The Skeppsrå [Swedish Mythology]

The Skeppsrå [Swedish mythology]

In Swedish folklore, the term ‘Rå’ is used to refer to a specific class of spirits. These beings are each tied to one specific habitat or domain, which they rule and protect. There is the Bergrå, the spirit of the mountains, who inhabits tall mountaintops. The Skogsrå is the guardian spirit of the forest, the Sjörå rules over a lake or other body of water, etc. But not all of the Rå spirits are tied to a natural habitat: some have become the spirit of man-made locations or buildings. There are guardian ‘Rå’ spirits of churches, stables, mine tunnels, etc. And then there is the Skeppsrå: the ship spirit. These beings are usually depicted as small, bearded men, often dressed in a sailor’s outfit. Some depictions give them some supernatural characteristics, such as elf-like pointed ears. 

True to their nature as protective spirits of a ship, a Skeppsrå warns the crew of a boat of storms, bad weather and disasters that will hit the ship. Each Skeppsrå is bound to one specific vessel. As the subject of folktales, they aren’t as common as their more powerful cousins which rule over a specific biome. As such, information about them is quite scarce. The most complete account that I could find is that of Johan Egerkrans in his book ‘Nordiska Väsen’, however this work was intended as entertainment rather than a historically accurate collection of old folktales, but he does cite his sources, which is more than I can say for most authors in that genre. In any case, he describes the creatures as follows:

The Skeppsrå, also sometimes called Skeppsnisse, maintains the woodwork of a ship, exterminating pests like woodworm and preventing the wood from rotting or deteriorating. It keeps the order on a boat and will therefore punish sailors and crewmembers who are drunk or careless. Still, having a Skeppsrå on board is an enormous boon.

A Skeppsrå does not choose an existing boat to inhabit, rather it will oversee the creation of a vessel while it is still in the shipyard. There is an old story that the Skeppsrå was originally a wood spirit bound to a tree. If a tree inhabited by such a being is chopped down and used as lumber to make a ship’s keel, the spirit will become a Skeppsrå and is usually bound to the ship for the rest of its existence. In rare cases, the lumber used to build a boat comes from two spirit-inhabited trees. When that happens, both of the spirits become Skeppsrå and will fight among themselves for the right to oversee the ship. If they are particularly violent spirit, their squabbles might even damage the boat. In one old folktale, two such spirits were careless and their argument was so loud that a sailor discovered them. The man questioned the two strange little men and patiently overheard their arguments. He resolved the argument by appointing one of the two spirits to become the ship’s Skeppsrå, and promised to build another vessel so that the other spirit could become the Skeppsrå of that ship.

Curiously, this last story is virtually identical to an old German myth about a similar spirit called a Klabautermann. When a child died unbaptized and a tree grew on top of its grave, the ghost of the infant would inhabit the tree. Sometimes, the lumber of such a tree would be used to build a ship, and the ghost would become a Klabautermann: a protective spirit bound to that ship. Much like the Skeppsrå, these beings would appear as small, bearded men. Thus, I believe that these two folktales differentiated from the same original story.

Sources: Klintberg, B. A., 2014, Svenska Folksägner, Norstedts, 529 pp. Egerkrans, J., 2013, Nordiska Väsen, B.Wahlströms, 126 pp. Lecouteux, C., 2016, Encyclopedia of Norse and Germanic Folklore, Mythology, and Magic. (image source 1: Johan Egerkrans, illustration for Nordiska Väsen) (image source 2: a Klabautermann, by Hetman80 on Deviantart)