(The Phynodderree, and other legends of the Isle of Man (1882))
In Manx folklore, a buggane (or boagane) [1] was a huge ogre-like creature native to the Isle of Man. Some have considered them akin to the Scandinavian troll.
In Manx folklore, a buggane (or boagane) [1] was a huge ogre-like creature native to the Isle of Man. Some have considered them akin to the Scandinavian troll.
A shapeshifter, the buggane is generally described as a malevolent being that can appear as a large black calf or human with ears or hooves of a horse. It was large enough to tear the roof off a church. [2] Its natural form is described as "covered with a mane of coarse, black hair; it had eyes like torches, and glittering sharp tusks". [3] Another tale describes it as a huge man with bull's horns, glowing eyes and large teeth. [4]
As magical creatures, bugganes were unable to cross water or stand on hallowed ground. [3]
The most famous story recounts a buggane who found himself an inadvertent stowaway on a ship bound for Ireland. Determined to return to the Isle of Man, he caused a storm and guided the ship towards the rocky coast of Contrary Head. His plan was interdicted through the intervention of St. Trinian. Invoked by the captain with a promise to build a chapel in his honour, the saint guided the ship safely into Peel Harbour. Incensed, the buggane screamed, "St. Trinian should never have a whole church in Ellan Vannin." [5] When the chapel came to be built, three times the local people put a roof on, and three times the buggane tore it off.
The Buggan ny Hushtey lived in a large cave near the sea and was known for having no liking for lazy people. [6] However, it should not be confused with the Cabbyl-ushtey, the Manx water horse.
Bugganes were occasionally called upon by the fairies to punish people that had offended them. The buggane of Glen Maye would have pitched a lazy housewife into a waterfall for putting off baking until after sunset, had she not cut loose the strings of her apron to escape. [3] The buggane from Gob-na-Scuit was known for tearing the thatch off the haystacks, puffing the smoke down chimneys, and pushing sheep over the edge of the brooghs (a steep bank or grassy cliff). [7]
In Manx legend, the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool) crossed over to Mann and settled near Cregneash. The buggane from Barrule came to do battle, but Fionn did not want to fight. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, disguised Fionn as a baby and tucked him into a cradle. When the buggane saw the size of the 'baby', he thought that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants, and so he left. They eventually met near Kirk Christ Rushen and fought from sunrise to sunset. Fionn had one foot in the Big Sound, and so made the channel between the Calf of Man and Kitterland, and the other foot was in the Little Sound, and so he made the narrow channel between Kitterland and the main island. The buggane was standing at Port Erin. He came off victorious and slashed Fionn awfully, so that he had to run to Ireland. Fionn could walk on the sea, but the buggane could not, so he tore out a tooth and threw it at Fionn. It hit him on the back of the head, and then it fell into the sea and became what is now called Chicken Rock. Fionn turned round and roared a mighty curse, "My seven swearings of a curse on it!" "Let it lie there for a vexation to the sons of men while water runs and grass grows!" And so it has. [3] The Irish version of the story has Fionn's adversary a giant from Scotland.
Fionn mac Cumhaill, often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is the leader of the Fianna bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer and poet. He is said to have a magic thumb that bestows him with great wisdom. He is often depicted hunting with his hounds Bran and Sceólang, and fighting with his spear and sword. The tales of Fionn and his fiann form the Fianna Cycle or Fenian Cycle, much of it narrated by Fionn's son, the poet Oisín.
Calf of Man is a 2.50-square-kilometre (618-acre) island, off the southwest coast of the Isle of Man. It is separated from the Isle of Man by a narrow stretch of water called the Calf Sound.
Manannán or Manann, also known as Manannán mac Lir, is a sea god, warrior, and king of the otherworld in Gaelic mythology who is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
The culture of the Isle of Man is influenced by its Celtic and, to a lesser extent, its Norse origins, though its close proximity to the United Kingdom, popularity as a UK tourist destination, and recent mass immigration by British migrant workers has meant that British influence has been dominant since the Revestment period. Recent revival campaigns have attempted to preserve the surviving vestiges of Manx culture after a long period of Anglicisation, and significant interest in the Manx language, history and musical tradition has been the result.
Slievenamon or Slievenaman is a mountain with a height of 721 metres (2,365 ft) in County Tipperary, Ireland. It rises from a plain that includes the towns of Fethard, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. The mountain is steeped in folklore and is associated with Fionn mac Cumhaill. On its summit are the remains of ancient burial cairns, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Much of Slievenamon's lower slopes are wooded, and formerly most of the mountain was covered in woodland. A low hill attached to it, Carrigmaclear, was the site of a battle during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Kitterland is an islet in the Calf Sound between the Isle of Man and the Calf of Man in the Irish Sea.
Manx English, or Anglo-Manx, is the historic dialect of English spoken on the Isle of Man, though today in decline. It has many borrowings from Manx, a Goidelic language, and it differs widely from any other variety of English, including dialects from other areas in which Celtic languages are or were spoken, such as Welsh English and Hiberno-English.
Sophia Morrison was a Manx cultural activist, folklore collector and author. Through her own work and role in encouraging and enthusing others, she is considered to be one of the key figures of the Manx cultural revival. She is best remembered today for writing Manx Fairy Tales, published in 1911, although her greatest influence was as an activist for the revitalisation of Manx culture, particularly through her work with the Manx Language Society and its journal, Mannin, which she edited from 1913 until her death.
Fenodyree in the folklore of the Isle of Man, is a hairy supernatural creature, a sort of sprite or fairy, often carrying out chores to help humans, like the brownies of the larger areas of Scotland and England.
In Manx folklore, Jimmy Squarefoot is a legendary bipedal pig-headed creature living on the Isle of Man.
Glashtyn is a legendary creature from Manx folklore.
Mooinjer veggey is the Manx for little people, a term used for fairies in Gaelic lore. The equivalent Irish and Scottish Gaelic are Muintir Bheaga and Muinntir Bheaga.
The Moddey Dhoo is a phantom black dog in Manx folklore that reputedly haunted Peel Castle on the west coast of the Isle of Man. The Manx name Moddey Dhoo was transcribed as Mauthe Doog by an influential 18th-Century English-speaking folklore source, which led to a history of misspellings of the proper name.
Highlander is situated between the 5th and 6th Milestone road-side markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course used for the Isle of Man TT races on the primary A1 Douglas to Peel road in the parish of Marown in the Isle of Man.
Many types of trees found in the Celtic nations are considered to be sacred, whether as symbols, or due to medicinal properties, or because they are seen as the abode of particular nature spirits. Historically and in folklore, the respect given to trees varies in different parts of the Celtic world. On the Isle of Man, the phrase 'fairy tree' often refers to the elder tree. The medieval Welsh poem Cad Goddeu is believed to contain Celtic tree lore, possibly relating to the crann ogham, the branch of the ogham alphabet where tree names are used as mnemonic devices.
Josephine Kermode (1852–1937) was a Manx poet and playwright better known by the pen name "Cushag".
St Trinian's Church is the roofless ruin of a small chapel at the foot of Greeba Mountain, adjacent to the main A1 Douglas - Peel Road in the parish of Marown, Isle of Man. Referred to in the Manx language as a "Keeil Brisht", the church is the source of an ancient Manx folktale concerning the Buggane, a huge mythical ogre who lived on Greeba Mountain and who vowed that the church should never be completed.
Sleih beggey is the umbrella term for Manx fairies.
Media related to Buggane at Wikimedia Commons
