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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.
B - Origins of the environment
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B44 | Dispute about time, A1150, A1172. | The first ancestors (usually human-animals) argue about how long the year, winter, night, or other periods of time should last, and whether cold and darkness should be replaced by warmth and light. | 90 | 153 |
| B87 | Alcor. | Alcor (a faint star next to the second star of the Big Dipper's handle) stands out as a separate celestial object. | 99 | 156 |
| B46 | Seven Star Brothers. | Each of the seven stars of the Big Dipper is an adult male. | 80 | 159 |
| B125 | Animals exchange characteristics. | The absence or presence of certain organs in animals (less often in plants) and the peculiarities of these organs are caused by the fact that during the era of creation, one species exchanged with another or, having borrowed a foreign organ, refused to return it. In some cases, a reverse exchange and return to the original state is described, as well as the transfer of part of one's body to another animal without compensation. Instead of one of the animals, there may be a human or a deity. | 116 | 163 |
| B1 | Two creators, A50. | Two anthropomorphic creators compete in the creation of the earth and/or humans. One is or becomes the master of the underworld or is associated with the spirit world, in contrast to the first, who is associated with the human world. | 90 | 166 |
| B2d In B2 family | Marriage of heaven and earth, A625. | The sky (the Sun, Thunder, the Wind living in the sky) is considered male and marries the Earth, who is female; The sky is combined with the female Water; with the daughter of the Earth; the creator (master) of the sky and the creator (mistress) of the earth are husband and wife; rarely: the female Sky (or Sun) is combined with the male Earth. | 111 | 167 |
| B46c In B46 family | The Great Bear – seven characters. | Each of the stars of the Big Dipper is a separate character (people or animals). | 103 | 184 |
| B82 | White Raven, A2411.1.1.6. | The raven (less often another bird of prey, or another black bird the size of a raven) was first white, and then turned black. | 175 | 244 |
| B3b In B3 family | The grown earth. | Initially, the earth or the world as a whole was small in size, then it grew; fertile soil grew from a small amount of initial substance. See motif B3A (the earth grows from a piece of solid substance thrown onto the surface of the water). | 234 | 277 |
| B42 | Cosmic hunting, F59.2. | Hunters, their dogs, fleeing or killed animals are visible in the sky in the form of stars and constellations. | 153 | 299 |
| B77 | Low sky, A625.2; A660. | The sky was close to the ground, then rose. | 197 | 399 |
| B2a In B2 family | The earth is a female being, A401. | The earth is a female character (alone or alongside a male character) and is considered to be female or associated with women. | 272 | 484 |
| B3a In B3 family | Primary waters, A810. | The waters are primary. The earth is lowered onto the water, appears above the water, grows from a piece of solid substance placed on the surface of the water or liquid mud, from an island in the ocean, is exposed when the waters recede, etc. | 300 | 674 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.