Hop Tu Naa
I like Hop tu naa. It’s the one night of the year I can go out for a drink without transforming from my pig-form.
I used to love Hop tu naa a lot more before it morphed into Halloween and I loved it even more before it became Americanised with the gawd awful trick or treat.
Hop tu naa was (or is) the original New Years eve on the Isle of Man but then new years day got moved from November 1st to January 1st and folk started to forget what it was they were actually supposed to be celebrating. That’s Christians for you.
I remember how the Celts would celebrate Hop tu naa when it really was new years eve. Now that was a party!
When I used to haunt live in the area of Grenaby I would visit Silverburn on Hop tu naa to watch the celtic festival. Folk of Mann would gather from all over the South of the island to join in.
They always had a special Hop tu naa supper of potatoes, parsnips and fish mashed together with butter and they would leave out the leftovers for the fairies hoping they would grant them a good new year.
As if fairies would eat fish lol.
Me and the Buggane would fill our boots that night without a doubt. Once the Celts were asleep with full bellies of mead we would move in and stuff ourselves silly!
What else did they do on Hop tu naa? Oh yea, they would give the virgins a piece of special cake and they were told to eat it while walking backwards to their bed.
If they did this they were meant to have their future husband visit them in a dream. If he did they would be married in the new year. If they didn’t, well it’s another year helping mother smoke the herring.
Once me and the Buggane had had our fill of fish and potato mash we would visit the villages and farms around Rushen where we knew some of these young ladies would now be asleep hoping to dream the dream.
Sneaking up to the fair maidens bedroom window I would gently tap calling out “oh lovvverrr”.
They’d stir and remembering the cake would come to the window hoping to see a vision of their future husband and there I’d be on the other side of the window – tusks freshly polished and snout healthily wet and shining in the glare of the full moon.
The girls shriek would see us running for the woods howling with laughter.
Now those were the days.
