tynwald day (10. 860)

Originally held as Midsummer Court from 979 until 1753 when the Isle of Man switched to the Gregorian calendar a year after Britain adopted the New Style but the passage of the calendar reform stipulated that the legislative session “shall be holden and kept according to the same natural Day upon or according to which the same should have been so kept or holden in case this Act had never been made”—thus preserving the Julian date and honours one of the world’s oldest parliaments and members of the House of Keys (Yn Kiare as Feed, Manx for the Four-and-Twenty, referring to its membership, and mishearing by English overlords) and Legislative Council, in traditional garb, convene to swear in officers and enact bills granted royal assent. Moving from the usual seat of government in Douglas, the representatives, lieutenant governor (often accompanied by guests of honour, the Lord of Man him or herself, or by Nordic nobility in deference to the population’s Viking origins, the clergy and the judiciary—called the Deemsters, all wear a sprig of mugwort and parade along a path to the hill strewn with rushes—a custom meant to appease the Celtic demigod Manannan (Mannán mac Lir, “Son of the Sea” and name-giver of the island). Following the laws being read into the record with the Captioning ceremony, the public has the opportunity to air grievances, petitioning the parliament directly.