Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-18
MANX SUPERSTITIONS.
The People of the Isle Of Nan His
judged as to Their Beliefs.
CLING TO THE PLEASANT FORMS.
The Only Gloomy spOok Takes on the Form
of Great Spaniel
FAIRY GUARDIANS OF LITTLE FOLKS
rcoRREsPoSDEScE OF THE D1spAroH.1

rCoRREsPoSDENCE OF THE DIsPATcH.1
DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN, Dec. 8-FeW
writers ever trouble themselves at all about
the Manx people. Those have invariably
set them down as extraordinarily SUPER
stitious." Then they have galloped away,
leaving the Manxmen in mist and their
readers in mystery. But have gradually
come to know that, however grim-visaged
the face of the one confding the weird as
sertion Of uncanny belief, secretly the
masses of the people scout and hout them
all, save those of a tender and winsoms
character. Briefly, Manx folk to-day reject
the essent ial slavery of superstitious prac-
tices, but universally insist on retaining the
pleasure of subscribing to the superstitions
themselves
One traditional spook which represents
the evil genius of dull despair, of dumb
ineyitability and of rank fatalism glowers
through Manx tradition as black and dread
full as the gloom of the halls of EbliS This
is the "Moody Dhoo." Tangibly and as
crystalized in tradition 1t took on the form
of a huge, voiceless black spaniel which
haunted ancient Peel Castle, the daring Of
whose satanic power by a drunken soldier
terminated in the tragic death of the latter,
as made famous in fiction and song.
Generalized, the MOODY Dhoo' is the sable
spirit Of loneliness, of impending danger, Of
irrevoeable despair. To people barren Of
book lore, impressionable with a thousand
misty shadows from the past, whose mental
activities are chiefly in contemplation Of
the saddening sea and the keening voices Of
mountain Winds some form of a mental
"Moody Dhoo" is logical and inevitable
presence.
There is throughout the island an actual
dread regarding the publicity of weddings
Though all the neighbors NAV be aware Of
little details leading up to the ceremony,
households directly interested affect the
greatest secrecy. Cooking for the feast,
dressing and the like is often done with
closely curtained windows at night, and
when all is ready the wedding party will
mount an open car and gsllop to the near
est church in the gray of morning as though
all the witches we're after them.
But the arrival of the Manx baby brings
host OF traditional superstitions, safe
guards and omiRous portents into immed-
late activity. No one must step over it or
walk entirely around 1t, lest it becomes
dwarfed and weazened. Until baptism all
babes are quite at the mercy of the fairies.
The baby will remain lucky through life if
it first handles q spoon with its left hand,
but it will come to perfect estate If 1t
shall have repeated tumbles out of its
mothers arms, its cradle or bed before is
has attained its first birthday.
One of the most winsome of half SUPER
stitious customs in Mainland is for the
family on stormy nights to retire to rest st
. very early hour, so that the good fairies
may unobserved enter to find shelter and
repose. A very ancient tradition that
fairy in the guise of a beautiful woman once
bewitched host Of the best men Of the
island and then led them all over cliff to
their death in the sea, prevails so unyield-
ingly to this day, that a Manx wife or
sweetheart will on no occasion precede her
husband, lest her character for correct
womanly attributes be impugned. The
same fairy which established this custom II
the one which, in its efforts to escape ManK
vengeance, was transformed into q wren,
and has ever since, on ST. Stephens day,
been hunted, stripped of its feathers and
beaten to death in countless numbers
EDGAR l. WAKEMAN.