Crossing the Line

Jonah and the Whale by Gaspard Dughet

My story of initiation, though not gory and obviously painful like that of the bullet ant, crocodile scarification and the land diver, I saw it more as the transformation from an older ritual.  In the initiation of crossing the line, sailors are required to perform different ritualistic activities such as crawling through garbage, kissing the Royal Baby, passing an inspection by Davey Jones and so on.  But there is more meaning to this than meets the eye.  What one might pass off as just a dumb activity of bored sailors at sea, others can see the deeper and darker side to this.  In the ritual, King Neptune and Queen Amphitrite, as well as Davey Jones, play an important role in the ceremony.   From Ovid's story, itself, we know that Neptune is the god of the seas and controls the waves and storms.  Superstitious sailors were very careful not to upset Neptune, in order to ensure safe sailing and reaching their destination. These men knew that the god would playfully send a storm to splinter a ship, and therefore did everything in their power to make sure that his wrath was never sent their way.   Ancient seamen did these ceremonies to pay homage to Neptune, sacrificing a goat or ox to the god during their journey.  Where the ship was during the sacrifice was just as important as the sacrifice itself.  Locations near certain capes, temples or lines (such as the equator) made the sacrifice more acceptable to Neptune.  Sometimes, though, a man would be offered to the god, such as in Jonah's case.  In the biblical myth from the bible, Jonah was instructed by God to go to the city of Nineveh in order to prophesy to the city's people.  When Jonah flees in the opposite direction, God sends a storm upon the ship he is traveling on.  Jonah tells the sailors aboard to throw him over the side and the seas will calm.  Just as he said, the seas calm when Jonah is thrown overboard.  He is swallowed by a whale and stays three days and three nights inside the whale before being spit out on shore.   While researching Davey Jones, I found that links he links to Jonah and this may be where the myth of the Sailors devil originates.  I found it interesting that this modern initiation had the deeper meaning that it did and the connections that can be found woven throughout it.