Superstitions: Intuit and Jonah

Never Say P*G – The Book of Sailors’ Superstitions is the nautical reference book you never knew you needed. Compiled by R. Bruce MacDonald, he goes through the alphabet detailing on what provides good and bad luck at sea. Here’s a sampling from I and J:

Intuit
In Intuit culture, a major taboo is combining seafood and the meat of land animals in one meal. This should always be avoided, because if the soul of your fish or seal or caribou tells the Sea Goddess about it, she will lay a curse on you.

Jonah
A ‘Jonah’ is a person or object that brings bad luck aboard. The only way to restore good luck is to remove the Jonah. The name comes from the biblical prophet, who out of fear, defied God by sailing in the direction opposite to which he ha been instructed. God then punished Jonah and all those aboard with him by conjuring a powerful storm. The crew threw Jonah overboard to appease God and to quell the waters, after which Jonah was swallowed by a whale. When he escaped from the whale, he made sure to follow God’s wishes.

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