Pan-Celticism (Irish:Pan-Cheilteachas,Scottish Gaelic:Pan-Cheilteachas,Breton:Pan-Keltaidd,Welsh:Pan-Geltaidd,Cornish:Pan-Keltaidh,Manx:Pan-Cheltaghys), also known asCelticism orCeltic nationalism, is a political, social and cultural movement advocating solidarity and cooperation betweenCeltic nations (both theBrythonic andGaelic branches) and themodern Celts inNorthwestern Europe.[2] Some pan-Celtic organisations advocate the Celtic nations seceding from the United Kingdom and France and forming their own separate federal state together, while others simply advocate very close cooperation between independent sovereign Celtic nations, in the form ofBreton,Cornish,Irish,Manx,Scottish, andWelsh nationalism.
Just like otherpan-nationalist movements, the pan-Celtic movement grew out ofRomantic nationalism and specific to itself, theCeltic Revival. The pan-Celtic movement was most prominent during the 19th and 20th centuries (roughly 1838 until 1939). Some early pan-Celtic contacts took place through theGorsedd and theEisteddfod, while the annualCeltic Congress was initiated in 1900. Since that time theCeltic League has become the prominent face of political pan-Celticism. Initiatives largely focused on cultural Celtic cooperation, rather than explicitly politics, such as music, arts and literature festivals, are usually referred to instead asinter-Celtic.
There is some controversy surrounding the termCelts. One such example was theCeltic League'sGalician crisis.[2] This was a debate over whether the Spanish region ofGalicia should be admitted. The application was rejected on the basis of a lack of a presence of a Celtic language.[2]
SomeAustrians claim that they have a Celtic heritage that became Romanized under Roman rule and later Germanized after Germanic invasions.[3] Austria is the location of the first characteristically Celtic culture to exist.[3] After the annexation of Austria byNazi Germany in 1938, in October 1940 a writer from theIrish Press interviewed Austrian physicistErwin Schrödinger who spoke of Celtic heritage of Austrians, saying "I believe there is a deeper connection between us Austrians and the Celts. Names of places in the Austrian Alps are said to be of Celtic origin."[4] Contemporary Austrians express pride in having Celtic heritage and Austria possesses one of the largest collections of Celtic artefacts in Europe.[5]
Organisations such as theCeltic Congress and theCeltic League use the definition that a 'Celtic nation' is a nation with recent history of a traditional Celtic language.[2]
Before theRoman Empire and the rise ofChristianity, people lived in Iron Age Britain and Ireland, speaking languages from which the modernGaelic languages (includingIrish,Scottish Gaelic andManx) andBrythonic languages (includingWelsh,Breton andCornish) descend. These people, along with others inContinental Europe who once spoke now extinct languages from the sameIndo-European branch (such as theGauls,Celtiberians andGalatians), have been retroactively referred to in a collective sense as theCelts, particularly in a wide spread manner since the turn of the 18th century. Variations of the term "Celt", such asKeltoi, had been used in antiquity by theGreeks and theRomans to refer to some groups of these people, such asHerodotus' use of it in regards to the Gauls.
The modern usage of "Celt" in reference to these cultures grew up gradually. A pioneer in the field wasGeorge Buchanan, a 16th-century Scottish scholar,Renaissance humanist and tutor to kingJames IV of Scotland. From aScottish Gaelic-speaking family, Buchanan in hisRerum Scoticarum Historia (1582), went over the writings ofTacitus who had discussed the similarity between the language of the Gauls and the ancient Britons. Buchanan concluded, if the Gauls wereCeltae, as they were described as in Roman sources, then the Britons wereCeltae too. He began to see a pattern in place names and concluded that the Britons and Irish Gaels once spoke oneCeltic language which later diverged. It wouldn't be until over a century later when these ideas were widely popularised; first by the Breton scholarPaul-Yves Pezron in hisAntiquité de la Nation et de la langue celtes autrement appelez Gaulois (1703) and then by the Welsh scholarEdward Lhuyd in hisArchaeologia Britannica: An Account of the Languages, Histories and Customs of the Original Inhabitants of Great Britain (1707).
