|
|
Culture |
Language |
Calendar |
Runes |
Economy |
Clothing & Textiles
Homes |
Art & Music |
Warriors |
Society |
Religion
|
There was a unifying language spoken by the Celts, called not surprisingly, old Celtic. Philogists have shown
the decadence of Celtic from the original Ur-language and from the Indo-European language tradition. In fact,
the form of old Celtic was the closest cousin to Italic, the precursor of Latin. The original wave of Celtic immigrants
to the British Isles are called the q-Celts and spoke Goidelic. It is not known exactly when this immigration occurred
but it may be placed sometime in the window of 2000 to 1200 BC. The label q-Celtic stems from the differences between
this early Celtic tongue and Italic. Some of the differences between Italic and Celtic included that lack of a p in
Celtic and in place of the Italic o. At a later date, a second wave of immigrants took to the British Isles, a wave of
Celts referred to as the p-Celts speaking Brythonic. Goidelic led to the formation of the three Gaelic languages spoken
in Ireland, Man and later Scotland. Brythonic gave rise to two British Isles languages, Welsh and Cornish, as well as
surviving on the Continent in the form of Breton, spoken in Brittany.
The label q-Celtic stems from the differences between this early Celtic tongue and the latter formed p-Celtic. The
differences between the two Celtic branches are simple in theoretical form. Take for example the word ekvos in
Indo-European, meaning horse. In q-Celtic this was rendered as equos while in p-Celtic it became epos, the q sound
being replaced with a p sound. Another example is the Latin qui who. In q-Celtic this rendered as cia while in p-Celtic
it rendered as pwy. It should also be noted that there are still words common to the two Celtic subgroups. As an aside,
take note that when the Irish expansion into Pictish Britain occurred (see below), several colonies were established in
present day Wales. The local inhabitants called the Irish arrivals gwyddel savages from which comes geídil and goidel
and thus the Goidelic tongue. |
|
There are many questions arising as to what calendrical practice was used by the Celtic people. Regarding this issue
there are three primary schools of thought. These three theories all attempt to offer us a better understanding of the
Celtic calendar. To use the term 'Celtic calendar' is somewhat inaccurate, as it was the Druids who were primarily
concerned with calendar-keeping.
One of the most commonly accepted beliefs holds that the year was divided into thirteen months with an extra day or so
the end of the year used to adjust the calendar. This theory states that the months correspond to the vowels of the
Ogham or Celtic Tree Alphabet. For every of the months there was a designated tree. From this a 'tree calendar' wheel
emerged. Most archaeologist and historians accept another calendar. This calendar is represented by the surviving
fragments of a great bronze plate, the Coligny Calendar, which originally measured 5 feet by 3-1/2 feet. This plate,
found in eastern France, was engraved in the Gaulish language (similar to Welsh) in Roman-style letters and numerals.
It depicts a system of time keeping by lunar months, showing 62 consecutive months with 2 extra months inserted to match
the solar timetable. They appear to have worked with a 19-year time cycle that equaled 235 lunar months and had an
error of only half a day.
The third school of thought is an amalgam of both of the others. The proponents of this last theory believe that the
first calendar pre-dates the Coligny discovery. It is from ancient writers such as Caesar that we learn that the Celts
were to have counted by nights and not days and in reckoning birthdays and new moon and new year their unit of reckoning
is the night followed by the day. Ancient Celtic philosophy believed that existence arose from the interplay between
darkness and light, night and day, cold and warmth, death and life, and that the passage of years was the alternation
of dark periods (winter, beginning November 1) and light periods (summer, starting May 1). The Druidic view was that the
earth was in darkness at its beginning, that night preceded day and winter preceded summer a view in striking accord
with the story of creation in Genesis and even with the Big Bang theory. Thus, Nov. 1 was New Year's Day for the Celts,
their year being divided into four major cycles. The onset of each cycle was observed with suitable rituals that included
feasting and sacrifice. It was called The Festival of Samhain - linked with Halloween.
