Odd numbers belong to the gods above, even numbers to the gods below. The latter seem to have the chief say in most men’s lives and deaths, nevertheless, the number …
folk tales
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On the coast of Lonan, about a mile and a half eastward of Laxey is Struan-y-Granghie, a little streamlet that comes tumbling over high cliffs of rock before it enters …
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It was customary to keep this festival on the eve of the first of February, in honour of the Irish lady who came over to the Isle of Man to …
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Every ditch had to be full of rain or snow on St Bridget’s Day so that the old Caillagh, or hag, could not gather brasnags or faggots (sticks) for firing. …
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“O Manannan, Lord of the stormy headlands, Cast thy mantle over us now!” The above lines were perhaps a charm, or part of a charm, for invisibility or protection by …
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The Manx people in former times held a belief, of which a memory still lingers, that once in several years the rising sun flashed on the world a momentary ray …
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Once upon a time there landed at the Lhane river a number of Danes, who took possession of that part of the Island. Amongst them was a huge monster of …
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The importance attributed to keeping the Manx home-fires burning reappears in the apocryphal “law” believed to regulate squatters on other men’s land. If, after sufficient materials for four walls and …