The Mythology and Folklore Database
A18 - The Sun Boat.




52 Myths, Legends and Folktales
52 Unique Narratives for Motif A18
33 Cultures & Traditions where A18 is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
0 Sub-Motifs of Motif A18


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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 sun and/or moon make their daily and/or nightly (underground, in the land beyond the horizon, behind the mountain) journey in a boat.

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
A24A97.90%At the moment of the first day or the first night, people transform into supernatural characters.
E2297.30%Once inside a certain creature, the swallowed character learns rituals, songs, ornamental motifs, obtains drugs or poison, and, once outside again, passes this knowledge on to people.
F695.73%(The first) woman does not have a vagina at first. Usually, it is made for her by a bird, animal, fish, etc.
K13B95.19%A man crosses a body of water on the back of a caiman. The caiman bites off his leg. The cripple undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a constellation or an animal.
F3795.15%To summon her lover, the character taps on a calabash placed on the water.
B6694.99%Characters climb to the sky using a rope or chain of arrows; when it falls to the ground, it turns into forest vines. See motif J47.
C1594.99%A monstrous jaguar (puma) is locked in a cave or tree trunk.
C34A94.99%A supernatural character goes with people to catch fish or lives on the sand by the river; he is buried in the sand or thrown into the river, into a swamp, or otherwise persecuted. Usually, he himself or his father sends a flood.
H32B94.99%A girl and/or boy, who are the children of a deity, come to live with humans, leading to an abundance of food/resources. Due to the hurt they have caused, the children return to their own world, and human life becomes difficult or meagre.
L1D94.99%The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 33 traditions: Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Bari (incl Fajulu), Kakwa, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia), Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Yana, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Paya (Pech), Sumu, Misquito, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Bari, Tunebo, Guajiro, Sicuani, Yaruro, Makiritare (Yecuana), Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Wayana, Aparai, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Kofan, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Desana, Siriano; Tatuyo, Bara, Tuyuca, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Ticuna (Tucuna), Kanamari, Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Russian Federation


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