Manx of Mannin, a Celtic Island Nation of the Irish Sea

On a green island set in the middle of the Irish Sea, at the very heart of the British Isles, live the Manx, one of the Celtic nations. Heirs to a Gaelic culture and a strong Norse heritage, keepers of one of the world’s oldest parliaments, and famous for reviving a language that had all but died, they have preserved a distinct island identity and a self-government reaching back a thousand years.

This is the story of who the Manx are: where they came from, how they lived by croft and herring boat, what they believe, and how they preserved and revived a Celtic identity on their island between the nations. It is a tale of Viking parliaments and carved crosses, of kippers and turnip lanterns, of a people whose triskelion flag, ancient Tynwald, and revived language carry the heritage of Mannin into the present day.

The Manx on Film

Origins
The Name
The Language
The Homeland
The Old Way of Life
Society and Community
Religion and Belief
Traditions
Crafts
Food
Festivals
History
Today

Origins

A Manx cross-slab — An early medieval Celtic and Norse cross-slab at Kirk Lonan.

The Manx are a Celtic people, the inhabitants of the Isle of Man, an island set in the Irish Sea at the very center of the British Isles, between Britain and Ireland. They are one of the Celtic nations, heirs to a Gaelic culture and, in revived form, a Gaelic language closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic, blended with a strong Norse heritage from the age of the Vikings.

The island was settled in ancient times by Celtic peoples, and it became part of the Gaelic world of the Irish Sea, sharing in the culture and language of the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland. The early Christian age left its mark in the many keeills, small chapels, and the carved crosses that are among the treasures of the island’s heritage.

A decisive influence came with the Vikings, who from the ninth century settled and ruled the Isle of Man, making it part of a Norse kingdom of the isles. The Norse left a deep imprint on the island, above all in its system of government, for the Manx parliament, the Tynwald, traces its origins to the assemblies of the Norse settlers and is counted among the oldest continuous parliaments in the world.

From this blend of Gaelic Celtic and Norse heritage grew the distinct Manx people, with their own Gaelic language, their ancient parliament, and a strong sense of island identity. Long a self-governing island under various overlords, and today a self-governing British Crown Dependency, the Manx remain one of the distinctive small nations of the British Isles.

The Name

The Manx call themselves in their own language Manninee, and their island Mannin or Ellan Vannin, while in English they are the Manx and their home the Isle of Man. The name is connected with old Celtic names for the island and, in legend, with the sea god Manannán, said to guard the island with his cloak of mist.

The island and its people have long been known by these names, and the Manx have a strong sense of being a distinct nation, one of the Celtic peoples, with their own language, parliament, and traditions, rather than simply part of Britain. The name Ellan Vannin, the Isle of Man, is used with pride and affection.

The great symbol of the Manx is the triskelion, the three armored legs joined at the thigh and running, which appears on the flag and coat of arms of the island, accompanied by the motto meaning that whichever way it is thrown, it will stand. This striking emblem of the three legs of Man is instantly recognizable as the sign of the island and its people.

The Isle of Man is today a self-governing Crown Dependency, not part of the United Kingdom, with its own parliament and wide autonomy, and the Manx name carries a strong sense of a distinct island nation. The Manx speak of Mannin and their heritage with pride, conscious of belonging to a Celtic people with an ancient identity of their own.

The Language

The Manx language, Gaelg, is a Celtic language of the Goidelic or Gaelic branch, closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic, from which it developed as the distinct speech of the Isle of Man. It is one of the great symbols of Manx identity, though its history, like that of Cornish, is unusual, for it died out as a community language before being revived in modern times.

Manx was the everyday speech of the island through the Middle Ages and into modern times, but over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it declined steadily as English spread, until by the twentieth century only a handful of native speakers remained. The last native speaker of Manx as a mother tongue died in the 1970s, and for a time the language was considered extinct.

