Culture Vannin is looking for the Manx community to assist with a study to measure the popularity of local traditions during Hop Tu Naa.

This will be the first survey of its type, and looks to offer an important measure of Manx traditions in modern times for Culture Vannin to use in future.

James Franklin, online and educational resources officer at Culture Vannin, said: ‘Hop Tu Naa is a thing which people in other parts of the world are often amazed to hear about.

‘The songs, turnips and other parts of the tradition set it apart as something exciting and unique. However, this has never been measured in a systematic or quantifiable way before, which is what we want to put right this year.’

The new survey will be anonymous, with no one needing to ask other people any questions.

Rather, volunteers will be asked to simply note down how many people visit, how many of them sing, what they sing, and whether they have carved turnips with them.

The questions on the survey include: where do you live; how many groups of people visited; how many of these sang songs; of these, how many (if any) were not Manx; if they sang, what was the song; how many groups has carved turnips with them; what did you give out to the visitors; and any other comments.

From this, Culture Vannin will create an overview of the tradition as it is practised today, and against which it can be measured in the future.

Talking about the general festivities, a spokesperson from Culture Vannin said: ‘Hop Tu Naa is a strong tradition in the Isle of Man, marking the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, and it has always been an important date in the Manx calendar.

‘Much around Hop tu Naa is unique and distinctive to the island. The carving of turnips is one element, but more distinctive are the songs performed on people’s doorsteps on the evening of October 31.

‘Indeed, it is believe that Hop Tu Naa itself takes its name from the traditional song.

‘Always a changing and developing tradition, Hop Tu Naa varies not just over time but also all over the island. The experiences of people in one area can be vastly different to other places even very close by. This is what the simple survey hopes to capture.’

Mr Franklin added: ‘If a survey like this was available 10 or 20 years ago, it would be fascinating to measure against it today.

‘So we are starting it this year, so that people in the future can measure the traditions against it. We are making it as simple as possible, in the hope that many people will lend a hand recording it as best we are able.’

Anyone interested can find out more information on the Culture Vannin website by visiting www.culturevannin.im, or by contacting the organisation directly.