I'm posting pre posting so the date will be Halloween when this goes live. Yes we celebrate Halloween on the island, although it goes by a different name - "Hop Tu Naa. " So is Halloween or Hop Tu Naa we celebrate and what is the difference?Hop Tu Naa is a corruption of "Shogh Ta'n Oie" meaning this is the night. What night though? That would be the Celtic New Year - "Oie Houney." The Celtic new year of course has since been moved to Jan. the Celtic year was separated in to 4 and Sauin- "New Year" was celebrated in "Mee Houney" the Manx for November. As Halloween is Oct 31th the new celebrations have become intergrated as one, although younger Manxies now assume "Hop Tu Naa" and Halloween is one in the same and is celebrated thus so.
Pumpkins are halloween, where as true Hop Ta Naa goer should be seen swinging a hollowed out turnip lantern and singing old manx folk songs, not trick or treating. Trick or treating is an American custom which has been adopted in the UK Halloween celebrations, and yes into Manx ones too.
So Hop Tu Naa like a lot of traditions has been swallowed up with a more commercial celebration and has less to to with celebrating the old New Year, and more to do with rotting kids teeth on sweets. Ramsey though and many parts of the island do try and uphold many of the Hop Tu Naa traditions and there is no finer sight than a group of Manxies, swinging those turnip lanterns and singing a manx song. It's also a little creepy to in a Wicker Man sense, but we won't go into that.
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131 comments:
Great reflection in the water. Do you carve turnips/swedes, I remember doing that when I was growing up in Cumbria.
Gill in Canada
That is a lovely photo. I also love the story about halloween. Thanks,
Ray
happy hop tu naa to you. this is a marvelous shot. the reflection is such a pleasant bonus.
An absolute beaut. Really.
Hi, great post, and fantastic info, very interesting, Love the photos, oh, Great film- The Wicker Man.lol.
Very interesting! I personally think that it is a shame that all the holidays have been turned into huge commercial events. Takes all the fun and joy out of them. Would love to see the swinging turnip lanterns and hear the singing. Beautiful photo!
What a beautiful photo! If I lived there I'd feel like a princess; the photo is wonderful. Thank you for sharing all the holiday information too, and I hope your weekend's a fun one!
Love the photo--the colors are wonderful. Your commentary is intriguing!
I love your reflection shots.
and no, you'd never want to go into a Wicker man - I hear they're quite flammable. poor Mr Woodward.
watch where you're swinging that turnip lantern, sister.
Thank You for the history (explain) for Halloween in island of Man...
Very nice photo with the reflet...
I'd love to say I'm surprised at you having your own halloween thing, but I'm not! The Isle of Man really is its own little world!
Happy Hop Tu Naa :)
Hee, hee, have fun rotting kids teeth there on the island. Love the photo! Happy Hop tu Naa to you!!
Well that is one beautiful photo! The reflection just doubles that pretty sky! I enjoyed learning about Hop T Naa customs - I think it sounds like a fine way to celebrate!
How interesting to read about Halloween traditions in your part of the world. I think I'd rather like to see a bunch of Manxies swinging turnip gourds and singing folk songs! Perhaps you can catch some on video and post it here for us? Have a Happy Tuna! (I know, I know, but that's what it sounds like when I read it!)
Fantastic Sky Watch and excellent explanation of Manx' Halloween customs!
B.
You nailed it again.
fantastic very nice I like you sky very much also Happy Haloween brrrr.
Happy skywatch from JOANN
mine is here:
www.joannwalraven.blogspot.com
LOve the reflection
This is an awesome shot- just beautiful!
Blog of note. Well done B.
Sounds like our Halloween. A bunch of traditions swallowed up by commercialism. Beautiful picture. I'm quite partical to reflections in water.
Lovely reflection photo of the sky on water. Very pretty scene. Halloween has such a long and varied history in different parts of the world always interesting to see what others are doing with the occassion.
Love the photo! Enjoyed the story. Thanks for sharing with us.
Paz
LB,
You kill me. Omg photo and strange Halloween night.
Babooshka: I just love you reflective photo and the neat story of your celebration. Very nice post.
Always fascinating posts, Baboosh, thank you! Like the idea of the turnip lanterns, 'cept I enjoy turnip greens too much to make the trade off. :) Anyway, Happy Hop Tu Naa to all!
This has a definite Halloween feel to it for sure. Love the reflections!
This is a truly peaceful scene! Impressive reflection!
I don't know what's more impressive, the sky or the reflection.
awesome! not just the sky but the building and water reflection. well captured =)
Nice photo for SWF. Love the reflection of the building in the water. Nice information on halloween. Most over here dont celebrate halloween. Have a nice weekend.
I love this photograph. Very beautiful and also an interesting post.
Lovely reflection in the water. Love the old bridge and the powerful skies.
LB,
Forgot to say, Red Bubble looking good. Will you upload all your rugby shots and well the photos off the blog. Ready to buy.
