Easwegian People

The Easwegian people are both a nationality and ethnicity of people who have lived in Easway, namely Bear Island, Hopen, and occasionally other parts of Svalbard for the last millenia. When referring to the nationality; it refers to all citizens of Easway. When referring to the ethnicity; it refers to the people of Easway who have lived on the Island since them coming as Norsemen in 1194, as contested in the Icelandic Annals, and who speak the Easwegian language.

Etymology
The name Easwegian comes from the old English Ēasterne, meaning Eastern, and vegr, now replaced with wegian, meaning way.

In the Easwegian language, the name for the people is either Jezerri or Zerri. Meaning rich person. This is a relatively modern term to refer to all Easwegian citizens, as in the Easwegian language the ethnic Easwegians are distinguished with the term Jessrini, or just Essrini, coming from the name for the Municipality of Essrina. Essrina itself comes from an old Balto-Slavic word meaning lake "Ezero", or the Old Prussian word "Assaran", which is often confused as a false friend with the native Easwegian name for Easway, Ezerrye. This does not come from the word lake but instead means "the rich realm."

In Norwegian, the word for Easwegians is Jarnske, and comes from the word Jarn or Jern meaning iron. This comes as both a description for the will of the Easwegian people but also for Easway's rich abundency in rare minerals.

Cultural Mythology
In the Mythology, the Aurora Borealis played a major part in the spiritual folklore of the Easwegian people. They would often use the Mountains on Bear Island and Hopen to better be closer to the lights, and would attempt to build taller structures where they could use the rooftops to gaze into the Northern lights. The Aurora was seen as a sort of gateway to heaven, or as a place where the souls of the dead; namely their family members would be dancing or watching over them until they passed on and joined them.

The importance of the Mountains to view the Aurora as well as use for other spiritual practices on Bear Island was one of the main causes for the war of 1819 in Realmsedge between native Easwegians and colonising Norwegians.