Yet even as the last native speakers passed away, a movement had arisen to record, preserve, and revive the Manx language, and through the efforts of enthusiasts and scholars, drawing on recordings, texts, and the kinship with Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Manx was brought back into use. The revival gathered strength, and the language was taught, spoken, and passed to a new generation.

Today Manx is a revived language, taught in schools, including a Manx-language primary school, used in signs, ceremonies, music, and cultural life, and spoken by a growing community, so that the island once again has young native speakers. This revival from apparent extinction is a remarkable success, and the Manx tongue is once more a living mark of the identity of the people of Mannin.

The Homeland

The homeland of the Manx is the Isle of Man, an island of some size set in the middle of the Irish Sea, roughly equidistant from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, at the very heart of the British Isles. It is a land of green hills, moors, glens, and a beautiful coastline of cliffs, bays, and beaches, crowned by the single mountain of Snaefell.

From the summit of Snaefell, it is said, one can see the surrounding lands of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, a reminder of the island’s central position in the seas between them. The interior is a country of hills and upland moors cut by wooded glens, while the coast offers dramatic cliffs, harbors, and the beaches and headlands of the island.

The sea surrounds and defines the Isle of Man, and the island’s life has always been bound to it, whether through fishing, seafaring, or the traffic of the Irish Sea. The mild climate, warmed by the sea, and the green and varied landscape give the island a character of its own, distinct from the lands around it.

The towns of the island, above all the capital, Douglas, on the east coast, along with Peel, Ramsey, Castletown, and the villages, carry the life and history of the Manx, while the hills, glens, and coast preserve the traditional character of the land. This green island at the center of the British seas is the homeland at the heart of Manx identity.

The Old Way of Life

For most of their history the Manx were a people of farmers, fishermen, and, in later times, miners, living on their island in the midst of the Irish Sea. Farming, in the crofts and small fields of the hills and lowlands, and the raising of livestock, including the distinctive native Manx breeds, formed the basis of the traditional rural economy.

The sea was the other great element of Manx life, and fishing was central, above all the great herring fishery that was long the mainstay of the island’s economy, drawing the boats of the Manx fishing fleet from the harbors of Peel and the other ports. The herring, salted or smoked into the famous Manx kippers, was a staple of island life.

The traditional Manx dwelling was the thatched croft, and villages such as Cregneash, now preserved as a folk museum, keep alive the picture of this old way of life, with its cottages, its crofts, and its bond to the land and the sea. Mining, above all of lead and other metals, added another way of life in some parts of the island.

This world of croft, fishing boat, and mine, bound to the land and the sea of the island, though much changed by modern times and the rise of tourism, is remembered and preserved in the folk museums and the traditions of the Manx. The crofting, fishing, and pastoral heritage, the crafts, and the customs of the villages are cherished as the roots of the people.

Society and Community

Traditional Manx society was built around the family, the parish, and the community of the croft, the harbor, and the chapel, in a world of farming and fishing on an island at the heart of the British seas. Close bonds of community and a strong sense of island identity marked the Manx, along with the customs and traditions handed down through the generations.

A distinctive feature of Manx society is its ancient tradition of self-government, embodied above all in the Tynwald, the island’s parliament, whose origins reach back to the Norse age and which is counted among the oldest continuous parliaments in the world. This long tradition of governing their own affairs gave the Manx a strong sense of nationhood.

Religion, and above all the Methodism that spread widely on the island alongside the older Anglican church, was a central force in society, its chapels a focus of community life. The parish and the chapel, together with the customs of the farming and fishing year, ordered the life of the traditional Manx communities.

Shaped by their island, their ancient self-government, and their Celtic and Norse heritage, the Manx developed a strong sense of themselves as a distinct people. In modern times, alongside the great changes brought by tourism and finance, a cultural revival has reasserted Manx identity, and the bonds of community, the pride in the Tynwald, and the attachment to Ellan Vannin remain important.

Religion and Belief

A Manx churchyard — The Cross House at Kirk Maughold, sheltering ancient Manx crosses.

