The Celts
By: Amber Martin
Describing Celts
Emotional, passionate, heroic, wild, and drunken
 Sensual, artistic, hospitable, instinctual
 Proud, inventive, battle-loving
 They were farmers and traders and also did some
Agriculture
 They traded metals, salt,
Pottery, glass and coin
ornaments
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Family
The family was known as a clann
 Extended family of generations
 Group members were responsible for everyone
in the clann
 They lived in huts that were made from arched
timber with walls made of
wicker and thatched roofs
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Education
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“Beul aithris” (oral tradition) was passed down
by grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, foster
parents
Children would be raised by another family
“foster parents” to get educated in a certain
trade
Foster parents were usually the brother of the
birth-mother
Hospitality
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When the clann had guests, they would have to
do the best they could
Guests would make an offering
Guests would be expected to sing, play a tune,
or tell a tale
Homosexuality
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Homosexuality was common
It is not looked at specifically as bad behavior
It is acceptable if the terms in the marriage
contract says so
Marriage and Women
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The oaths are the only religious part of
marriage which are specified by the marriage
contract
Women were equal to men
They could own property, choose own
husbands, and be war leaders
They also had an equal part in putting together
the marriage contract
Religion
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Believe in the “otherworld”
A metaphor is the image of the dangerous
journey on the sea
Their lives were a dangerous journey toward
death
The circle on the cross is the halo of the Christ
figure
They built monastic communities in a circular
design
Religion continued
The communities were intended to be lived in
communion with the earth, the sea and the
Creator
 “For the Celtic saints, the earth is the Lord’s
and the fullness thereof, first and foremost, not
something to be owned
or dominated by anyone”
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Celtic Sacrifice
They believed in life after death
“otherworld”
 To be killed or to kill was not thought
of as a negative act
 It would give honor to the victim
 If crops were failing or animals were falling to disease they
would offer human blood to insure health of the population
 Human sacrifices were made to insure a successful battle
 They would be buried with jewelry to take to the otherworld
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Sacrifice
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In battle they would cut peoples heads off and carry it
around. They were trophies to them, which
symbolized courage and valour
“The sacrificed individual would be stabbed in the
back or the breast, and then studied, as the moment of
death was the point in which the earthly world of the
profane meets the sacred otherworld. The message
would then be returned to the examiners in the ways
in which the dying would pass on.”
Druids
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Druids “very knowledgeable one” were important to
the celtic culture
They could stop a battle
Responsibilities included: teaching the religious
doctrine, medicine, civil justice, sacrifice, divination,
and care of temples
To become a druid, school would take up to 20 years
because it all had to be memorized
They performed animal and human sacrifices and
practiced divination and other forms of magic
Nobility
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“The King or Queen was the central part of the
social structure.”
“They were responsible for harmony between
the tribe and the land, and also for the
prosperity of the tribe.”
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Collectivist culture
Power distance –high
Feminine culture “care for their clann”
Uncertainty avoidance – low (women have
their choice of husband)
References
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McCarthy, J., & Hague, E. (2004). Race, nation, and nature: The cultural
politics of “Celtic” identification in the american west. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, 94(2), 387-408.
Santmire, P. (2000). Celtic saints and the ecology of death. A
Journal of Theology,
41(4), 302-309.
Gaelic Celtic Culture. 10-5-05.
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~kthomas/gaelic/gaelic1.htm
Celtic Britain. The Iron age. 600 bc – 50 ad. 10-5-05.
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Celtic_Britain.htm
Mckinnon, S. Celtic Sacrifice. 10-5-05.
http://gallery.sjsu.edu/sacrifice/celt.html
Druids. 10-16-05.
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/druids
Powell, T. G. E.(1983). The Celts. New York: Thames & Hudson.
Green, M. J. (1995). The Celtic World. New York: Routledge.