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Berezkin/Duvakin Catalogue of Motifs
English translation, enhancements and additional metadata by Jonathan Fielder-White
Source: Berezkin and Duvakin's Analytical Catalogue · Original catalogue (Russian)
About the catalogue and its sources
Unless otherwise stated, narrative and tradition data comes from Berezkin and Duvakin's Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area (Analytical catalogue).
Original Berezkin/Duvakin catalogue (Russian)
The English translation uses AI assistance alongside manual verification. Errors may occur; consult the original source when in doubt.
A - The Sun and Moon
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions ▲ | Narratives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A35a In A35 family | Mud thrown in the face. | Moon spots - mud (manure, clay, ash, dough, dirty rag) thrown in the face of the Moon/Moon as a result of a family or love conflict - often by a brother/sister or mother. | 33 | 54 |
| A41 | The sun eats its children. | Two characters have children (brothers and sisters, mothers). One suggests killing these children (mothers), giving reasons in favour of such a decision. In fact, he hides his own children, while his interlocutor actually kills his children. One of the characters and/or the surviving child is the sun. | 33 | 46 |
| A22 | Into the sky from the bonfire. | One or two people fall into fire or boiling water and ascend to the sky, turning into the sun and/or the moon. | 34 | 64 |
| A23b In A23 family | First rays on mountains and trees, (ATU 120). | Two characters argue about who will be the first to see the rising sun. The winner is the one who first notices not the sun itself, but its reflection or the trees and mountains illuminated by its first rays. | 35 | 38 |
| A23 | Who will become the sun? | The first ancestors come together to choose who will become the sun, to raise the sun to the sky, to see the sun rise for the first time, and to name the sun correctly. See motif A22. | 38 | 64 |
| A24 | First sunrise. | The first ancestors live in twilight. When they first find themselves in the rays of the sun, they (spontaneously or by someone's will) perish, turning into animals, spirits, or stones. | 38 | 56 |
| A23c In A23 family | Who will fly higher? ATU 221A | Birds argue about which of them will fly higher or arrive first. The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely (he hides in the feathers of a strong bird and flies away with it). | 39 | 54 |
| A32b In A32 family | Moon toad, A751.3. | The figure or imprint of a toad or frog is visible on the lunar disc; the moon is associated with this animal. | 45 | 56 |
| A45 | The insulted moon. | A man teases and insults the moon and is punished as a result. | 46 | 68 |
| A23a In A23 family | Who will be the first to see the sun? ATU 120, | Arguing about superiority or seniority, the characters agree to decide in favour of the one who first sees the rising sun (the beginning of the year). The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely. (In Uther 2004(1), No. 120: 87, the definition of the motif includes the detail that the winner looks not to the east but to the west and sees the tops of trees illuminated by rays of light. In Europe, in most cases (except for the Scots) that have been verified, this detail is indeed present. However, it is absent in American and some Asian traditions). | 48 | 60 |
| A27 | Crowns of the sun and moon. | 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). | 48 | 57 |
| A7 | The sun chases the moon. | 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. | 50 | 67 |
| A17 | Midday rest of the sun. | Having travelled halfway across the sky or the underworld, the Sun stops to rest. | 53 | 58 |
| A1 | The ancient sun. | Another sun — less powerful or less favourable to humans — existed before the appearance of the current one. | 54 | 62 |
| A39a In A39 family | Twelve months, ATU 294. | Each of the calendar segments (usually months) that make up the year is represented by a special object or creature. | 54 | 92 |
| A20 | Childhood and youth of the Sun and Moon. | The Sun and the Moon (less often the Sun and a star, the Moon and a star) are brothers (sisters, brother and sister) who initially live on earth, but at the end of the story, as teenagers or young adults, ascend to the sky and become celestial bodies. | 56 | 79 |
| A44 | The protector moon. | A character fleeing from pursuit, wronged or suffering on earth, asks the Moon to take him to her, or climbs up to the moon himself using a ladder or rope that has descended from there. | 60 | 81 |