The Celts measured the Solar year on a wheel, circle or spiral, all of which symbolize creation and the constant movement
of the universe growth and development. To the ancients, the Heavens appeared to wheel overhead, turning on an axis which
points to the north polar stars. At the crown of the axis, a circle of stars revolved about a fixed point, the Celestial
Pole, which was believed to be the location of Heaven. At the base of the axis was the Omphalos, the circular altar of
the Goddess' temple. The universe of stars turning on this axis formed a spiral path, or stairway, on which souls
ascended to Heaven. This Sunwise, clockwise, or deiseal (Gaelic), motion of the spirals represented the Summer Sun. The
continuous spirals with seemingly no beginning or end signified that as one cycle ended another began Ð eternal life.
The spiral's never-ending, always expanding, motion also symbolized the ever- increasing nature of information and
knowledge. Many of these symbols often also appeared in triplicate, a sign of the divine. In addition, the seasons of
the year were thought to be part of this cycle. In Gaelic, the names of the four seasons date back to pre-Christian times
: 1) Earrach for "Spring," 2) Samhradh for "Summer," 3) Foghara for "Harvest" which refers to Autumn, and 4) Geamhradh
for "Winter." |
|
Runes are an alphabetic script used by the peoples of Northern Europe from the first century c.e. until well into the Middle Ages. In
addition to their use as a written alphabet, the runes also served as a system of symbols used for magic and divination. Runes fell into
disuse as the Roman alphabets became the preferred script of most of Europe, but their forms and meanings were preserved in inscriptions
and manuscripts. Older than the New Testament, the Runes have lain fallow for more than 400 years. The Runes were last in current use in
Iceland during the Middle Ages. The wisdom of the Rune Masters died with them. Little remains but the standing Rune
stones, the sagas, the far-flung fragments of runic lore, and the 24 Runes themselves.
The influence of the Runes on their time is incontestable. When the high chieftains and wise counselors of Anglo-Saxon England met in
conclave, they called their secret deliberations "Ruenes. When Bishop Wulfila made his translation of the Bible into fourth century Gothic,
he rendered St. Mark's "the mystery of the kingdom of God" using "runa" for "mystery.
Eight centuries earlier, when Greek historian Herodotus traveled around the Black Sea, he encountered descendants of Scythian tribesmen
who crawled under blankets, smoked themselves into a stupor, and cast marked sticks in the air and "read" them when they fell. These sticks
were used as Rune sticks. There is no firm agreement among scholars as to where and when runic writing first made its appearance in Western
Europe. Before Germanic peoples possessed any form of script, they used pictorial symbols that they scratched onto rocks. Especially common
in Sweden, these prehistoric rock carvings are dated back to 1300BC and were probably linked to Indo- European fertility and sun cults. The
practice of divination (sortilege) was cultivated among Northern Italic as well as Germanic peoples, one using letters the other symbols.
Numerous runic standing stones can be seen in the British Isles, in Germany and throughout Scandinavia.
From the beginning Runes took on a ritualistic meaning, serving for the casting of lots, for divination, and to evoke higher powers that
could influence the lives and fortunes of the people. The craft of "runemal" touched every aspect of life, from the most sacred to the
most practical. There were Runes and spells to influence the weather, the tides, crops, love, healing, and fertility, cursing and removing
curses, birth and death. Runes were carved on amulets, drinking cups, battle spears, over the lintels of dwellings and onto the prows of
Viking ships. The Rune castors of the Teutons and Vikings wore startling garb that made them easily recognizable. Honored, welcomed and
feared these shamans were familiar figures in tribal circles. There is evidence that a fair number of runic practitioners were women. Runic
symbols have been carved into pieces of hardwood, incised on metal or cut into leather that was then stained with pigment. The most common
Runes were smooth flat stones or pebbles with symbols or glyths painted on one side. The practitioner would keep them in a pouch, shake
them and scatter the pebbles on the ground. Those falling with glyphs upward were then interpreted.
By 100 AD the Runes were already becoming widely known on the European Continent. They were carried from place to place by traders, adventurers,
and warriors, and eventually by Anglo-Saxon missionaries. For this dispersion to occur a common alphabet was required, the alphabet that
became known as "futhark" after its first 6 letters. Although later Anglo-Saxon alphabets expanded to include as many as 33 letters in
Britain, the traditional Germanic futhark is comprised of 24 Runes. These were divided into 3 families of 8 Runes each, 3 and 8 being
numbers credited with special potency. The 3 groups, known as "aettir" were named for the Norse Gods "Freyr" "Hagal" and "Tyr. |
|
|
The basic economy of the Celts was mixed farming, and, except in times of unrest, single farmsteads were usual.
