A tribute to our dear friend and colleague Manchán Magan

It is with a heavy heart that I write of the passing of my dear friend, colleague and collaborator Manchán Magan.

His name translates as the little monk and he certainly came here with a mission. Manchán arrived in this life like a comet, ablaze with purpose and utterly devoted to his dán, his soul gift. He was a wizard draoi and cultural laoch who lit up so many pathways between language, land, spirit and imagination. He came to remind us of the magic hidden in plain sight and the wild beauty alive in our mother tongue, ár máthairtheanga.

Manchán's legacy is vast and immeasurable. His creative output was prolific with multiple books, films, plays, radio shows, podcasts and art projects. His work opened vast territories from the vision encoded in the Irish language, deep ecology, quantum physics, women’s words (focail na mban) and the mysteries of the Otherworld. With Arán & Im, he travelled the world baking bread, churning butter, weaving an teanga back into the hearts of audiences everywhere. One of his favourite sayings was “chuirfeadh sé na smóilíní ag sclimpireacht i do chroí” -  it would set the baby thrushes dancing in your heart and that describes his wild contagious energy.

Manchán honoured his ancestors. He carried us from the holy wells and sacred sites of Ireland to Himalayan peaks and the Arctic. He found parallels from Ireland to India to Iceland yet he always came back to Muiríoch, West Kerry, where his roots and his grandmother’s house anchored him. His grandmother, Sighle Humphreys, nationalist and language revivalist; his great-granduncle, The O’Rahilly, revolutionary and founding member of the Irish Volunteers; and even further back the bard Aogán Ó Rathaille, last great poet of the bardic school who wore a crimson cloak of bird feathers upon his shoulders. Manchán carried their fiery passion into our times.

We were great collaborators and conspirators for almost 20 years on creative projects that wove culture, language and imagination. He was a big part of the ireland : iceland project, The Trailblazery and The Hedge School. Together in 2020 we created Scoil Scairte, an Irish language immersion that has touched many lives across the globe. We shared stages, fields and mountaintops from Inis Oírr to Croagh Patrick, from Dublin to New York. We filmed him at home in Westmeath in bogs, lakes and forests and with his beloved hens and bees. Our most recent film project was a powerful conversation with Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins, the President of Ireland which we released in January of this year.

But beyond all the public facing things, Manchán was my friend. He was my fellow dreamer and spiritual seeker. He was my confidante, advisor and sparring partner. He pushed me to stretch further and see deeper with passion and profanity in equal measure.

He has left us a trail of luminous breadcrumbs, guiding us towards our own dán, calling us to become better ancestors-in-training.

Manchán is our ancestor now and I know he will be guiding us forward at this precious time on our planet. 

Our hearts are with his wife Aisling and his family.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal

Slán abhaile Manchán agus beir bua a chara