| A32a In A32 family | Moon Rabbit, A751.2. | The figure or imprint of a rabbit or hare is visible on the lunar disc. | 66 | 107 |
| A2 | Several suns. | There was a time when several, i.e. more than two, suns shone in the sky at the same time. | 67 | 142 |
| A6 | The sun and moon – women. | The sun and moon are considered female characters (including cases – Tuscarora, Oneida, when the gender is not directly specified, but both arise from the body of a female character). | 68 | 96 |
| A6A In A6 family | Two-faced moon/month. | In the same ethnic group, the gender of the moon/month varies in different texts; it changes depending on the phases; the moon is a married couple; the moon is a woman who used to be a man. See motifs A3 - A5. {The material is incomplete. For Western European traditions, data contained in fairy tales is not included}. | 75 | 48 |
| A12c In A12 family | Reptiles or fish eclipse the sun. | Eclipses of the sun, moon or their setting (marked*) are caused by a snake, lizard, dragon, fish or crocodile; these creatures attack the luminaries now or attacked them at the beginning of time. See motif A12. | 76 | 92 |
| A37 | The sun is subjected to armed attack. | The character deliberately and by resorting to special means (usually shooting with a bow) strikes the sun or several suns or attempts to do so. | 77 | 154 |
| A36 | The moon and immortality. | The moon (month) is contrasted with humans as immortal to mortals; it decides whether humans will be mortal; those who live on the moon are immortal. (Cf. Latvians, Dolgans). | 79 | 147 |
| A38 | The Sun in a Trap, A728. | The sun falls into a snare, a trap, and finds itself tied by a rope. | 79 | 112 |
| A32h In A32 family | Moon tree, A751.6. | A tree, bush, branch, snag, etc. are visible on the lunar disc. See motif A32G. | 81 | 112 |
| A2b In A2 family | The extra suns are extinguished. | In addition to the current sun and/or moon, other suns and moons shone in the sky, which were then destroyed. See motif A2A. | 84 | 65 |
| A32f In A32 family | Moon water carrier. | On the lunar disc, a character is visible who has gone to fetch water and/or is holding a vessel for liquid in his hands. See motif A32D. | 87 | 182 |
| A21 | Luminaries thrown into the sky, A700.I, A714, A741. | The sun and/or moon were objects that were thrown or placed into the sky. | 95 | 175 |
| A12a In A12 family | A predatory beast eclipses the luminaries. | During an eclipse or under other circumstances, predators attack the luminaries: wolves, bears, jaguars, pumas, dogs, foxes, raccoons. See motif A12. | 103 | 136 |
| A31 | The Moon in Love. | As a result of intimate contact or romantic conflict, the night light takes on its current appearance – rising from the earth to the sky and/or spots appearing on it, which are now visible. | 107 | 172 |
| A2a In A2 family | The sun emits destructive heat. | The world was or will be (almost) burned when several suns lit up or will light up simultaneously; or destructive heat (or light) once emanated from one sun. | 109 | 238 |
| A14 | Eclipses: the relationship between the sun and the moon, A737.7. | The meeting of the sun and the moon is the cause of eclipses or lunar phases. | 111 | 136 |
| A14a In A14 family | Conflict of two luminaries. | The sun and moon (month) are or have been in hostile relations either constantly or from time to time. | 134 | 200 |
| A32e In A32 family | Character with an object in their hands. | On the lunar (rarely: solar) disc, a character holding an object or animal is visible. See motif A32D. | 154 | 256 |
| A35 | Spots on the lunar disc, A751.5. | Dark spots on the lunar disc – dirt, blood, paint, marks from blows, burns on the body or face of a character; they do not form a specific image. See motif A31. | 212 | 289 |
| A4 | Sun-woman, A736.2. | The Sun is a woman (the Moon is usually a man, sometimes also a woman, see motif A6; highlighted in bold italics in the list of ethnic groups below). | 236 | 472 |
| A32d In A32 family | Man on the moon, A751. | The figure or imprint of an anthropomorphic creature is visible on the lunar disc. | 265 | 658 |
| A12 | Eclipses: attacks by monsters, A737.1. | A creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, winter and summer, night and day, phases of the moon) or occasionally (eclipses, eschatological catastrophes) attack the luminaries or block their light. | 300 | 530 |
| A5 | The Sun and the Moon are male, A711.1, A736.3. | The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (rarely) has no gender. | 353 | 637 |
| A3 | The Sun-Man and the Moon-Woman, A716.1. | The Moon is female or hermaphroditic, the Sun is male or, possibly, male. | 354 | 669 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.