The Manx share in the long Christian history of the Celtic and British world, and their island has a deep Christian heritage reaching back to the age of the early Celtic saints. The many keeills, small ancient chapels, scattered across the island, and the carved Celtic and Norse crosses preserved in its churchyards, are relics of this early Christian past.

These Manx crosses, many of them from the age of the Norse settlement and carved with a striking blend of Christian and Norse motifs, including scenes from the old Norse legends, are among the treasures of the island’s heritage, gathered and preserved at churches such as Kirk Maughold. They testify to the meeting of Celtic Christian and Norse traditions on the island.

From the eighteenth century, Methodism spread widely on the Isle of Man, taking deep root alongside the established Anglican church, and its chapels and traditions became an important part of Manx community and cultural life. The Methodist heritage, with its hymns and its strong hold on the fishing and farming communities, remains part of the island’s religious character.

The Christian faith, in its Anglican and Methodist forms, along with the ancient heritage of the Celtic saints and the Manx crosses, remains woven into the culture and landscape of the island. The keeills, crosses, and churches, and the customs of the religious year, are a distinctive part of the heritage of the Manx people.

Traditions

Manx traditions are rich in music, folklore, festival, and custom, and they have enjoyed a strong revival as part of the assertion of Manx identity in modern times. Song and music lie close to the Manx heart, and the island has a distinctive heritage of folk music, song, and dance, alongside a rich body of folklore and legend.

The folklore of the Isle of Man is famous, peopled with fairies and spirits, and bound up with the sea and the misty hills, and old customs and beliefs long marked the life of the island. Among the most beloved traditions is Hop-tu-naa, the Manx celebration at the end of October, an ancient festival marking the old new year, when children carry carved turnip lanterns and sing traditional songs from door to door.

The Manx keep a rich heritage of folk dance and music, revived and cultivated in modern times, including customs such as the White Boys, a traditional midwinter mummers’ play and dance, and the music of fiddle and other instruments that accompanies the festivals and gatherings. These traditions carry the spirit of the island.

The great annual ceremony of Tynwald Day, when the laws are proclaimed on Tynwald Hill in both Manx and English, is itself a living tradition of extraordinary antiquity, blending the ancient and the national. Together with the folk customs, the music, the folklore, and the revived language, these traditions are cherished as vivid expressions of the Manx people and their Celtic identity.

Crafts

The native Manx Loaghtan sheep, source of a distinctive wool.

The crafts of the Manx grew from a land of crofts, hills, and sea, and from the tastes and needs of an island people. The working of wool was important, and the island has its own distinctive native breed, the Manx Loaghtan sheep, with its dark brown wool and, remarkably, its four or even six horns, whose wool is prized and woven into cloth and knitwear.

Weaving and knitting, using the wool of the island’s sheep, produced cloth, blankets, and garments, and the making of the traditional Manx tweed and knitwear is a valued craft. The distinctive Loaghtan wool, and the tartan and tweed of the island, are signature products of the Manx craft tradition.

The sea gave rise to its own crafts, above all boatbuilding and the making of gear for the great herring fishery, along with the curing and smoking of the herring into the famous Manx kippers, a craft in itself carried on at the smokehouses of Peel. The crafts of the fisherman and the boatbuilder were central to island life.

Alongside these, the working of stone, wood, and metal served the crofts and villages, and the island’s heritage of carved crosses testifies to an ancient tradition of the stone-carver’s art. These crafts, above all the working of the distinctive Manx wool and the curing of the kipper, along with weaving and boatbuilding, are cherished as a valued part of Manx culture.

Food

Manx cuisine is the hearty food of an island people of farmers and fishermen, rooted in the produce of the crofts, the hills, and above all the sea. Simple and satisfying, it reflects the working life of the island and its deep bond with the herring fishery and the produce of the land.

The most famous Manx food is the kipper, the herring split, salted, and smoked over oak, above all at the smokehouses of Peel, a delicacy known far beyond the island and a symbol of its great fishing heritage. Fresh and cured fish and shellfish from the surrounding sea, including the scallops known as queenies, are central to the cuisine.