I really like your pictures, love the colors and reflections and the sky is beautiful. I don't give out candy on Halloween. I am going to give out bags of Doritos and cheese crackers.
Beautiful & great reflections!
Love that reflection!
Looks like Constable painted this - wonderful!!!!
Lovely with the full reflection on the waters :)
Happy Halloween!!
Nice job on parsing out the Halloween mash-up, thanks for stopping by.
Great reflection on the water and beautiful colours.
I love Halloween traditions and stories (the old ones). It is a bit pity that it is changing to something a bit different, more comercial. But still, it is fun:-)
Happy Halloween and Happy Skywatching:-)
Very nice photo and an interesting story about Halloween !
Lovely reflections! I knew turnips were hollowed out before pumpkins...must have been quite a chore; they're hard!
superb composition and capture as usual!!
what a great composition!!! fantastic reflection
clearly th manx version of halloween is more my style!
So Halloween is a mixture of Celtic traditions and ....What else? Where did it start and when? It was unknown in the Netherlands.I always thought that it was a Roman Catholic celebration and had to do with All Saints' or All Souls'Day.
I liked the reflection in your picture and your story about your tradition.
ce reflet d'halloween est superbe.
I actually hollowed out a sugar beet instead of a pumpkin this year! I pulled out a hhhhhhhuuuuge one from an abandoned field in Germany. Sugar beets used to be big business in there. There used to be factories everywhere to extract the sugar!
Happy Hop Tu Naa to you, Babooshka! Now I wish I'd carved a turnip instead of a pumpkin...
Hooray For Hop Tu Naa Yah!
BEAUTIFUL PHOTO!!!
have a nice weekend!!
Lovely, almost symetrical shot.
That's a gorgeous picture!
In Scotland the kids go "guising", which is where they have to actually perform something - a song, a card trick, a poem, etc - in order to get their treats. Typical Scots - nothing is for free, you have to work for your money.
Wonderful picture, I love the reflection!
Thanks for explication from "Hop Tu Naa", it is very interesting. I know something about "Samhain", I think it has the same roots, celtic New Year.
All Saints or All Souls has become purposeful added from the Christian church at this date.
Lovely reflections and breathtaking sky.
As always it is good to hear of the reason and tradition behind events.
Would you settle for guided tours of the Isle, if the book is too far off.
Let us know your fees and we will book a visit, bottle in hand.
Lovely reflections and breathtaking sky.
As always it is good to hear of the reason and tradition behind events.
Would you settle for guided tours of the Isle, if the book is too far off.
Let us know your fees and we will book a visit, bottle in hand.
Lovely reflections and breathtaking sky.
As always it is good to hear of the reason and tradition behind events.
Would you settle for guided tours of the Isle, if the book is too far off.
Let us know your fees and we will book a visit, bottle in hand.
Sorry that was not done in triplicate, the publish button was stuck.
However you may take it as an endorsement of your skills.
Greate photo. Happy Halloween!
An elegant photo. No Halloween here in Africa so I shall just experience it vicariously through your blog!
Wonderful photo!
As a Celt from Wales (though living in Ireland now) I've never bought a pumpkin - wouldn't know what to do with such newfangled stuff! We carve a swede/turnip and celebrate the Celtic New Year.
Then we do the one on Jan 1st, too!
Very pretty reflection.
Beautiful photo and I enjoyed the story...happy Hop Tu Naa to you :)
Great photo and cultural lesson! I can barely cut up a turnip for dinner without slicing my finger. I couldn't imaging carving a turnip lantern
A beautiful image. Looking forward to the turnip images after a bit of hop ta naa na naa na
Lovely photo, and I enjoyed reading about the celebrations in your corner of the world!
Love the pic and the story today. Thanks for visiting my blog. Yes, the UK treated me well. I loved it. I was hoping to include a day trip to Ramsey but could not quite fit it in. Maybe next time.
very cool
What a perfect shot. You are a marvel!
Dark and mysterious, i love this picture.
Great info and the next time I see someone swinging a turnip lantern and singing I'll know what exactly is going on. MB
What a lovely picture with those soft colours and the beautiful reflection. Great shot!
In the Netherlands we don't celebrate Halloween, but I wish you all the best for Halloween.
Interesting photo and information...
Happy Hop Tu Naa! What an interesting explanation of the cultural differences. Love the reflection shot!
Nice shot. Some would say that is the only use for a turnip.
Great photo and post, very interesting! Happy Hop Tu Naa!
That is a lovely photo. I love the reflections!
oh boy am i glad i found skywatch friday thanks to alive in wonderland! this sort of world travel is something i adore. thank you babooshka for visiting and for telling of your island's tradition. i really enjoyed visiting the isle of man today :)
I always learn so much about the Celts (my ancestors)from you, Babooshka! Thanks, I appreciate it so much! I love the warm tone of the photo! :)
Love the traditions! Thank you for the explanation! The reflections are stunning!
