Flitters

Culture Vannin says a breakfast of flitters is what you need on Good Friday, cooked in their own shells to avoid using any iron on this day. Culture Vannin: Flitters The Manx tradition for the morning of Good Friday is the eating of flitters. These shellfish (known as 'limpets' in England) are caught from the rocks and cooked there on the shore. Culture Vannin: Flitters

No iron should be used at all in the fire this day (in recognition of the nails used to put Jesus on the cross), and so the flitters should be cooked in their own shells in the embers of the fire, and eaten using sticks. Culture Vannin: Flitters The shells are then thrown into the sea with the Manx invocation, 'Gow shoh as bannee orrin' ('Take this and bless us'), before performing the Flitter Dance over the embers of the fire. Culture Vannin: Flitters

Culture Vannin also describes the curious tradition of visiting the beach after sunrise on Good Friday to prise flitters from the rocks. Culture Vannin: Singing for your supper They were baked in their shells over a fire made from mychurachan (flotsam and jetsam) and eaten with barley cake and milk. Culture Vannin: Singing for your supper

The remnants were thrown into the sea while a charm or prayer was recited, and the party would then perform a processional dance, stamping out the embers of the fire. The Flitter Dance was collected by Mona Douglas in the 1930s, and it is still performed today, although not usually on the beach. Culture Vannin: Singing for your supper

Culture Vannin is the source for this custom. We have not added other Manx Easter traditions without a page we can check.