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Celtic nations |
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (November 2008) |
Celtic nations are areas of modern northwest Europe which identify themselves with the Celtic cultures, specifically speakers of Celtic languages. Since the mid-20th century, people of many nations and regions have used modern "Celticity" to express their identity. Over time, these nations and regions have come to be widely labelled as Celtic. These areas of Europe are sometimes referred to as the "Celt belt"1 or "Celtic fringe"2 because of their location generally on the western edges of the continent, and of the nations they inhabit (e.g. Brittany is in the northwest of France, Wales and Cornwall lie to the west of England, and the Gaelic-speaking parts of Ireland and Scotland are in the west of those countries). Additionally, this region is known as the "Celtic Crescent"3 because of the near crescent shaped position of the nations in Europe. Some claimcitation needed that "Celtic nations" is a concept of outsider political-pressure groups, specifically groups such as the Celtic League and Celtic Congress, who asserts what has been described as Pan-Celticism.4 Members of such pressure groups assert that there are a distinct, cultural set of "Celtic nations" in modern northwest Europe.4 Some of these people speak Celtic languages, usually as a second language for example 1.2% in Scotland5 and 16.3% in Wales,6 or express a cultural identity to Celticity. The terminology has no official recognition or standing within major political parties or legal institutions.
Most of the areas encompassed within the "Celt belt" or "Celtic fringe" are part of the United Kingdom, such as Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, the latter of which is in England.7 Others included are the island of Ireland (which is divided between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, the latter is part of the United Kingdom), the Isle of Man which is a Crown dependency of the United Kingdom and Brittany which is in France.4 Outsider pressure groups and cultural organisations sometimes call this area the Celtic Crescent because of the near crescent shaped position of the nations in Europe. Limitation to the six nations and attempts to define what consists of a Modern Celt by the Celtic League and Celtic Congress, is sometimes disputed by people from England,8 Galicia and Asturias who also have Celtic history, culture and ethnicity links.8Until the expansions of the Roman Republic and Germanic tribes, the British Isles and much of continental Europe was predominantly Celtic.9
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The Celtic League, Celtic Congress, and some othercitation needed pan-Celtic groups base the criterion of celticity on language — each of the six nations within the concept has its own Celtic language. It should be noted that within these areas, the majority speak English or French as their first language: for example in the Republic of Ireland which has the largest percentage of Celtic language speakers, only 11%10 call Irish their mother tongue. Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and Wales contain areas where a Celtic language is still used in a community (see Gaeltacht on Ireland, Gàidhealtachd, and compare also Breizh-Izel and areas by Welsh language known as Y Fro Cymraeg).11 Generally these communities are in the west of their respective countries, in upland or island areas.
| Nation | Celtic name | Language | People | Population | Native-competent speakers | Percentage of population |
| Ireland | Éire | Irish Gaelic (Gaeilge) |
Irish (Éireannaigh) |
6,000,000 | Republic: 355,000 (native) 1,660,000 (competent)12 Northern: 10.4% (see note 13) |
Republic: 42%12 Northern: 10.4% (see note 14) |
| Wales | Cymru | Welsh (Cymraeg) |
Welsh (Cymry) |
3,000,000 | 457,94615 | 16.3%6 |
| Brittany | Breizh | Breton (Brezhoneg) |
Bretons (Breizhiz) |
4,000,000 | 200,00016 | 3%17 |
| Isle of Man | Ellan Vannin | Manx Gaelic (Gaelg) |
Manx (Manninagh) |
70,000 | 59 | 2.2%18 |
| Scotland | Alba | Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) |
Scots (Albannaich) |
5,000,000 | 92,40019 | 1.2%5 |
| Cornwall | Kernow | Cornish (Kernewek) |
Cornish (Kernowyon) |
500,000 | 300 – 1,00020 | 0.1%2122 |
For certain purposes, such as the Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria are considered three of the nine Celtic nations. It should also be remembered that Welsh and Scots Gaelic speaking minorities are still extant, respectively, in the Chubut Province of Patagonia in Argentina, and Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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In general most countries of Western and Central Europe can be considered to have been influenced by the Celts. In a number of them, there are also 'Celtic' movements, wanting recognition as a Celtic Nation. None of them has a living Celtic language, unlike "the Six", and for those who base claims of Celticity around linguistics, this is a matter of controversy.
The north-western part of the Iberian Peninsula is an area influenced by Celtic culture. In particular this includes the regions of Galicia, Asturias, Portugal, Cantabria and León.
In none of these regions has a Celtic language survived (although some place names are of Celtic origin), which means that the most common criterion for Celticity, that of having a Celtic language, does not apply.
