
Sea draug
In post-medieval Norway the word draug narrowed from any walking corpse to the dead of the sea. The sea draug is the body of a drowned fisherman, headless or seaweed-headed, crewing half a boat and announcing the death of anyone who sees it. A well-known northern legend has it chased through a churchyard by the properly buried dead. It shows how the saga revenant survived by attaching itself to the commonest violent death of a fishing society.1
- the churchyard dead, who in one legend drive it off with coffin boards and seaweed
Kañ la jëkk a feeñ?
Hans Egede mentions 'the Drow' (drauen) as a sea spectre in a book published in 1741
Li sours yi wax
Wears a fisherman's leather or oilskin clothing and has a bundle of seaweed where its head should be1
Seeing it, or its half-boat, foretells drowning1
The belief is strongest in northern Norway, where fishing deaths were common1
The coat of arms of Bø in Nordland shows its half-boat1
Households left out food and 'draug-beer' at Christmas for it and other visitors1
Ndax mën nga ko raw ci daw?
Gaawaay bi jóge ci ni sours yi ko melale (dafay soppiku), du natt.
Sours yi
Xibaar bu nekk ci xët wii jóge na ci sours yii, te nu bind ko ak sunu kàddu. Gis nga njuumte? Wax nu ko ci [email protected].