gypsywitch
sappy n' sassy
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2003
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Six nations tend to be most associated with a modern Celtic identity, and are considred 'the Celtic nations'. These are:
* Ireland
* Scotland
* Wales
* Brittany
* Isle of Man
* Cornwall
It is these 'Six Nations' that (alone) are considered Celtic by the Celtic League, Celtic Congress, and various other pan-Celtic groups.
A number of activists on behalf of other regions/nations have also sought recognition as modern Celts, reflecting the wide diffusion of ancient Celts across Europe.
"Celticity" has been adopted as a node of self-identification by a variety of peoples at different times. During the 19th century, French nationalists gave a privileged significance to their descent from the Gauls. The struggles of Vercingetorix were portrayed as a forerunner of the 19th-century struggles in defence of French nationalism, including the wars of both Napoleons (Napoleon I of France and Napoleon III of France). Basic French history textbooks could begin with the famous words "Nos ancêtres les Gaulois..." ("Our ancestors the Gauls..."). A similar use of "celticity" for 19th century nationalism was made in Switzerland, when the Swiss were seen to originate in the Celtic tribe of the Helvetii, a link still found in the official Latin name of Switzerland, Confœderatio Helvetica, the source of the nation code CH.
At the same time, there was also a tendency to play up alternative heritages in the British Isles at certain times, partially as a rationale for non-English parts of the islands to fully participate in the British Empire. For example, in the Isle of Man, in Victorian times, the "Viking" heritage was emphasised, and in Scotland, both Norse and Anglo-Saxon heritage was played up.
With the advance of Indo-European studies, philologists also established that there was a relationship between the Goidelic and Brythonic languages, as well as a relationship between these languages and the extinct Celtic languages such as Gaulish, spoken in classical times. The term "Celtic" therefore came to be widely applied (for the first time) to the Goidelic and Brythonic languages, and by extension to the peoples that spoke them.
A romantic image of the Celt as noble savage was cultivated and reclaimed by the early William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, Lady Charlotte Guest, Lady Llanover, James Macpherson, Châteaubriand, Théodore Hersart de la Villemarqué and the many others influenced by them. This image coloured not only the English perception of their neighbours on the so-called "Celtic fringe" (compare the stage Irishman), but also Irish nationalism and its analogues in the other Celtic-speaking countries. Among the enduring products of this resurgence of interest in a romantic, pre-industrial, brooding, mystical Celticity are Gorseddau, the revival of the Cornish language, and the revival of the Gaelic games.
In the decades leading up to World War II, the various meanings attributed to Celtic "race" were widely discussed in Europe. The so-called Alpine race was identified with the ancient Celts and their descendants, and classical sources were scoured for appropriate stereotypes to apply to this putative race.
After World War II, "race" went out of fashion and "culture" took its place. Many of the same stereotypes and caricatures of Celticity once attributed to the Celtic or Alpine race, were thus recycled under the label of culture. But since the 1960s, Celticity has been put to a somewhat different use. The peoples of the "Celtic fringe" found in Celticity an explanation for their peripheral "otherness", as well as a source of pride which could galvanize them into demands for development and regeneration. Nationalists in Northern Ireland sought an end to endemic discrimination with the Civil Rights Movement. Breton regionalists participated in the May 1968 revolt under Breton flags and with the slogan Bretagne=Colonie. The Republic of Ireland, on surpassing Britain's GDP per capita in the 1990s for the first time in centuries, was given the moniker "Celtic tiger". Thanks in part to agitation on the part of Cornish regionalists, Cornwall was able to obtain Objective One funding from the European Union. Scotland and Wales obtained agencies like the Welsh Development Agency, and Scottish and Welsh Nationalists have recently forced the institution of the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales, which are seen by many as a first step towards eventual independence from the UK. More broadly, a distinct identity in opposition to that of the metropolitan capitals has been forged and taken strong root.
These latter evolutions have proceeded hand in hand with the growth of an pan-Celtic or inter-Celtic dimension, seen in many organizations and festivals operating across various Celtic countries. Celtic studies departments at many universities in Europe and beyond, have studied the various ancient and modern Celtic languages and associated history and folklore under one roof. The roots revival, applied to Celtic music, has brought much inter-Celtic cross-fertilization, as, for instance, Welsh musicians have revived the use of the mediaeval Welsh bagpipe under the influence of the Breton cornemuse, Irish uillean pipes and famous Scottish pipes, or the Scots have revived the bodhran from Irish influence.