By the time the modern concept of the Celts as a people had emerged, their fortunes had declined substantially, taken over byGermanic people. Firstly, theCeltic Britons ofsub-Roman Britain were swamped by a tide ofAnglo-Saxon settlement from the fifth century on and lost most of their territory to them. They were subsequently referred to as theWelsh people and theCornish people. A group of these fled Britain altogether and settled in Continental Europe inArmorica, becoming theBreton people. TheGaels for a while actually expanded, pushing out of Ireland to conquer Pictland in Britain, establishingAlba by the ninth century. From the 11th century onward, the arrival of theNormans, caused problems not only for the English but also for the Celts. The Normans invaded the Welsh kingdoms (establishing thePrincipality of Wales), theIrish kingdoms (establishing theLordship of Ireland) and took control of theScottish monarchy through intermarrying. This advance was often done in conjunction with theCatholic Church'sGregorian Reform, which was centralising the religion in Europe.
The dawning ofearly modern Europe affected the Celtic peoples in ways which saw what small amount of independence they had left firmly subordinated to the emergingBritish Empire and in the case of theDuchy of Brittany, theKingdom of France. Although both theKings of England (theTudors) and theKings of Scotland (theStewarts) of the day claimed Celtic ancestry and used this inArthurian cultural motifs to lay the basis for aBritish monarchy ("British" being suggested by ElizabethanJohn Dee), both dynasties promoted a centralising policy ofAnglicisation. The Gaels of Ireland lost their last kingdoms to theKingdom of Ireland after theFlight of the Earls in 1607, while theStatutes of Iona attempted to de-Gaelicise the Highland Scots in 1609. The effects of these initiates were mixed, but took from the Gaels their natural leadership element, which had patronised their culture.
Under Anglocentric British rule, the Celtic-speaking peoples were reduced to a marginalised, largely poor people, small farmers and fishermen, clinging to the coast of the North Atlantic. Following theIndustrial Revolution in the 18th century, greater multitudes were Anglicised and fled into a diaspora around the British Empire as an industrial proletariat. Further de-Gaelicisation took place for the Irish during theGreat Hunger and the Highland Scots during theHighland Clearances. Similarly for the Bretons, after theFrench Revolution, theJacobins demanded greater centralisation, against regional identities and forFrancization, enacted by theFrench Directory in 1794. However,Napoleon Bonaparte was greatly attracted to the romantic image of the Celt, which was partly based onJean-Jacques Rousseau's glorification of thenoble savage and the popularity ofJames Macpherson'sOssianic tales throughout Europe. Bonaparte's nephew,Napoleon III, would later have theVercingétorix monument erected to honour the Celtic Gaulish leader.[6] Indeed, in France the phrase"nos ancêtres les Gaulois" (our ancestors the Gauls) was invoked by Romantic nationalists,[6] typically in a republican fashion, to refer to the majority of the people, contrary to the aristocracy (claimed to be ofFrankish-Germanic descent).
Following the dying down ofJacobitism as a political threat in Britain and Ireland, with the firm establishment ofHanoverian Britain under the liberal, rationalistphilosophy of the Enlightenment, a backlash ofRomanticism in the late 18th century occurred and "the Celt" was rehabilitated in literature, in a movement which is sometimes known as "Celtomania." The most prominent native representatives of the initial stages of thisCeltic Revival wereJames Macpherson, author of thePoems ofOssian (1761) andIolo Morganwg, founder of theGorsedd. The imagery of the "Celtic World" also inspired English and Lowland Scots poets such asBlake,Wordsworth,Byron,Shelley andScott. In particular theDruids inspired fascination for outsiders, as English and French antiquarians, such asWilliam Stukeley,John Aubrey,Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne andJacques Cambry, began to associate ancientmegaliths anddolmens with the Druids.[nb 1]
In the 1820s, early pan-Celtic contacts began to develop, firstly between the Welsh and the Bretons, asThomas Price andJean-François Le Gonidec worked together to translate theNew Testament into Breton.[7] The two men were champions of their respective languages and both highly influential in their own countries. It was in this spirit that a Pan-Celtic Congress took place at theCymreigyddion y Fenni's annualEisteddfod inAbergavenny in 1838, where Bretons attended. Among these participants wasThéodore Hersart de La Villemarqué, author of the Macpherson-Morganwg influencedBarzaz Breiz, who imported theGorsedd ideainto Brittany. Indeed, the Breton nationalists would be the most enthusiastic pan-Celticists,[7] acting as a lynch-pin between the different parts; "trapped" within another state (France), this allowed them to draw strength from kindred peoples across the Channel and they also shared a strong attachment to theCatholic faith with the Irish.
