Manx nationalists will gather at Hango Hill near Castletown on Saturday (January 2) for the annual Illiam Dhone commemoration.
This year’s oration in the Manx language will be delivered by Isla Callister followed by another in English by Mec Vannin’s Peter Crellin.
The speeches are followed by a wreath laying and the singing of the national anthem.
Hango Hill, the ruins of an old summerhouse, is a grim though misleading backdrop to the event commemorating the execution of the man that nationalists hail as a Manx martyr - as it was actually built after the events of January 2, 1663, when Dhone met his death.
The ceremony, initiated in the 1960s, has been held on an annual basis since 1979 allowing a platform for speakers in Manx and English to give comment on Manx political and cultural affairs.
It is organised by Mec Vannin and the Manx branch of the Celtic League whose director of information Bernard Moffatt said: ‘The lack of popularity of the current administration is likely to be a focus. Nobody is very happy with the way things are at the moment.
‘The only unusual thing this year is that instead of being a lone voice the speakers will be in a chorus!
‘I would imagine this year there will be comment about the dire circumstances many of our countrymen face with taxes and charges seemingly fired at them on a daily basis by this current government of charlatans.
‘Indeed this Illiam Dhone ceremony will be held in a social climate where some of our countrymen face the grim option of whether to ‘eat or heat’.
‘An economic model we were promised would deliver a “caring and prosperous” society has delivered instead, for some, a community of deprivation and debt.
‘I hope as many people as possible will turn up to demonstrate not just their respect for a man who stood four square for his people, but also to illustrate the contempt and disdain for the current government which in effect has turned its back on the people.’
The commemoration will take place at 2pm prompt. There is generally a social gathering afterwards in Castletown. Later in the afternoon there is also a church service at Malew Church, where Illiam Dhone is buried.
Illiam Dhone, aka William Christian, negotiated a peaceful surrender to Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War – securing the island’s unique position and preventing a massacre. Following the restoration he was arrested for treason and sentenced to death.