Owing to the wide variations in terrain and climate, cattle raising was more important than cereal cultivation
in some regions. |
|
Textiles in ancient times were fairly advanced. Weaving is a very basic technology and was quite advanced as early
as 5,000 BCE, and brightly colored dyes were readily available. If we met our Celtic ancestors, they would probably
look as gaudy to us as they did to the Romans, since they were very fond of bright colors and ornamentation.
There aren't a lot of textile remains found for Celtic clothing from prehistoric times through the 16th century;
we mostly have to rely on manuscripts and descriptions of what was worn at various times. However, I will make some
educated guesses based on textile construction techniques from the few Celtic finds available, as well as evidence from
the bog finds in Denmark, which could arguably be either Celtic or Teutonic. Obviously, fashions varied from place to
place and time to time, so Celtic clothing wasn't universally the same in all places over the thousand or so years I'm
spanning; however, similar techniques of constructing and decorating clothing were used throughout Europe, and results
can be inferred from these. |
|
|
Hill forts provided places of refuge, but warfare was generally open and consisted of single challenges and combat
as much as of general fighting. |
|
There are many modern 'politically correct' problems surrounding exactly what is Celtic and what is not. The most common
error is to talk of 'Celtic knotwork’ that complicated and elaborate interlacing of lines, curves and geometric shapes
which seems to be appearing everywhere nowadays. This style of design and decoration was in fact brought to Britain in
the 6th century AD by Saxon Christian monks and was used exclusively to illuminate the handwritten Christian Gospels.
The Saxon people used some of the art for personal decoration. Any of the knotwork that has animal shapes incorporated
shows influence from the Vikings. It is indeed a very attractive and distinctive style of decoration - but it is not
Celtic.
In Pre-Celtic Britain, there are many ancient places that were elaborately and painstakingly decorated and carved with
many different styles of spiral, zigzag, diamond, line and curve but nowhere do these separate symbols and designs
overlap or interlace and nowhere is there to be found an example of knotwork. It should also be noted that these
elaborate designs and symbols are not Celtic either. They were carved into the rocks by an unknown race of megalith
builders thousands of years before the Celtic culture arrived.
It is also a common practice for modern day Celtic groups to employ various symbols, such as the Crescent and V-Rod, the
Switch, the Two Worlds etc, as part of their Celtic regalia and ritual but, once again, these ancient symbols are not
Celtic they are Pictish. The Picts were a Scandinavian people and the only places where these symbols are to be found,
carved on stones etc, are in the North East of Scotland and they are, therefore, as foreign to the British tribes as the
'Celtic' knotwork is. Another modern addition to this confusing collection of symbolism is the ubiquitous pentagram which
is unquestionably non-Celtic - Jewish, from the seals of Solomon.
What, then, were the symbols used by the Celts? It is true that they greatly admired all art-forms and decorative styles
and that they used these to a great extent on just about everything from household utensils to battle-chariots. But the
symbols they used are the ones that are still all round us today:-the trees, the birds, the animals, the hills and lakes
and all the other manifestations of the life-force on Earth. The Celts were a warlike, passionate people with a love of
art. Truly, Celtic art is distinguished for its extensive curves and intricate knot work which is used to form complex
decorations for weapons, jewelry and body tattooing. Along with the extensive use of body tattooing the Celts highlighted
their naturally fair hair by washing it in lime-water. This fondness for art and personal decoration was merged with acts
of barbarism, such as beheading their enemies and carrying the severed heads around the necks of their horses. The head
was the ultimate source of spiritual power; to posses the enemies head, was to posses his spirit. Riding naked on fast
moving, light chariots, shrieking and swinging large hacking swords and throwing spears was a most effective method of warfare for instilling terror into their enemies. |
|
Celtic warriors were drawn from what we would describe as the middle and upper class. The warrior class did the actual
fighting: the free poor served as chariot drivers. The Celt was a warrior in the heroic sense. Everything had to be larger
than life. He lived for war. His glorification of bravery often led him to recklessness. Part of a warrior’s ritual was
to boast of his victories, and fighting between warriors was an important part of life.
