Alastair Kneale's blog

Isle of Man Post Office (Manx: Oik Postagh Ellan Vannin) has issued a new set of stamps with a theme of Manx Winter. Featuring Manx wintery locations with the use of Celtic font. The artwork is by a Manx illustrator Julia Ashby Smyth well known for her distinctively Manx/Celtic illustrations.

Remembrance day in many parts of the world is observed annually on 11the November to mark the end of hostilities at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. The First World War (28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918) is one of the deadliest conflicts in history, it is estimated that it resulted in the death of over nine million combatants and seven million civilians.

Interesting article (below) from the Mannin (Isle of Man ) Branch of the Celtic League. Looking at the performance of the Manx government after the last election to the House of Keys (Manx: Yn Kiare as Feed), which is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man. Should not come as too much of a surprise for those in Britain seeking a new government. Given that the present Labour Party opposition, under their leader, Kier Starmer, is indistinguishable from the present Tory Government.

'IT’S GOING WELL…

Culture Vannin - Media Release

Nominate your cultural hero for the prestigious RBV Award

It’s time to think about who should be awarded the Isle of Man’s top cultural award, the ‘Reih Bleeaney Vanannan’, known as the RBV for short.

King Orry's Grave in Laxey, Isle of Man (Manx: Laksaa, Mannin) is approximately 6000 years old. There are two tombs on this site which at one time could have been connected.

Balladoole is clearly a remarkable historical and archaeological site. The hilltop overlooking the coast at Baie ny Carrickey southeast of Port St Mary, Isle of Man (Manx: Purt le Moirrey, Mannin) has been used for millennia as a place of ritual by peoples of many different beliefs. Excavations of the hilltop have uncovered Mesolithic remains; a Bronze Age cist; an Iron Age hill fort; a Christian keeill ( small chapel); a Christian burial ground, and a Viking Age boat burial.

London Manx Society (Manx: Yn Cheshaght Manninagh Lunnin) will be holding their Mhelliah Service at St Bride's Church in London's Fleet Street on Monday 3rd October 2022. A Mhelliah is a traditional Celtic harvest festival that remains popular on the Isle of Man, and is celebrated annually by London Manx Society. In his novel 'The Manxman', a 1894 novel by the Manx writer Hall Caine (14 May 1853 – 31 August 1931), he describes the Mhelliah festival:

There are only six Celtic languages spoken in the world today: Breton, Cornish, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Manx and Welsh. For centuries there has been a systematic campaign to destroy the native languages of the Celtic lands. The use of these languages was banned in schools and work places by brutal means in Alba (Scotland), Breizh (Brittany), Cymru (Wales), Éire (Ireland), Kernow (Cornwall) and Mannin (Isle of Man). 

Standing on its original site in the churchyard of St Adamnan's Church in the Parish of Lonan (Manx Gaelic: Skyll Lonan) on the Isle of Man (Mannin) is a very beautiful Celtic Cross. It is one of a number of Celtic Crosses in the churchyard that date back to the 5th century. One of the early Keeils (a Manx Gaelic word for a church), St Adamnan's Church is on the site of an earlier keeill dating from the 5th century. Often simply referred to as "Lonan Old Church" it was originally known in Manx as Keeill ny-Traie, or "the chapel by the shore" and is on the eastern side of the Island.

News from Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering:

"Come and join us for our 45th festival!

25 - 31st July 2022