Superstition and the Sea

 

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Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: Superstition and the Sea

Sailors are superstitious. People like to say this as if they themselves are not superstitious, but we all have our less logical leanings. And of course, sailing is extremely dangerous, so it makes sense that sailors are looking for luck. Today we’re going to talk about some of the weirder and creepier sailing superstitions. So come on aboard!

Daring Death: Flowers, coffins, and ministers

Why have everything you need to host a funeral on your ship if you don’t want a funeral on your ship? Duh. For the same reason, a ship’s bell sounding on its own or even a wine glass ringing are unlucky because they sound like church bells. A possibly related superstition warns against bringing black suitcases on board, and some sailors expand this to all luggage. It might be that black bags look like body bags, but nobody’s really sure on the origin of this one. 

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some clear-sailing writing prompts, such as:

Love wins. Ministers and flowers don’t only mean funerals. So what if you had a ship’s captain who noticed too late that some idiot brought on board the rose his sweetheart gave him, and some other sailor happens to have a degree in divinity. You can throw the rose overboard, but sailors, not so much. (At least, you’re not supposed to.) Could a ship beat its bad luck by instead using the rose and minister to stage a wedding? Sailors’ superstitions are clear about forbidding women on board, for various reasons, including misogyny and also misogyny. But maybe a couple of mates might not mind being…mates? At least long enough to go through the ceremony and cancel the bad luck. Fake marriage trope, anyone?

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