Celtic Culture

A Powerpoint Presentation by Catherine Chenoweth

Who were the Celts?

It is difficult to define what it is to be Celtic. Celtic culture is an umbrella term used to encompass cultures from modern England to the Mediterranean, from Spain to Turkey. While historians continue to refer to all of these people as Celts it is important to know that individual cultures within the Celtic over-culture are both distinct and sometimes very different. For example, while most Celtic societies were agricultural and rural some subsisted through hunter gathering and others created cities and even had written language. This presentation focuses on larger trends which hold up in most cultures considered Celtic and especially on Ireland and the area of modern Great Brittan because the most information is available in places which managed to avoid the Roman conquest such as Ireland.

Where did they come from?

Celtic culture is a hybridization of both indo-european culture and that of the people preceding the indo-europeans. This connection of cultures shows in archaeological findings and in religion as well as art. The Celts had both a strong female and male deity, the male from the indo-european culture and the female from an older, preexisting culture.

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Appearance
The Celts were fond of color and wore as many colors as possible. Men wore trousers and knee length tunics and women wore dresses or tunics over skirts. Both sexes wore long wool cloaks to keep warm. Women also wore make up to brighten their cheeks and eyes and sometimes paint stripes on their faces. During battle, warriors went naked or shirtless and covered their bodies with designs in a die called wode which was an indigo blue and was supposed to protect them from harm.

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Jewelry
The Celts were fond of jewelry and both men and women used it to decorate themselves. Gold was the metal of choice. The women wore rings, bracelets, armbands belts, girdles and necklaces, while men wore bracelets, rings, and belts. They also wore toques around their necks. A torque is a piece of metal in the shape of a u or a circle that is worn around the neck and equated with a persons honor. Pictured to the right, a torque.

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Celtic Art
The style usually associated with Celtic artwork is in fact a style particular to only some of the areas and cultures defined as Celtic. This La Tene style is by far the most recognizable and best preserved of all Celtic art because of the use of it by christians on manuscripts especially in Ireland.

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La Tene Style
La Tene is a title referring to an area in modern Switzerland where there was a flourishing of Celtic culture and arts between 600BCE and the Roman conquest of the area after 100C. The term La Tene is most frequently used to describe the artistic style typically associated with the Celts. It is characterized by swirling geometric knot work and stylized animal and vegetal designs.

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Celtic Knots
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Although Celtic knots have been described as important religious symbols, most historians agree that they are simply decorative. The use of this distinctive style in later Christian works comes from the idea that to depict sacred things is a form of idolatry.
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Christian Art
After St. Patrick converted much of Ireland to Christianity, Celtic artwork was preserved through the illuminated manuscripts created by monks and stone carvings used to decorate churches. The Christians, especially in Ireland where the culture had not already been overrun by Rome, preserved and the artistic style of the Celts even as their culture moved away from the traditional Celtic way of life. In many ways these religious orders perfected the elaborate and unique technique the Celts have become famous for.

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The Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is an Irish illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels and other Christian texts which is generally considered the height and perfection of the Celtic La Tene style of art. Each page is decorated in elaborate designs and pictures that are both very beautiful and show clearly the hybridization of both Celtic and christian lifestyles and beliefs.

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More Pictures from the Book of Kells

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Although usually thought of as preserving Celtic artwork and culture, these Irish monks were recording their own culture as it changed from more traditionally Celtic to christian, especially in Ireland the transition from polytheistic animism to christianity was a transition and not a death of culture.

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Celtic artwork and the La Tene style continue to be passed on to this day through modern artwork. People descended of the ancient Celts are working to reclaim their cultural heritage through artistic, spiritual, and historical means

Class Structure
Celtic society was organized based on families, it was very important to know at least four or five generations worth of ancestors. An individual who was excommunicated from their family was considered as a slave or outcaste. Although Celtic society was varied, most groups were fluid in there allegiance with rulers, allying themselves only when it benefited their larger family. They also have a system of three social classes. The highest class was composed of druids, bards, and skilled crafts people. The next class was made up of those who may have owned land and the warriors. Next came the producers, the laborers and the freedmen.

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Connection to India
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Many striking connections and parallels have been found between the cultures of ancient Vedic India and the Celtic people of Europe. Rituals, linguistic connections and similarities in social order all point to the fact that these seemingly different cultures split from each other relatively recently. Many historians believe the caste system in India to be the same as the three class social organization in Celtic society.

Bibliography
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/imager/contributions/scharein/celtic/sorta- celtic.html http://www.craytech.com/drew/knotwork/knotwork-meaning.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_knot http://www.vedanet.com/HinduCeltic.htm http://www.angelfire.com/home/thefaery5/ http://www.natall.com/national-vanguard/116/celts2.html http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/anceur/relwale5.htm http://www.ares.u-net.com/celtindx.htm (the term celtic) http://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/celtic/ http://www.accd.edu/sac/vat/arthistory/arts1303/Celt1.jpg http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/ http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48449 http://www.unc.edu/depts/art/verkerk/celtic/celtic/ http://celticdejavu.tripod.com/celticculture.html

Bibliography Continued

Cahill, Thomas, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Anchor Books, New York, 1995. http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17702/seminar http://www.celtdigital.org/ http://www.celticcorner.com/index.html http://members.optusnet.com.au/~dwkneen/Celts/history.htm http://www.geocities.com/~dubricius/
http://www.greyhawkes.com/text/celts.txt http://www.haverford.edu/engl/faculty/Sherman/Irish/ardagh.htm http://celtdigital.org/Durrow.htm http://www.snake.net/people/paul/kells/ http://www.ragnarokpress.com/artype/kells/ http://www.virtualireland.ru/ivi/celts.jpg http://www.spa.edu/jjohnson/images/Celtic%20Art.jpg