Sea Mither, or Mither of the Sea, is a mythical being of Orcadian folklore that lives in the sea during summer, when she confines the demonic

nuckelavee The nuckelavee () or nuckalavee is a horse-like demon from Orkney, Orcadian folklore that combines Equus (genus), equine and human elements. British folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs, Katharine Briggs called it "the nastiest" of all the demons ...

to the ocean depths. Each spring she battles with her arch-enemy Teran, another spirit of Orcadian legend capable of causing severe winter storms, to gain control of the seas and the weather. Eventually Sea Mither overcomes Teran and sends him to the depths of the ocean, but the effort of keeping him confined there along with her other benevolent labours during the summer exhaust her, until in the autumn Teran takes advantage of her weakness to wrest control from her once again. Stories of the Sea Mither and Teran are among Orkney's oldest legends, perhaps invented to explain the vagaries of weather and other naturally occurring events. In

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, fishermen petition Sea Mither to afford them protection from the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

Etymology

''Mither'' is defined in the ''

Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue The ''Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue'' (DOST) is a 12-volume dictionary that documents the history of the Scots language covering Older Scots from the earliest written evidence in the 12th century until the year 1700. DOST was compil ...

'' as the Scots variant of "mother", which may particularly reflect oral Orcadian use. The name of her opponent, ''Teran'', is local

Orkney dialect Orcadian dialect or Orcadian Scots is a dialect of Insular Scots, itself a dialect of the Scots language. It is derived from Lowland Scots, with a degree of Norwegian influence from the Norn language. Due to the influence of Orkney fur traders ...

meaning "furious anger", and may be a derivative of ',

Norse Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nor ...

for "angry".

Folk beliefs

Description and common attributes

Sea Mither is a spirit of summer days that quells the turbulent sea waters around the northern isles of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. Shetland islanders, particularly fishermen, seek her protection from the

. Control of the seas is maintained by Teran, the spirit of winter, until Sea Mither arrives around the time of the vernal equinox in mid-March. Both spirits are invisible to humans. Teran is her arch-enemy and the pair fight bitterly, often for weeks as she tries to gain control. Their arguments cause gale-force winds and heavy tumultuous seas as she tries to wrest control from him. Teran's screeches are carried by the howling gales as the two spirits try to oust each other. The period of the spring combat between the pair is termed the ''"Vore tullye"'' or the "spring struggle". Eventually Sea Mither overcomes Teran, relegating him to the depths of the ocean; inclement summer weather is caused by Teran's attempts to escape. During summer months the Sea Mither also keeps the demonic

creature confined, and undertakes benevolent labours: she empowers aquatic creatures with the ability to reproduce; warms and calms the seas; and instils a softer song-like quality to the gentle summer breeze. According to

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

and Orkney resident, Walter Traill Dennison, during Sea Mither's reign in summer the conditions reported by islanders may have "tempted one to believe that the Orkney archipelago had become the islands of the blessed." But the continual work she undertakes to keep everything calm and the strain of maintaining control over Teran gradually tires her. As autumn approaches, Teran takes advantage of Sea Mither's exhaustion to break free, and conflict between the two starts again. The power struggles cause the weather to change with darkening skies and howling winds. This time, Teran triumphs in the conflict termed the ''"Gore vellye"''. Control of the ocean and weather is returned to Teran and Sea Mither is forced to leave. No details are given as to where she spends the winter, but during the storms caused by Teran the fishermen were consoled that Sea Mither would return refreshed and powerful in the spring, to again oust Teran from his malevolent grip over the seas.

Origins

Orcadian tales were strongly influenced by

Scandinavian mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern perio ...

with a blending of traditional Celtic stories. Folklorist and writer

Ernest Marwick Ernest Walker Marwick (born 1915 Evie, Orkney; died July 1977) was an Orcadian writer noted for his writings on Orkney folklore and history. Marwick's father was a travelling salesman who had a smallholding in the parish of Evie, to the north of ...

describes the Sea Mither and Teran as "pure personifications of nature." Several ancient myths were based upon the natural elements of the turbulent and ever changing sea surrounding Orkney, but the stories of the two spirits are among the oldest legends on the islands. People had to be able to explain the vagaries of weather and other natural life cycles without the benefit of science; Traill Dennison hypothesises that this is why "the imagination of some half savage" may have formed the foundations of the myth.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Scottish mythology, state=collapsed Orcadian culture Orkney Scottish coast Scottish folklore Scottish legendary creatures