Most Celts scorned the use of armour and before about 300 B.C. preferred to fight naked. Some Celtic tribes still fought
naked at the battle of Telamon in 225 B.C. The Celt was renowned as a swords-man but he also used javelins and spears.
Two spears which were found at La Tene in Switzerland were nearly 2.5m long. His only protection was his large shield
which was usually oval. The suggestion that the Celt wore heavy bracelets in battle has to be questioned, as it is hard
to understand how they would stay on his arm whilst he wielded his sword. Dionysius tells us that in battle the Celts
whirled their swords above their heads, slashing the air from side to side, then struck downwards at their enemies as if
chopping wood. It was this use of the sword that so terrified their enemies. The Celts did not fight in a rabble as is
so often supposed. They were organized in companies. This can be proved by their use of standards.
The Celt was a head-hunter. In battle he would cut off the head of his fallen enemy and often hang it from his horse's
neck. After battle he would display the severed head at the entrance to his temple. The severed head is a constant theme
in Celtic art. At the battle of Beneventumin 214 B.C. the Roman general Gracchus had to order his army of freed slaves
(presumably Celts) to stop collecting heads and get on with the fighting. After a battle the Celts would often dedicate
their enemy’s weapons to the gods and throw them into a river or lake. The hundreds of weapons that have been dredged
from the Lake of Neuchatel at La Tene were such offerings. In fact the site at La Tene has revealed so many Celtic
artifacts that its name has been given to the whole Celtic culture. The chiefs and the wealthiest Celts often did wear
armour particularly when they came into contact with the Greeks and Romans. They often adopted items of Greek or Roman
armour. A pair of greaves was found in the chieftain's grave at Ciumesti. Several graves have been found in Northern
Italy which contains Etruscan armour and Celtic weapons. Before a battle the chiefs would ride out, in front of the army
clashing their weapons on their shields, proclaiming their great deeds and challenging the enemy to single combat.
Caesar describes the British as dressed in skins (meaning leather) and decorated with wood, a blue dye. Some tattooed
skin from a Scythian grave of this period suggests that the Britons were tattooed in blue. |
|
The Celts are traditionally ignored in world history textbooks and course, but the Celtic way of life, Celtic
institutions, and the Celtic world view were superimposed onto Germanic and classical culture. The later monolithic
European culture is greatly influenced by these early peoples.Most of what we know about Celtic life comes from
Ireland—the largest and most extensive of the Celtic populations, the Gauls in central and western Europe, we only know
about through Roman sources—and these sources are decidedly unfriendly to the Gauls. We know that the early Celtic
societies were organized around warfare—this structure would commonly characterize cultures in the process of migration:
the Celts, the Huns, and later the Germans. Although classical Greek and Roman writers considered the Celts to be
violently insane, warfare was not an organized process of territorial conquest. Among the Celts, warfare seems to have
mainly been a sport, focusing on raids and hunting. In Ireland, the institution of the fianna involved young,
aristocratic warriors who left the tribal area for a time to conduct raids and to hunt. When the Celts came into contact
with the Romans, they changed their manner of warfare to a more organized defense against a larger army. It was these
groups that the classical writers encountered and considered insane. The Celtic method of warfare was to stand in front
of the opposing army and scream and beat their spears and swords against their shields. They would then run headlong
into the opposing army and screamed the entire way—this often had the effect of scaring the opposing soldiers who then
broke into a run; fighting a fleeing army is relatively easy work. If the opposing army did not break ranks, the Celts
would stop short of the army, return to their original position, and start the process over angina.
Celtic society was hierarchical and class-based. Tribes were led by kings but political organizations were remarkably
plastic. According to both Roman and Irish sources, Celtic society was divided into three groups: a warrior aristocracy,
an intellectual class that included druids, poets, and jurists, and everyone else. Society was tribal and kinship-based;
one's ethnic identity was largely derived from the larger tribal group, called the tuath ("too-awth") in Irish
(meaning "people") but ultimately based on the smallest kinship organizational unit, the clan, called the cenedl
(ke-na-dl), or "kindred," in Irish. The clan provided identity and protection—disputes between individuals were always
disputes between clans. Since it was the duty of the clan to protect individuals, crimes against an individual would be
prosecuted against an entire clan. One of the prominent institutions among the Celts was the blood-feud in which murder
or insults against an individual would require the entire clan to violently exact retribution. The blood-feud was in
part avoided by the institution of professional mediators. At least an Ireland, a professional class of jurists, called
brithem, would mediate disputes and exact reparations on the offending clan.
