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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.
All motif categories
| Ref ▲ | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | The ancient sun. | Another sun — less powerful or less favourable to humans — existed before the appearance of the current one. | 54 | 62 |
| A1a In A1 family | Before the sun, a parrot shone. | Before the sun appeared, the world was lit by a large bird with bright colours (a parrot or toucan). | 2 | 2 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| A2a1 In A2 family | The moon shone like the sun. | At first, the moon was as bright and hot as the sun. | 28 | 40 |
| 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 |
| A2b1 In A2 family | The Last Sun. | Two or more suns shine in the sky. When the extra ones are destroyed, there is a danger that the last one will be destroyed along with them and darkness will ensue. | 24 | 43 |
| A2c In A2 family | Extra suns – children of the chief, A736.1.4.1. | The extra suns that existed in the past or may appear in the future are the children of the Sun-father. See motif A2A. | 28 | 45 |
| A2c1 In A2 family | The Sun refuses to marry. | The Sun is going to have children. One of the animals warns that if the Sun has children, the world will burn. The Sun has to (refuse marriage and) remain childless. | 11 | 19 |
| A2c2 In A2 family | Extra moons. | The catastrophe threatening the earth is associated with the appearance of not only several suns, but also several moons. | 13 | 21 |
| A2c3 In A2 family | Octagonal moon. | In extraordinary circumstances, the moon or sun are not round, but have corners and edges. | 4 | 3 |
| A2d In A2 family | Suns of different worlds. | Other suns illuminate other levels of the universe or will shine sequentially in the future. | 15 | 20 |
| A2e In A2 family | The sun and moon – severed heads. | The sun and/or moon – severed heads of anthropomorphic beings. | 11 | 11 |
| A2F In A2 family | Suns – fruits. | Suns grow on tree branches. | 5 | 9 |
| A2G In A2 family | Several suns in one day. | At different times throughout the day, different suns shine in the sky. | 2 | 2 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| A4a In A4 family | The sun hurts the eyes. | So that people do not look at it, the Sun blinds their immodest eyes (usually with needles, which are its rays). | 10 | 16 |
| A4b In A4 family | The sun is afraid of the night. | The sun decided to walk across the sky during the day because it is afraid of the night. | 9 | 13 |
| A4e In A4 family | Rider of the clouds | An anthropomorphic person associated with the thunder and rain rides on the clouds (uses them as a vehicle) | 0 | 0 |
| 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 |
| A5a In A5 family | The Sun from the swaddling clothes of the infant Moon. | The younger brother (usually the Sun) is made from the urine and swaddling clothes of his older brother (usually the Moon), who was kidnapped as a baby. See motif A5. | 8 | 1 |
| 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 |
| A6B In A6 family | The dual-sex sun. | In the same ethnic group, the sun is described as both male and female. See motifs A3 – A5. | 26 | 18 |
| 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 |
| A7a In A7 family | Torches in the hands of celestial bodies. | The light of the sun (moon, Venus) is a burning torch in the hand of a celestial body. | 22 | 32 |
| A8 | The sun, moon and stars – three siblings. | The sun, moon and stars – three brothers or three sisters. | 3 | 5 |
| A8a In A8 family | Liberation of the sun, moon and stars, ATU 328A*. | The sun, moon and star (stars) appear as three consecutive and comparable objects/characters in narratives about the abduction and subsequent liberation of celestial bodies. | 11 | 8 |
| A8b In A8 family | The sun in the world of the dead. | Setting beyond the horizon, the sun shines on the anthropomorphic inhabitants of the underworld – the dead, dwarves, etc. | 27 | 35 |
| A9 | The Moon as protector of humans. | The moon-woman does not allow her son or husband, the Sun, to destroy people. | 5 | 6 |
| A10 | The sun finds its eyes. | The sun gets its sparkling eyes (eye) from an animal. | 8 | 13 |
| A11a In A11 family | Eyes of the luminaries: coolness and night. | The visible sun or moon are their eyes; if the eyes of the luminaries were not damaged, it would be much brighter and hotter. | 33 | 45 |
| A11b In A11 family | One-eyed luminaries. | The sun or moon has one eye (usually the second eye is knocked out or sucked out, but sometimes the reason is not explained; among the Munduruku, the sun of the rainy season has lost both eyes, while the sun of the dry season has retained both). See motif 11A. | 33 | 41 |
| A11c In A11 family | The Sun, the Moon, and the Eyes of the Monster. | The Sun and Moon kill a monster whose eyes shine differently. At first, the Moon takes the brighter eye, but then swaps with the Sun. | 7 | 14 |
| A11D In A11 family | The Eye of the Moon and the Phases of the Moon. | The moon opens and closes its eyes (phases of the moon). | 4 | 3 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| A12b In A12 family | The frog swallows the sun. | During an eclipse or at sunset (marked *), the luminaries are swallowed by a toad or frog. | 23 | 34 |
| 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 |
| A12d In A12 family | Birds eclipse the sun. | Birds attack the sun or moon during an eclipse (covering them with their wings) or (*) cover the sun during sunrise or sunset. See motif A12. | 30 | 32 |
| A12e In A12 family | The spider – enemy of the sun and moon. | The spider attacks the sun or moon (usually causing lunar eclipses). | 5 | 5 |
| A12f In A12 family | The Money Lender. | The stars fade because the moneylender demands that they repay their debt. | 21 | 24 |
| A12g In A12 family | Revenge on the moon for informing. | The character tries to eclipse the moon for telling on him. | 5 | 5 |
| A12H In A12 family | Woman covers the sun. | Eclipses of the sun or moon are caused by a woman's attack. | 18 | 31 |
| A13a In A13 family | The raven hides the sun. | The raven steals or hides the sun, or attempts to do so. | 12 | 15 |
| A13a1 In A13 family | The raven obtains the sun. | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). | 31 | 64 |
| A13b In A13 family | Ants eclipse the sun. | During an eclipse or at the first appearance of night, ants eclipse the sun. | 5 | 9 |
| 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 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.