The USA, which has the most people with claims to a Celtic heritage, has also taken part in discussions of modern Celticity. For example, James H. Webb, in his 2004 book Born Fighting – How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, controversially asserts that the early "pioneering" immigrants to North America were of Scots-Irish origins. He goes on to argue that their distinct "Celtic traits" (loyalty to kin, mistrust of governmental authority, and military readiness), in contrast to the "Anglo-Saxon" settlers, helped construct the modern "American identity". Irish Americans also played an important role in the shaping of 19th-century Irish republicanism through the Fenian movement, the development of a discourse of the Great Hunger as a British atrocity, and so on.
No treatment of modern Celticity would be complete without mentioning the diasporas of Celtic peoples. A very large portion of the populations of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is composed of people from Ireland, Britain, Brittany and the Isle of Man; and Jamaica, Barbados, Montserrat, Saint-Barthélemy, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico have also experienced large-scale migration from these lands at various times. It was Irish immigrants to Mexico that originally introduced the celebration of Halloween, which would then merge with indigenous traditions to be reborn as Day of the Dead.
There are three areas outside Europe with communities of traditional Celtic language speakers: the Chubut valley of Patagonia with Welsh speaking Argentinians (known as "Y Wladfa"), Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, with Gaelic-speaking Canadians and southeast Newfoundland with Irish-speaking Canadians.
While no celtic-identified imigrant group is currently pursuing independence or other nationalist goals, Celtic people have played critical roles in each societies movements for independence from the larger empires to which they were formerly attached. Today, Celtic identity throughout the Diaspora is generally presented as a cultural identity (as opposed to a nationalist or racial one), and is experiencing a major revival.
Since the 1960s, there has been a very considerable growth of interest and enthusiasm in their Celtic heritage on the part of such people. Certain places in the diaspora have particularly strong associations with these various identities: the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, with Cornish Australians; Liverpool with the Welsh and Irish people in England; Jesus College, Oxford with Welsh students; Glasgow with the Irish in Scotland; South Boston or the South Side of Chicago with Irish Americans; and certain arrondissements of Paris with Breton Parisians.
Historically prominent members of the Celtic Diaspora in the Americas include Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Bernardo O'Higgins, Che Guevara (who was of Irish, Spanish, and Basque descent), the members of the St. Patrick's Battalion, and many others.
* Ireland
* Scotland
* Wales
* Brittany
* Isle of Man
* Cornwall
It is these 'Six Nations' that (alone) are considered Celtic by the Celtic League, Celtic Congress, and various other pan-Celtic groups.
A number of activists on behalf of other regions/nations have also sought recognition as modern Celts, reflecting the wide diffusion of ancient Celts across Europe.
"Celticity" has been adopted as a node of self-identification by a variety of peoples at different times. During the 19th century, French nationalists gave a privileged significance to their descent from the Gauls. The struggles of Vercingetorix were portrayed as a forerunner of the 19th-century struggles in defence of French nationalism, including the wars of both Napoleons (Napoleon I of France and Napoleon III of France). Basic French history textbooks could begin with the famous words "Nos ancêtres les Gaulois..." ("Our ancestors the Gauls..."). A similar use of "celticity" for 19th century nationalism was made in Switzerland, when the Swiss were seen to originate in the Celtic tribe of the Helvetii, a link still found in the official Latin name of Switzerland, Confœderatio Helvetica, the source of the nation code CH.
At the same time, there was also a tendency to play up alternative heritages in the British Isles at certain times, partially as a rationale for non-English parts of the islands to fully participate in the British Empire. For example, in the Isle of Man, in Victorian times, the "Viking" heritage was emphasised, and in Scotland, both Norse and Anglo-Saxon heritage was played up.
With the advance of Indo-European studies, philologists also established that there was a relationship between the Goidelic and Brythonic languages, as well as a relationship between these languages and the extinct Celtic languages such as Gaulish, spoken in classical times. The term "Celtic" therefore came to be widely applied (for the first time) to the Goidelic and Brythonic languages, and by extension to the peoples that spoke them.
A romantic image of the Celt as noble savage was cultivated and reclaimed by the early William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, Lady Charlotte Guest, Lady Llanover, James Macpherson, Châteaubriand, Théodore Hersart de la Villemarqué and the many others influenced by them. This image coloured not only the English perception of their neighbours on the so-called "Celtic fringe" (compare the stage Irishman), but also Irish nationalism and its analogues in the other Celtic-speaking countries. Among the enduring products of this resurgence of interest in a romantic, pre-industrial, brooding, mystical Celticity are Gorseddau, the revival of the Cornish language, and the revival of the Gaelic games.