Across Europe, modernCeltic Studies were developing as an academic discipline. The Germans led the way in the field with Indo-European linguistFranz Bopp in 1838, followed up byJohann Kaspar Zeuss'Grammatica Celtica (1853). Indeed, as German power was growing in rivalry with France and England, the Celtic Question was of interest to them and they were able to perceive the shift towards Celtic-based nationalisms.Heinrich Zimmer, the Professor of Celtic atFriedrich Wilhelm University inBerlin (predecessor ofKuno Meyer), spoke in 1899 of the powerful agitation in the "Celtic fringe of the United Kingdom's rich overcoat" and predicted that pan-Celticism would become a political force as important to the future of European politics as the much more established movements ofpan-Germanism andpan-Slavism.[8] Other academic treatments includedErnest Renan'sLa Poésie des races celtiques (1854) andMatthew Arnold'sThe Study of Celtic Literature (1867). The attention given by Arnold was a double-edged sword; he lauded Celtic poetic and musical achievements, but effeminised them and suggested they needed the cement of a sober, orderly Anglo-Saxon rule.
A concept arose among some European philologists, particularly articulated byKarl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, whereby the "care of the national language is a sacred trust",[9] or put more simply, "no language, no nation." This dictum was also adopted by nationalists in Celtic nations, particularlyThomas Davis of theYoung Ireland movement, who, contrary to the earlier Catholic-based "civic rights" activism of aDaniel O'Connell, asserted anIrish nationalism where theIrish language would become hegemonic once again. As he claimed a "people without a language of its own is only half a nation."[9] In a less explicitly political context, language revivalist groups emerged such as theSociety for the Preservation of the Irish Language, which would later become theGaelic League. In a Pan-Celtic context,Charles de Gaulle (uncle of the more famous GeneralCharles de Gaulle), who involved himself in Breton autonomism and advocated for a Celtic Union in 1864, argued that "so long as a conquered people speaks another language than their conquers, the best part of them remains free." De Gaulle corresponded with people in Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, arguing that each needed to cooperate in a spirit of Celtic unity and above all defend their native languages or otherwise their position as Celtic nations would be extinct. A Pan-Celtic review was founded by de Gaulle's comradeHenri Gaidoz in 1873, known asRevue Celtique.
In 1867 de Gaulle organised the first ever Pan-Celtic gathering inSaint-Brieuc, Brittany. No Irish attended and the guests were mainly Welsh and Breton.[10]: 108
T. E. Ellis, the leader ofCymru Fydd was a proponent of Pan-Celticism, stating "We must work for bringing together Celtic reformers and Celtic peoples. The interests of Irishmen, Welshmen and [Scottish] Crofters are almost identical. Their past history is very similar, their present oppressors are the same and their immediate wants are the same.[10]: 78
.png)
The first major Pan-Celtic Congress was organised byEdmund Edward Fournier d'Albe andBernard FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Castletown, under the auspices of their Celtic Association and was held in August 1901 inDublin. This had followed on from an earlier sentiment of pan-Celtic feeling at theNational Eisteddfod of Wales, held in Liverpool in 1900. Another influence was Fournier's attendance atFeis Ceoil in the late 1890s, which drew musicians from the different Celtic nations. The two leaders formed somewhat of an idiosyncratic pair; Fournier, of French parentage, embraced an ardentHibernophilia and learned theIrish language, while FitzPatrick descended from ancient Irish royalty (theMac Giolla Phádraig ofOsraige), but was serving in theBritish Army and had earlier been aConservative MP (indeed, the original Pan-Celtic Congress was delayed for a year because of theSecond Boer War).[11] The main intellectual organ of the Celtic Association wasCeltia: A Pan-Celtic Monthly Magazine, edited by Fournier, which ran from January 1901 until 1904 and was briefly revived in 1907 before finally ending for good in May 1908. Its inception was welcomed by BretonFrançois Jaffrennou.[12] An unrelated publication,The Celtic Review, was founded in 1904 and ran until 1908.[12]
Historian Justin Dolan Stover ofIdaho State University describes the movement as having "uneven successes".[12]
