Why do Manx people pin a plant to their chest on Tynwald Day?

Dignitaries, officials and guests of Tynwald Day will all be wearing a sprig of mugwort pinned to their chest.

The plant, known as 'bolland bane' in Manx Gaelic, grows wild around the island's coastline and is most common in the north.

To wear it on Tynwald Day is rooted in the traditional Manx belief in the plant's protective properties.

Bollan Bane was traditionally worn or carried as a charm against harm, stemming from ancient witchcraft and Celtic folklore.

Culture Vannin folklore specialist Annie Kissack explains that islanders were wary of the fairies, known as the Mooinjer Veggey ('little people').

Bollan bane was worn as protection against the harm the fairies might cause if someone fell out of favour with them.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgars), a wild, aromatic herb that grows across the Isle of Man and much of coastal Europe. It has long been associated with protection in European folklore, where it was also traditionally believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.

While the plant's reputation as a protective charm is much older, historians believe its association with Tynwald Day developed later. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as folklore wore away in society, wearing bollan bane had become a symbol of Manx identity and pride.

Today, the department of infrastructure collects it from the Manx coastlines, and distributes it to the Government House, and the Robing Room at the Royal Chapel in St Johns, on the morning of Tynwald Day.

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