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sense, rooled in accumulated experience and transmitted by tradition, when life is at slake.
As a matter of fact, weather and death signs abound in the lore of maritime cultures.!
95
Fishing is eminently unpredictable; its success depends on a complex of factors lying
beyond human control: the vagaries of fish, weather, currents and season make it a matter
of luck as much as skill. When livelihood entirely depends on its success, one may posit
the functional relevance of traditions in encapsulating life-saving empirical knowledge.
This accords with John Szwed's proposition concerning folksong,
A folksong may be thought of as one of many means by which man adapts
to his natural and social environments over time; that is, as one of many
means by which life chances are maximized through a human design.2
and Gary BUller's hYPOlhesis concerning Ihe ability of L'Anse-a-Canards fishcmlen to
accurately lociHe Iheir fishing grounds:
... fishing is an unprediclable undertaking, and success depends largely
upon a combination of skill and luck. However, a fisherman who
depended entirely upon chance would not only eventually fail, but would
also be in a constant Slate of uncertainty as to his abilily to provide for his
family and himself. . Not only does this information reduce lhe
fisherman's anxiely, it also helps him to delermine a precise course of
action for lhe next fishing trip, Ihereby minimizing the role of luck and
m'Lximizing that of ski 11.3
Solidarity and sociability are lhe norm in marilime cuhures. It is as if Ihe
omnipresence of lhe "unknown" and the awesome fostered an intense feeling of belonging
with blood as with occupational kin. Anxiety is shared among families and crews, and this
solidarity even extends beyond death:
La solidarile des gens de mer se maintenait ainsi au·dela de la mort, dans la
communaule des vivants et des morts, expression vivanle, si ron peut
dire, de la communion des saints. 4
ISec, for instance. Ellen Badone. "Death Omens in a Breton Memorate/ Folk/ort! 98 (1987)
99-104; Helen Creighton, Bluutou Magic: Popular Bdif!fs and Supuslilions in Nova Scolia
(Toronto: Ryerson. 1968); A.G. Waghorne, "Death Signs and Weather Signs from
Ncwfoundl:md and Labrador," Journal of Amuican Folk/orf! 13 (1900): 297-99.
2S zwed. "Paul E. Hall: A Newfoundland Song-Maker and His Community of Song," Folksongs
and llleir Makers, ed. H. Glassie, E.D. Ives and J.F. Szwed (Bowling Green: Bowling Green U
Popular P, 1970) 147-69.
30. Butler, "Culture" 18.
4Mollat 197.