marries a powerful, benevolent character; his first wife is a monster; he kills her or is satisfied that she has been killed by his new wife.
C19A93.17%The character (except Quileut: Raven) turns into a child, asks for and receives heavenly bodies to play, or (Chukchi) comes to play with the little daughter of the owner of the stars.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Arnhem Land: Enindhilyagwa (Groote Eilandt), KuTiwi, Yulengor, Mara, Oenpelli, Murngin, Roper River, Maung, Murinbata, Murngin (Duwal), Millingimbi, Goulburn Island, Ngulugwongga, Yirrkalla, Voctoria River Downs, Alawa, Anu, Kunwinjku, Sinhalese; Vedda, Nanai, Nunivak Island, North Alaskan Inupiat, Netsilik, Caribou, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Chilkotin, Chumash, Papua-New Guinea Southern Lowland Papuan groups (Trans New Guinea and unclassified): Gimi, Kiwai, Bina, Mawabula, Mawatta, Keraki, Gambadi (incl. Kwavaru), Purari River delta, Masingara, Wiram (=Suki), Ngain, Daga, Elema, Greenland


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