Christmas in the Isle of Man
The Foolish Fortnight, carvals by candlelight and Hunt the Wren on St Stephen’s Day.
Everything on this page comes from Culture Vannin, the Isle of Man’s culture body, mostly from its Manx music newsletter for December 2016 and its short history of Hunt the Wren. Manx Gaelic spellings vary: the newsletter writes Oie’l Verrey and Culture Vannin’s video page writes Oie’ll Verree. We use both.
The Foolish Fortnight
In the Isle of Man, Christmas was a break from hard work called the “Foolish Fortnight”, in Manx Gaelic “Yn Kegeesh Ommidjagh”. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
The Foolish Fortnight began on the shortest day, Black Thomas’ Eve (now 21 December), and ended on Twelfth Night (6 January, or Old Christmas Day). Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Very little work was done. The time was spent singing, dancing, eating, playing sports and games, and visiting. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas) Fiddlers were hired at Christmas to play for dancing, and their fee was called “Yn Unnysup”. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Early on Christmas morning, fiddlers called at houses to wake everyone up for their presents. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Oie’l Verrey: singing carvals on Christmas Eve
Oie’l Verrey (also spelt Oie’ll Verree) means the Eve of the Feast of Mary: Christmas Eve. After the evening service, the parish clerk and congregation stayed in church to sing carvals, carols in Manx Gaelic. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Culture Vannin calls the Oie’ll Verree on Christmas Eve perhaps the key event in the traditional Manx song year. Culture Vannin: Oie’ll Verree and the Manx carval tradition
Carvals rarely told the Nativity story. They were usually sung without instruments, by a male singer. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas) A carval might last as long as it took to walk and sing from the back of the church to the altar, or as long as a lit taper (a thin candle) took to burn out. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Some carvals were 320 verses long. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas) The congregation cheered at the end of each verse, and women might fling parched peas at their bachelor friends. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
A.W. Moore published a collection of carval texts, Carvalyn Ghailckagh, in 1891. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Hunt the Wren
Hunt the Wren happens on St Stephen’s Day, 26 December, and has gone on in the Isle of Man without a break for longer than written records. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom In Manx Gaelic, Hunt the Wren is Shelg yn Drean. It is a music and dance tradition performed on St Stephen’s Day. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Today, groups go round their local community with a decorated wren pole, singing and dancing. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom
It was first written about in the Isle of Man in the 1720s, when it was already said to be ancient. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom The Hunt the Wren tune was first printed in Mona’s Melodies in 1820. The words were first printed in 1845, in an account by Joseph Train, and have hardly changed since. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom
By the 1890s, catching a real wren had become rare. Instead, just the decorated wren pole was carried round the houses with singing. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom The first known photographs of Hunt the Wren were taken in 1904, in Ramsey and in Douglas. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom
The dance was thought lost, but it survived as a children’s game in Lezayre, where Mona Douglas wrote it down in 1925. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom In the Manx cultural revival of the 1970s and 80s, Hunt the Wren was brought back with a new focus on the dance, and it now flourishes in towns and villages across the island. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom
Hunt the Wren was once found across the British Isles and parts of northern Europe, but long ago died out everywhere except the Isle of Man and Ireland. It has recently been revived in parts of England. Culture Vannin: Hunt the Wren, a short history of a Manx custom
Culture Vannin’s 2016 newsletter reminded wren groups that the singing, dancing and hunting the wren must be over by 12 noon “to avoid bad luck”. Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas)
Culture Vannin gives Twelfth Night as 6 January (Old Christmas Day). Culture Vannin: Kiaull Manninagh Jiu, December 2016 (Manx music and dance at Christmas) Britannica puts it a day earlier; see when sources disagree.