That photo looks like a lead in to a scary movie. Peaceful on the surface but you can feel the evil that will soon appear. The screenwriting for the into for the Isle of Man Turnip Swing is great. Thanks!
beautiful
THis is a great image! Happy HopTuNaa!
Outstanding SWF photo, love the reflections. I'm always learning and enjoyed you history lesson.
I loved reading all about this is the night. Striking photo; very unusual.
You've certainly nailed this one Babooshka. Perfect picture of The Bridge. I love the differences here on the island especially today with Hop-Tu-Naa. Hopefully like last year we will get a few children with the traditional turnip and songs knocking on the door.
Absolutely stunning image, Babooshka. The colours are so beautifully soft, like a painting.
I see you are using Red Bubble. An artist friend uses it and I ordered some cards and the quality was absolutely superb. You wait a while, being an Oz company, but well worth it.
Exquisite ...
Happy Hop Tu Naa
:-Daryl
What a beautiful picture. love the reflection!
Sky in(on?) water - beautiful!
Lovely photo. The reflection was nicely captured. I enjoyed reading about the Hop Tu Naa celebrations. Happy Skywatching~
What a great photo!
Have a nice weekend.
Wonderful reflection picture and interesting holiday information.
I love cool photos and these are amazing! I love them!
Check out my blog if you have time!
www.pemhr.blogspot.com
Lovely photo! That reflection is just amazing.
Interesting information abut your celebrations. I'd love to see some photos of those turnip lanterns.
What a gorgeous picture!! You certainly are an excellent photographer! I also love the story about Halloween! I enjoy reading your blog so much! It's so interesting and I'm learning so much! Please keep writing and posting your lovely pictures!!
What a cool blog, I have enjoyed reading it very much. I have never known much about your little island, apart from the fact that you had your own currency (I collected coins for years). I still have much to see here and will return. Hallowe'en is not an issue for me (NZer) I have written a Guy Fawkes piece on my blogs.
AV
http://netherregionoftheearthii.blogspot.com/
http://tomusarcanum.blogspot.com/
Great picture with beautiful reflections!
Have a great weekend!
Stunning shot. Happy SWF, and happy Hop Tu Naa.:)
- celine
http://indicainq8.wordpress.com
Great shot!
Hope everyone is having a Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain!
love this shot...thanks for stopping by my blog too.
happy halloween
I think children are very good at keeping Halloween real through their play and their choice and creation of costume. Thanks for this insight.
Beautiful photo and a great reflection! Your descriptions got my imagination going. I can see the little Hop Ta Naa goers swinging their turnip lanterns.
reflections are so awesome :)
I'm sure you won't get down this far, but this is a glorious scene. Want it for my wall. Bravo, B!
Stick with hop tu naa, it sounds so cool.
Well I guess you got enough comments, but this photo is gorgeous and you, Babooshka, are a gift to the blogging world. Thanks for everything you do.
Incredible, beautiful photo. And thanks for the international halloween lesson
Stunning reflection! The reflection seems to have more depth than the landscape above it! Amazing!
And love your Halloween-Manx connection! Intriguing! But do tell the Wicker Man narrative!
Hi Babs, I like your write-up. The lake with the pretty reflection and the old mill looking building make for a scary daytime Halloween or Hop Tu Naa.
Happy SkyWatching. (I've got a Guatemala sky today.)
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BTW, we stopped at Fairy Bridge on the way to the airport to wish the fairies how do. We didn't leave a note.
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We do not celebrate any =D Of course the locals do. What I like in the photo is the reflection! As always, a beautiful image!
We do not celebrate any =D Of course the locals do. What I like in the photo is the reflection! As always, a beautiful image!
it reminds me of the Lord of The Rings.
You can take a photograph very great I take a photograph but The disgusting Ha ha! >//<
Hi, I'm emanuele mendicelli, your blog is very interesting.
do u like fireworks??? see my blog!!
That's a wonderful pic, I've been looking for a reflection like that for weeks but haven't found anything that comes remotely close to it. I guess there's no shortage of water on the Isle Of Man.
Wonderful picture and interesting to read about Hop Tu Naa (never heard about it). In the Netherlands we don't celebrate Haloween.
That is just beautiful, my favourite this week.
Very nice!
This reflection is better of this week
Such a beautiful reflection!
Beautiful reflection photo, Babooshka, and fascinating info. about Hop tu naa. I would love to see a hollowed out turnip lantern. Either you grow really big turnips there, or the lanterns were quite small.
Here in Oz a lot of people pooh pooh Halloween as just another American cultural takeover, but I love the old pagan and Celtic stories and the way they survive in spite of evreything else!
Great picture and an very interesting an entertaining web site!!
It is always a joy to visit your blog - I get to see great pictures and learn about your place and its history, too!
A very nice and awesome blog.it's good to see the nice posts and pictures.All the best
Interesting post and great SWF photo. Never heard of a turnip lamp before - I am sure that you can add that to your quirky Manx list. What size turnips do you have to turn them into lamps?
beautiful shot!
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