In the decades leading up to World War II, the various meanings attributed to Celtic "race" were widely discussed in Europe. The so-called Alpine race was identified with the ancient Celts and their descendants, and classical sources were scoured for appropriate stereotypes to apply to this putative race.
After World War II, "race" went out of fashion and "culture" took its place. Many of the same stereotypes and caricatures of Celticity once attributed to the Celtic or Alpine race, were thus recycled under the label of culture. But since the 1960s, Celticity has been put to a somewhat different use. The peoples of the "Celtic fringe" found in Celticity an explanation for their peripheral "otherness", as well as a source of pride which could galvanize them into demands for development and regeneration. Nationalists in Northern Ireland sought an end to endemic discrimination with the Civil Rights Movement. Breton regionalists participated in the May 1968 revolt under Breton flags and with the slogan Bretagne=Colonie. The Republic of Ireland, on surpassing Britain's GDP per capita in the 1990s for the first time in centuries, was given the moniker "Celtic tiger". Thanks in part to agitation on the part of Cornish regionalists, Cornwall was able to obtain Objective One funding from the European Union. Scotland and Wales obtained agencies like the Welsh Development Agency, and Scottish and Welsh Nationalists have recently forced the institution of the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales, which are seen by many as a first step towards eventual independence from the UK. More broadly, a distinct identity in opposition to that of the metropolitan capitals has been forged and taken strong root.
These latter evolutions have proceeded hand in hand with the growth of an pan-Celtic or inter-Celtic dimension, seen in many organizations and festivals operating across various Celtic countries. Celtic studies departments at many universities in Europe and beyond, have studied the various ancient and modern Celtic languages and associated history and folklore under one roof. The roots revival, applied to Celtic music, has brought much inter-Celtic cross-fertilization, as, for instance, Welsh musicians have revived the use of the mediaeval Welsh bagpipe under the influence of the Breton cornemuse, Irish uillean pipes and famous Scottish pipes, or the Scots have revived the bodhran from Irish influence.
The USA, which has the most people with claims to a Celtic heritage, has also taken part in discussions of modern Celticity. For example, James H. Webb, in his 2004 book Born Fighting – How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, controversially asserts that the early "pioneering" immigrants to North America were of Scots-Irish origins. He goes on to argue that their distinct "Celtic traits" (loyalty to kin, mistrust of governmental authority, and military readiness), in contrast to the "Anglo-Saxon" settlers, helped construct the modern "American identity". Irish Americans also played an important role in the shaping of 19th-century Irish republicanism through the Fenian movement, the development of a discourse of the Great Hunger as a British atrocity, and so on.
No treatment of modern Celticity would be complete without mentioning the diasporas of Celtic peoples. A very large portion of the populations of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is composed of people from Ireland, Britain, Brittany and the Isle of Man; and Jamaica, Barbados, Montserrat, Saint-Barthélemy, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico have also experienced large-scale migration from these lands at various times. It was Irish immigrants to Mexico that originally introduced the celebration of Halloween, which would then merge with indigenous traditions to be reborn as Day of the Dead.
There are three areas outside Europe with communities of traditional Celtic language speakers: the Chubut valley of Patagonia with Welsh speaking Argentinians (known as "Y Wladfa"), Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, with Gaelic-speaking Canadians and southeast Newfoundland with Irish-speaking Canadians.
While no celtic-identified imigrant group is currently pursuing independence or other nationalist goals, Celtic people have played critical roles in each societies movements for independence from the larger empires to which they were formerly attached. Today, Celtic identity throughout the Diaspora is generally presented as a cultural identity (as opposed to a nationalist or racial one), and is experiencing a major revival.
Since the 1960s, there has been a very considerable growth of interest and enthusiasm in their Celtic heritage on the part of such people. Certain places in the diaspora have particularly strong associations with these various identities: the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, with Cornish Australians; Liverpool with the Welsh and Irish people in England; Jesus College, Oxford with Welsh students; Glasgow with the Irish in Scotland; South Boston or the South Side of Chicago with Irish Americans; and certain arrondissements of Paris with Breton Parisians.
Historically prominent members of the Celtic Diaspora in the Americas include Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Bernardo O'Higgins, Che Guevara (who was of Irish, Spanish, and Basque descent), the members of the St. Patrick's Battalion, and many others.