The main basis for these regions' present-day claim to celticity is, rather, Celtic consciousness itself, which derives from a factual long-time tradition of Celtism in these regions, due to the fact that numerous Celtic tribes settled in the Iberian Peninsula (see Celtiberians) and left their mark, culturally and genetically.2324 Consequently, similarities in both the cultural (music, dance, folklore) and genetic aspects can be found between the inhabitants of these areas and those of other Celtic nations.25
Celtic traditions and customs have continued in England, particularly in extremities of the south west and the north (see Devon, Lancashire and Cumbria). England lacks a Celtic language after the extinction of the Cumbric and Cornish languages. In Celtic languages, it is usually referred to as "Saxon-land" (Sasana, Pow Saws, Bro-Saoz etc), and in Welsh as Lloegr (though the Welsh translation of English also refers to the Saxon route: Saesneg, with the English being referred to as "Saeson", or "Saes" in the singular). This is because the Celtic peoples of what is now England succumbed to the invading Saxons and were either driven out of their lands or took on the culture and language of the Anglo-Saxons, although spoken Cumbric survived until the 12th Century.
There are some residual local linguistic and cultural peculiarities from the Celtic period. Cumbria, for example, retains some Celtic influences from local sports (Cumberland wrestling) traces of Cumbric are still spoken, famously by shepherds to count their sheep. Remnants of Brythonic and Cumbric are most often seen in place names, in elements such as caer 'fort' as in Carlisle, pen 'hill' as in Penrith and craig 'crag, rock' as in High Crag. Lancashire similarly, e.g. its own wrestling system (Lancashire wrestling) and other things such as cooking Parkin cake and place names like Pendle and Cuerden. The name Lancashire derives from Lune-Castra (Lancaster), a Celtic name, and the name 'Cumbria' is derived from the same root as Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales, meaning 'the land of comrades'. There is a current attempt to revive Cumbric and about 50 words of a reconstructed, hypothetical "Cumbric" exist. However, most competent scholars believe that it would be little different from an archaic dialect of Northern Welsh. The county is also home to the Rheged discovery centre profiling the Celtic history of Cumbria and surrounding areas.
English Celtic revivalism has tended to relate to the identity of Britain and its role in the world. Henry Purcell's opera King Arthur for example refers back to Celtic legends. Victorian revivalism concentrated again on King Arthur, fairy and folklore and also Boudicca, whose statue stands outside the Palace of Westminster. The inscription on the base is a direct reference to Empire: "Regions Caesar never knew, Thy posterity shall sway" and was commissioned by Prince Albert. Modern revivalism has focused more on music, mythology, rituals such as the Druids and a better understanding of Celtic festivals that have been observed in England since the Celtic period, and dialect or language. It sometimes includes new age elements associated with ancient sites such as Avebury and Stonehenge
Many of the French people themselves identify actively with the Gauls.
The French- and Arpitan-speaking Aosta Valley region in Italy also presents a casual claim of Celtic heritage. The Northern League autonomist party often exalts what it claims are the Celtic roots of the entire Northern Italy, or Padania. Reportedly, Friuli also has an ephemeral claim to celticity.
Walloons are sometimes characterised as "Celts", mainly opposed to "Teutonic" Flemish and "Latin" French identities; the ethnonym "Walloon" derives from a Germanic word meaning "foreign", cognate with the words "Welsh" and "Vlach".
Celtic tribes inhabited land in what is now southern Germany and Austria.26 Many scholars have associated the earliest Celtic peoples with the Hallstatt culture.27 Boii, Scordisci28 and the Vindelici29 are some of the tribes that inhabited Central Europe, including what is now Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Poland and the Czech Republic as well as Germany and Austria. The Boii gave their name to Bohemia.30 Celts also founded Singidunum present-day Belgrade, leaving many words in Serbian language (over 5000). The La Tène culture also covered much of central Europe. The name of the culture is from the location in Switzerland.31
In other regions, people with a heritage from one of the 'Celtic Nations' also associate with the Celtic identity. In these areas, Celtic traditions and languages are significant components of local culture. These include the Permanent North American Gaeltacht in Tamworth, Ontario, Canada which is the only Irish Gaelic Gaeltacht outside of Ireland, 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. Also at one point in 1900's there were well over 12,000 Gaelic Scots from the Isle of Lewis living in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, with place names that still exist today recalling those inhabitants.
Appalachia and parts of the Southern United States were also heavily settled by Celts, with much of the culture reflecting this fact.32
In his autobiography, the South African poet Roy Campbell recalled his youth in the Dargle Valley, near the city of Pietermaritzburg, where people spoke only Gaelic and Zulu.
In New Zealand the southern regions of Otago and Southland were settled by the Free Church of Scotland. Many of the place names in these two regions (such as the main cities of Dunedin and Invercargill and the major river, the Clutha) have Scottish Gaelic names, and Celtic culture is still highly prominent in this area33.
In addition to these, a number of people from the USA, Australia, South Africa and other parts of the former British Empire have formed various Celtic societies over the years.
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