Ancient maritime traditions and their meaning

Rituals to propitiate the gods

Such rituals are something like an obligation, worship before the deity. They were needed to win his sympathy. Time has blurred ancient traditions and erased the boundaries between mythology and legend. The sea scene with the "purple-cheeked ships" from Book 11 of the Odyssey is a good example of this tradition. 

The purple cheeks are nothing more than the prow of a ship, soaked during launching with the blood of a bull sacrificed to the gods. Centuries later, red wine was recognized as more "suitable" for the ceremony of launching a ship into the water. Today bottles of champagne are used. The rite of breaking such a bottle on board is well known. 

They say that the sea god marks the launching of each vessel with utmost precision: name, date, time. To change the name of your ship is to mock Poseidon and incur his wrath. This tradition helped a lot in its time during the colonization of the Caribbean islands.

Superstitious pirates were afraid of the wrath of God and did not rename the stolen ships. Lawyers and licensed privateers took advantage of this and successfully caught hapless pirates. Alas, the less superstitious and more assertive pirates were not afraid of the wrath of the gods.

Traditions of different times and cultures

One of the most interesting traditions was that of the Romans. During the construction of their ships and ships, the Romans hammered several coins into the keel. This was done in case the ship went down. The coins were intended for Charon, the carrier of human souls from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead. Thus the Romans paid in advance for the entire crew. Pretty economical.

The tradition of creating carved nose figures, alas, has been lost over the centuries. The Vikings were the first to start attaching such wooden figures to their ships. He placed them on the nose of his drakkars. Other admirers of less long-lived figureheads were the Greeks. They hoisted a goat's fleece on the prow of the ship.

Sailing ships were especially dependent and depend on changeable weather and wind. Both the calm and the storm were equally undesirable, so that sailors did not go to any tricks in the hope that their manipulations would help. The custom is still popular to "scratch" the mast to call on the wind. And by all means, this must be done from the side from which the team is waiting for the wind. Often the crews prayed together, including the main patron of all sailors - St. Nicholas.

During a severe storm, Mediterranean sailors poured out wine as a “sacrifice”, the Chinese launched paper boats, and in Indonesia the entire crew stripped naked to embarrass the patron goddess of storms and calm her temper.

Animals on board

Cats enjoy special love and respect among sailors.. Furry friends bring good luck, remind you of home comfort and hunt rodents, saving provisions. It is always considered a good sign to see dolphins. And if they accompany the ship for some time, the sea voyage will surely go well.

There are countless popular maritime beliefs. Many of them are well known, others are less so, some are reasonable and others are ridiculous. According to one of the traditions, green should not be on board. Why? The answer is very interesting.

Previously, the color green was associated with the oxidation of copper nails on wooden ships. Would anyone like to travel on a rotten tub? Another tradition says that you cannot go on board wearing new shoes, since new shoes are only put on the deceased. 

Such beliefs, superstitions, sayings and traditions are simply endless. For every country, people and even crews - all these traditions differ from one another sometimes very much. The more interesting it is to study them, the more interesting it becomes part of the world of sailors. 

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17.08.2022