Even though Celtic society centered around a warrior aristocracy, the position of women was fairly high in Celtic
society. In the earliest periods, women participated both in warfare and in kingship. While the later Celts would adopt
a strict patriarchal model, they still have a memory of women leaders and warriors. Celtic society was based almost
entirely on pastoralism and the raising of cattle or sheep; there was some agriculture in the Celtic world, but not much. The importance of cattle and the pastoral life created a unique institution in Celtic, particularly Irish, life: the cattle-raid. The stealing of another group's cattle was often the proving point of a group of young warriors; the greatest surviving Irish myth, the Táin Bó Cualingne, or "The Cattle Raid of Cooley," centers around one such mythically-enhanced cattle-raid.
There was no urbanization of any kind among the Celts until the advent of Roman rule; in Ireland, urbanization did not
occur until the Danish and Norwegian invasions. Society was not based on trade or commerce; what trade took place was
largely in the form of barter. Celtic economy was probably based on the economic principle of most tribal economies:
reciprocity. In a reciprocal economy, goods and other services are not exchanged for other goods, but they are given by
individuals to individuals based on mutual kinship relationships and obligations. (A family economy is typical of a
reciprocal economy—parents and children give each other material goods and services not in trade but because they are
part of a family). |
|
From the nineteenth century onwards, Celtic religion has enjoyed a fascination among modern Europeans and
European-derived cultures. In particular, the last few decades have seen a phenomenal growth not only interest in Celtic
religion, but in religious practices in part derived from Celtic sources. For all this interest, however, we know next
to nothing about Celtic religion and practices. The only sources for Celtic religious practices were written by Romans
and Greeks, who considered the Celts little more than animals, and by later Celtic writers in Ireland and Wales who were
writing from a Christian perspective. Simply put, although the Celts had a rich and pervasive religious culture, it has
been permanently lost to human memory. We can make some general comments about Celtic religion based on the
often-hostile accounts of classical writers. The Celts were polytheistic; these gods were ultimately derived from more
primitive, Indo-European sources that gave rise to the polytheistic religions of Greece, Persia, and India. The Romans
in trying to explain these gods, however, linked them with Roman gods as did the Romanized Gauls—so we really have no
idea as to the Celtic character of these gods and their functions. We do know that Celtic gods tended to come in threes;
the Celtic logic of divinity almost always centered on triads. This triadic logic no doubt had tremendous significance
in the translation of Christianity into northern European cultural models.
It is almost certain that the material world of the Celts was suffused with divinity that was both advantageous and
harmful. Certain areas were considered more charged with divinity than others, especially pools, lakes and small groves,
which were the sites of the central ritual activities of Celtic life. The Celts were non-urbanized and according to
Roman sources, Celtic ritual involved no temples or building structures—Celtic ritual life, then, was centered mainly on
the natural environment. Celtic ritual life centered on a special class, called the druides or "druids" by the Romans,
presumably from a Gaulish word. Although much has been written about druids and Celtic ritual practice, we know next to
nothing about either. Here's what we can gather. As a special group, the druids performed many of the functions that we
would consider "priestly" functions, including ritual and sacrifice, but they also included functions that we would
place under "education" and "law." These rituals and practices were probably kept secret—a tradition common among early
Indo-European peoples—which helps to explain why the classical world knows nothing about them. The only thing that the
classical sources attest is that the druids performed "barbaric" or "horrid" rituals at lakes and groves; there was a
fair amount of consensus among the Greeks and Romans that these rituals involved human sacrifice. This may or may not be
true; there is some evidence of human sacrifice among the Celts, but it does not seem to have been a prevalent practice.
According to Julius Caesar, who gives the longest account of druids, the center of Celtic belief was the passing of souls
from one body to another. From an archaeological perspective, it is clear that the Celts believed in an after-life, for
material goods are buried with the dead. |
| |
|
|
