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…
Tag:
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…