Shiaght Laa 20th January 2022

Shiaght Laa

We start with a dance associated with what appears on the modern calendar to be 17th January. The tune, Mylecharane's March, is a spritely version of a song long popular in the Island. The story of Mylecharane, a miser in the Jurby Curraghs, who found a treasure of some sort, is well-known in Manx tradition. A traditional song in the Manx language says that he used his wealth to give a dowry to his daughter - and was cursed by Manx fathers for doing so. The song is known to have been a great favourite with Manx people, and it was described from the early nineteenth century as the Manx National Air. W H Gill used his arrangement of the tune to set his words which, from 1907, were widely accepted as the Island's National Anthem. However, it wasn't until 22nd January 2003 that Tynwald designated it as such.