The Mythology and Folklore Database
C25A - Cooking soup on the moon.




8 Myths, Legends and Folktales
8 Unique Narratives for Motif C25A
7 Cultures & Traditions where C25A is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
3 Sub-Motifs of Motif C25A


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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

In the sky, on the moon, somewhere outside our world, a character (usually an old woman) cooks soup. The fate of the universe depends on his (her) behaviour.

Berezkin category: Disasters

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 2, Moon spots, stars, constellations


C25 has 3 other sub-motifs


C25.  If a certain event occurs, the world will be destroyed.
C25a.  In the sky, on the moon, somewhere outside our world, a character (usually an old woman) cooks soup. The fate of the universe depends on his (her) behaviour.
C25b.  In the sky, on the moon (rarely – on the sun), somewhere outside our world, a certain character spins, weaves, knits, embroiders or makes bast fabric.
C25c.  A change in the configuration of a certain constellation (usually the Big Dipper) or its disappearance from the sky will signal a global catastrophe.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
M32A96.00%character's insides or pieces of flesh fall out of his back. He eats them, mistaking them for regular meat and fat.
J27A95.62%One of the babies is abandoned and lives in a river, forest, etc.; the other remains at home; after the abandoned brother returns home, the brothers kill their father or his men. See motifs J19, J25.
M29J95.04%See the motives in square brackets.
J41B94.85%The son returns, finds his mother, who was humiliated and tortured in his absence, and burns his tormentor and his men, summoning fire and heat with magic.
B42O194.49%The Big Dipper is identified with the fisher (Mustela pennati).
M53B94.01%Trickster claims he's carrying songs in his bag. See M53 motif.
H5393.81%The wolf participates in the creation of the earth or is the brother of the creator and/or conqueror of the demons of the underworld. He dies and/or is considered the first to die and/or becomes the lord of the land of the dead.
M61A392.97%The character tells each of two different species of fish how the other allegedly used to be hostile or offensive towards the former. Fish kill each other and the character prepares them to eat.
K1J92.85%The abandoned one turns into a bird and returns home faster than the one who abandoned him.
A38A91.97%The sun is caught in a loop made of a woman's pubic hair.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: France, Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Algonquin, unspecified Algonkians of the Midwest (probably Old Algonquin), Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Teton (incl Oglala)


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