Request for Question Clarification by
digsalot-ga
on
25 Sep 2003 04:05 PDT
Hello there
I see we are going to have to start at the beginning with this one.
First of all, not all peoples who today claim to be Celts are, and
many who were no longer make the claim, or even know they were.
Confusing?
We will try to straighten that out here in this clarification request.
Now then, we need to determine just who the Celts were. You may find
some surprises. In fact, as a clarification request, this may even
turn into an essay.
The long held view of what "Celticity" was, and one that is still
promoted by New Agers and others in spite of archaeological and
historical evidence demonstrating otherwise, is that the Celts were
migrants from an Iron Age home somewhere in Central Europe and later
occupied much of Continental Europe and the British Isles. That they
shared a common heritage of Celtic language and culture and it is the
similarities which are most important. It is claimed that all of
these people spoke languages which were related, that they were
non-literate and shared common features of social organization and a
basic common Druidic religious belief.
As an Egyptologist, I can't even make that broad a claim for the
peoples who just lived along the River Nile and it was certainly not
the case with the people later known as Celts.
Outside of the New Agers wishful thinking, actual evidence about
Druids and druidism is sparse enough to be consistent with the concept
that the cult may have been confined to the British Isles, parts of
Gaul, and was unknown to the vast majority of Continental Celts.
Now we get to the point that there is really no common underlying
theme within Celtic civilizations at all. Those societies which have
been labeled Celtic had a much greater variety of social and political
organizations across Europe than most people give them credit for.
The Celts of the western parts of Britain, for example, may have had
no well defined nobility or warrior class while the Aedui of Gaul were
literate, had cities, and a very elaborate constitutional government.
Archaeology and increasingly accurate examinations of what is called
"Celtic History" is demonstrating that the whole edifice is little
more than a house of cards based on New Age fantasy, wishful thinking
and romantic nationalism, resting on a now discredited scholarly
foundation.
A great deal of what is accepted as Celtic history is modern myth, a
creation of the 18th century as a basis for many modern nationalisms
such as French or English, even some German, Austrian, etc. It seems
much of Europe wants its finger somewhere in the Celtic pie.
It is certain that the inhabitants of ancient Europe had a hierarchy
of identies, just as we do today. I am a native Ohioan, was an
adopted Nevadan and Californian, a semi-permanent resident of Egypt,
an American and a North American. The level I choose to identify with
depends on who I am talking to.
Before the Romans came, a person living in the British Isles would
have thought of their first loyalty being to their family and clan,
then to their tribal confederation. It is highly improbable they
thought of themselves even as British or Irish. At least not till
Rome appeared and changed their world forever.
They hardly thought of themselves as sharing much of an identity with
the gauls and they certainly didn't call themselves "Celts." It may
be useful today to 'sometimes' think of them as Celts in the loose
sense of similar languages and arts, but this level is not the most
useful for trying to establish some kind of common religion among
them. It is too loose, as in "Germanic," "Latin," or even "European."
The concept of a uniting Druidism is a modern product of Irish and
English nationalism in an attempt to lay claim to a relationship with
the "Celts" of Gaul and elswehere in Europe. The archaeology
supporting this claim is largely late 19th century and early 20th
century scholarship which has since been discredited as more
contemporary archaeologists don't have the nationalistic pressures
which pre-determine how they will publish their finds. I repeat, the
vast majority of Continental Celts had never heard of Druidism.
The concept that the Scots, Welsh, Irish and other groups in the
British Isles are "Celtic" evolved during the 18th and 19th centuries
and are not so much a rediscovery of a forgotten past as it is a
modern invention imposed on the past.
So, I need to go back to my original clarification request. If you
want an accurate answer about ancient "traditional" Celtic religion, I
need to know the region.
I need to know if you can accept an answer along those lines. If you
are looking for an answer supporting a Druidic Unification theory,
then I cannot in good faith provide it.
Cheers
digs
