Why Do We Do These Things?

Ringeys, fairies, and tailless cats, the land of the Manx is a strange one, but where do some of our superstitions come from?

Rebecca Brahde takes a look at some of the unwritten rules of our island.

Ringey/Long Tail

The superstition came about in the 1600s, according to the Manx Post Office.

The Duke of Atholl, Sir Methadonia Atholl was due to receive a knighthood, and travelled to England to receive his honour from Queen Elizabeth I. When he returned as a knight,, he left his ship anchored in Douglas Bay and jumped into a small boat to get to the shore.

It was as he stepped across from the boat to the landing jetty when he accidentally stood on a, you know… long tail, which then bit his foot. He stumbled, tripped and fell head first into a barrel, which was there to be taken to the ship.

He broke his nose, and, under ancient Manx law, no man with a facial disfigurement was allowed to be a ruling member of the nobility. Sir Methadonia was forced to step down and hand the Dukedom to his eldest son Tastingio.

From then on, it has been considered unlucky to utter the word r-a-t.

Hello Fairies

As we all know, the superstition  is that if you don’t say hello to the fairies, you may be the subject to their malicious, mischievous side.

The fairy bridge as many of us acknowledge it now, is not where the tradition begun.  The old fairy bridge is near Kewaigue school.

The tradition stems from when Catholicism was illegal on the island.  The bridge used to sit at the boundary of church lands and took a toll on those passing over. When the church was ousted, the common people took to saying hello to the fairies and leaving offerings for them as a hidden way of supporting the Church, as public support of the religion would have been criminal.

As fewer people were going to the old fairy bridge, the decision was made to make it more accessible, as it would draw in tourists. This is why it was then moved to the A5. The tradition was revived in the 1940s when tourists were encouraged by local coach drivers to say hello to the Fairies to bring them good luck.

One door shuts, the other, wait I can’t go out that door

The convenience of having two doors to enter or exit a building is wasted on Manx people. Tradition is you cannot leave a building using a different door than one that you entered through.

Manx people each year used to take two twigs of Mountain Ash and tie them into a cross and fix the cross to the door for good luck.  The cross resembled the hammer of Thor, and the Mountain Ash is said to be powerful at keeping evil spirits away.

As the door with the cross would protect them from witches and other evil spirits, this  was always the door that they would enter and leave through.