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profane space," or very much like death itself:! It is "devil deep" in Newfoundland.2 For
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fisher folk de..1lh al sea is the worst that can happen:
Quand arrive la mon en mer, celle-ci prend un sens plus tragique. Elle
signifie vraiment ce qu'elle emit autrefois chez les peuples moins instruits:
13 regression, Ie chaos, les tcnebres. 3
The sea, nevenheless, is a provider of life as well as a killer; answering no voice but God.
it is also an image of spiritual purity. For centuries. sailors have sought absolution before
going to it and feared to find themselves aboard with a murderer, criminal or adulterer.
The sea, thus, is sacred as much as cursed space, the ominous terrain of the immanent
confrontation of Good and Evil. As popular practices attest, its evil can effectively be
exorcized. This ambiguity of feeling also shows in the sailors' irreductible attraction to [he
sea despite an instinctive fear of it. 4
Mountaineers, desen people. and sailors appear to share a common worldview, which
is likely owing to their hazardous life environment and occupation:
Chez ces trois categories d'hommes, la frequentation du danger monel
detemline une vision du monde differente de celle des autres hommes. j
Deriving a livelihood from unforgiving elements, they gain a feeling of their smallness in
nature and a sharper consciousness of the absolute and fatality. Amid the awesome
immensity of their environment, notions of time. space and of oneself are minimized and
the consciousness of death heightened. Expens underscore fisher folk's powerful appeal
to religious and supernatural forces out of an acute sense of vulnerability. For Ilorace
Beck, "the mind of man is repelled by mystery and he mllst solve ilthrough either religion,
folklore or science."6 Michel Mollal agrees with Benoit Lacroix that insecurity fosters "un
besoin religieux d'apprivoiser l'espace."7 Maritime people tend to perceive angels, devils
and saints as real beings, and willingly depend on them. Underlying their belief there is
the fear of not receiving the last sacmments and a proper Christian burial, conditional to
IThis is Janel McNaughlon's proposilion wilh reference 10 Eliadc in her arlicJe: ·'I've
always believed in spirits, from thai time, anyway': Aspecls of Belicf in the Song 'The
Ghostly Sailors...• Cullure & Tradition 6 (1982): 21-31.
2Kelland 16.
3Lacroix 24 intcrprcting EJiade 109-16.
4Mollat 192.
jMollat 191.
6Beck IS.
7Lacroix 14; Mollat 191.