The Mythology and Folklore Database
E13A - Knowledge from the underwater world.

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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

Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world.

Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 6, Origin and interpretation of culture elements, in particular related to agriculture, inadequate forms of subsistence and economic activity before the establishment of the present norms

E13 has 2 other sub-motifs E13.  The shamanic tambourine is compared or associated with a lake. E13a.  Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world. E13B.  Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals received from the celestials.  Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of E13's motifs?

Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Motif	Similarity	Motif Summary
J36	98.66%	The turtle drags the hero's parents under water.
J60	98.55%	A woman conceives twins from two different fathers.
D13C	98.52%	Two companions or brothers live together. The older one has a wife, whom he hides. To discover her, the younger one, left alone in the house, makes her laugh.
I28A	98.52%	Large animals that are hunted go underground and cause earthquakes.
C9A	98.35%	During the flood or when crossing a river, those who drowned or were saved turn into aquatic or amphibious animals.
F44	98.04%	In the community of the first ancestors, women and men quarrel, leave, kill, maim each other, etc.
L9A	98.00%	The character's leg is crippled (intentionally or accidentally) or originally pointed. He uses the pointed bone for hunting, fishing or killing people.
B36	97.84%	Birds, fish, and four-legged animals deliberately or accidentally smear themselves with colouring substances or divide parts of another's body among themselves, thereby acquiring their current appearance.
F42	97.76%	Feeling wronged, men leave their wives or sisters.
F43	97.11%	The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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Terrain Minimal Countries

This motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Sepik-Ramu stock: Abelam, Yatmul, Aibom, Ayom (incl Tembregak, Asai-river pygmies), Tangu, Porapora (Ambakich), Rao and other groups of Middle Ramu and Upper Keram River tribes; Kwanga, Watam, Kaian, Gamei, Awar; Kire (Lower Ramu), Torricelli family: Valman, Samap, Arapesh (Upper, Coastal), Monumbo, Lilau, Ngaimbom; Moando (Banara); Menya, Olo, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Waiwai, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Puinave, Mundurucu, Curuaia, Bakairi, Kamayura, Paresi

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