The land provides lamb and mutton, above all from the native Manx Loaghtan sheep, whose meat is prized, along with the beef, dairy, and vegetables of the crofts and farms. Hearty dishes of meat, fish, and potato, and the broths and stews of island cooking, are characteristic of the traditional fare.

Baking, too, has its place, from the traditional bonnag, a kind of soda bread, to the cakes and treats of the island. Rooted in the herring fishery, the crofts, and the native sheep, and famous above all for the Manx kipper and the queenies, Manx cuisine is a hearty and cherished expression of the island’s way of life.

Festivals

The festivals of the Manx blend ancient custom, the Christian calendar, and the celebration of national identity, and they are cherished as vivid expressions of the culture and spirit of the island. Old seasonal customs, saints’ days, and above all the great national ceremony of Tynwald Day mark the Manx year.

The supreme festival of the Manx is Tynwald Day, held on the fifth of July, the national day of the Isle of Man, when the members of the Tynwald and the people gather at Tynwald Hill at St John’s for an open-air ceremony of extraordinary antiquity, reaching back to the Norse age, at which the laws passed during the year are proclaimed aloud in both Manx and English.

This ancient ceremony, with its procession, its hill of four tiers, and its proclamation of the laws, is a living link to the island’s thousand-year tradition of self-government and a great expression of Manx nationhood, drawing crowds each year in a celebration that is both solemn and festive.

Alongside Tynwald Day, the island keeps the old customs of the seasons, above all Hop-tu-naa at the end of October with its turnip lanterns and songs, and festivals of Manx music, dance, and culture that celebrate the revived language and the heritage of the island. These festivals, blending the ancient and the national, are joyful expressions of the pride of the Manx in their identity.

History

The history of the Manx is that of a Celtic and Norse island people at the heart of the British seas. Settled by Celtic peoples and drawn into the Gaelic world of the Irish Sea, the island received its early Christianity from the age of the saints, before the coming of the Vikings from the ninth century transformed its history.

Under Norse rule, the Isle of Man became part of a Kingdom of the Isles, and it was the Norse who established, or gave lasting form to, the island’s assembly, the Tynwald, which has continued to meet ever since and is counted among the oldest parliaments in the world. This blend of Gaelic and Norse heritage shaped the Manx nation.

After the Norse age, the island passed under Scottish and then English influence, and was long ruled by lords of Man, above all the Stanley family, before its lordship was eventually revested in the British Crown in the eighteenth century. Yet throughout, the Isle of Man kept its own laws, its parliament, and its distinct status, never becoming simply part of England.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the island’s old fishing and farming economy was transformed, above all by the rise of tourism and, later, by the growth of finance, while the Manx language declined toward apparent extinction before its modern revival. Today the Isle of Man is a self-governing Crown Dependency with wide autonomy, and a strong revival of the language and culture has reaffirmed the distinct identity of the Manx people.

Today

Today the Manx are the people of the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, numbering some tens of thousands, with their own ancient parliament, the Tynwald, and wide control over their own affairs. Douglas, the capital, is the center of island life, while the towns, villages, hills, and coast carry the heritage of the Manx.

Modern Manx life is prosperous, its economy transformed from the old fishing and farming and the later heyday of tourism into a center of finance, insurance, and other services, alongside a still-important tourism drawn by the island’s scenery, heritage, and the famous motorcycle races. The island enjoys a high standard of living and a distinct identity.

Manx identity has enjoyed a strong revival in recent decades, above all in the remarkable revival of the Manx language, brought back from apparent extinction and now taught to a new generation, along with a flourishing of Manx music, culture, and tradition, and pride in the Tynwald, the flag of the three legs, and the Celtic heritage of the island.

Through the long centuries since the Celts and the Norse, the Manx have preserved a distinct identity as an island people with their own language, parliament, and traditions, at the heart of the British seas. A proud Celtic nation of Mannin, holding to their ancient self-government and reviving their language, the Manx remain one of the distinctive peoples of Europe.