Title: The Nuckelavee

General Information about Item:

• Superstition
• Language: English
• Culture of Origin: Scottish
• Informant: WWM
• Date Collected: 10-30-2021

Informant Data:

WWM was born and grew up in New York. His mom is British-Jamaican, who moved to the USA when she was a teenager, and his dad is an Austrian citizen with Scottish roots. WWM graduated from Dartmouth College in 2020 with a degree in engineering. He is fluent in 2 languages: English and German. WWM is also a talented violinist, who has attended the Juilliard School, and a skilled fencer.

Contextual Data

Cultural Context: Scottish culture has a very diverse background that was influenced by neighboring cultures and was enriched by the contact with various other European cultures. Most Scottish people are religious, so different superstitions and folktales involving supernatural creatures are pretty common.

Social Context: As a child WWM was scared of any large body of water (especially seas and oceans). Thus, in order to calm him down WWM’s dad told him a story of a sea demon and taught him how to defend himself against it.

Item: 

The Nuckelavee is a mythical sea creature that looks like a horse-like demon on the land. Its name means “Devil of the Sea”, and it is the most evil demon in and around Scottish islands. The Nuckelavee’s breath is considered to be toxic, because it wilts crops and sickens livestock. The demon also is believed to bring droughts and epidemics. Since the Nuckelavee is a sea creature, splashing it with fresh water will cause him to retreat.

Collector’s name: Amina O.