In total, the Celtic Association was able to organise three Pan-Celtic Congresses: Dublin (1901),Caernarfon (1904) andEdinburgh (1907). Each of these opened with an elaborateneo-druidic ceremony, with the laying of theLia Cineil ("Race Stone"), which drew inspiration from theLia Fáil andStone of Scone. The stone was five foot high and consisted of five granite blocks, each with a letter of the respective Celtic nation etched into it in their own language (i.e. – "E" for Ireland, "A" for Scotland, "C" for Wales).[nb 2] At the laying of the stone, the Archdruid of the Eisteddfod,Hwfa Môn would say three times in Gaelic, while holding a partly unsheathed sword, "Is there peace?" to which the people responded "Peace."[13] The symbolism inherent in this was meant to represent a counterpoise to theBritish Empire's assimilatingAnglo-Saxonism as articulated by the likes ofRudyard Kipling.[14] For the pan-Celts, they imagined a restored "Celtic race", but where each Celtic people would have its own national space without assimilating all into a uniformity. TheLia Cineil was also intended as aphallic symbol, referencing the ancientmegaliths historically associated with the Celts and overturning the "feminisation of the Celts by theirSaxon neighbours."[14]
The response of the most advanced and militant nationalism of a "Celtic" people;Irish nationalism; was mixed. The pan-Celts were lampooned byD. P. Moran inThe Leader, under the title of "Pan-Celtic Farce".[13] The folk costumes and druidic aesthetics were especially mocked, meanwhile Moran, who associated Irish nationality with Catholicism, was suspicious of the Protestantism of both Fournier and FitzPatrick.[13] The participation of the latter as a "Tommy Atkins" against theBoers (whom Irish nationalists supported with theIrish Transvaal Brigade) was also highlighted as unsound.[13] Moran concluded that pan-Celticism was "parasitic" from Irish nationalism, created by a "foreigner" (Fournier) and sought to misdirect Irish energies.[13] Others were less polemical; opinion in theGaelic League was divided and though they elected not to send an official representative, some members did attend Congress meetings (includingDouglas Hyde,Patrick Pearse andMichael Davitt).[15] More enthusiastic wasLady Gregory, who imagined an Ireland-led "Pan-Celtic Empire", whileWilliam Butler Yeats also attended the Dublin meeting.[15] Prominent Gaelic League activists such as Pearse,Edward Martyn,John St. Clair Boyd,Thomas William Rolleston,Thomas O'Neill Russell,Maxwell Henry Close andWilliam Gibson all made financial contributions to the Pan-Celtic Congress.[16]Ruaraidh Erskine was an attendant. Erskine himself was an advocate of a "Gaelic confederation"between Ireland and Scotland.[17]
David Lloyd George, who would later to go on to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, delivered a speech at the 1904 Celtic Congress.[18]
Breton Regionalist Union founderRégis de l'Estourbeillon attended the 1907 congress, headed the Breton faction of the procession and placed the Breton stone on the Lia Cineill.Henry Jenner,Arthur William Moore and John Crichton-Stuart, fourth Marquess of Bute likewise attended the 1907 congress.[19]
Erskine made an effort to set up a "union of Welsh, Scots and Irish with a view to action on behalf ofCeltic communism". He wrote toThomas Gwynn Jones asking for suggestions on Welshmen to invite to London for a meeting on setting such a thing up. It is unknown if such a meeting ever took place.[20]
John de Courcy Mac Donnell founded a Celtic Union in Belgium in 1908, which organised the fourth Pan-Celtic congress as part of the1910 Brussels International Exposition.[21] Exhibitions ofhurling were held there and at nearby atFontenoy, commemorating theIrish Brigade atthe 1745 battle.[22] The Celtic Union held further events up to the fifth Pan-Celtic congress 1913 in Ghent/Brussels/Namur.[21]
In Paris, 1912, the "La Ligue Celtique Française" was launched and had a magazine calledLa Poétique, which published news and literature from all around the Celtic world.[12]
Celtic nationalisms were boosted immensely by the IrishEaster Rising of 1916, where a group of revolutionaries belonging to theIrish Republican Brotherhood struck militantly against theBritish Empire duringWorld War I to assert anIrish Republic. Part of their political vision, building on earlier Irish-Ireland policies was a re-Gaelicisation of Ireland: that is to say ade-colonisation of Anglo cultural, linguistic and economic hegemony and a re-assertion of the native Celtic culture. After the initial rising, their politics coalesced in Ireland aroundSinn Féin. In other Celtic nations, groups were founded holding similar views and voiced solidarity with Ireland during theIrish War of Independence: this included the Breton-journalBreiz Atao, theScots National League ofRuaraidh Erskine and various figures in Wales who would later go on to foundPlaid Cymru. The presence ofJames Connolly and theOctober Revolution in Russia taking place at the same time, also led some to imagine a Celticsocialism orcommunism; an idea associated with Erskine, as well as the revolutionaryJohn Maclean andWilliam Gillies. Erskine claimed the "collectivist ethos in the Celtic past", had been, "undermined by Anglo-Saxon values of greed and selfishness."
The hope of some Celtic nationalists that a semi-independent Ireland could act as a springboard forIrish Republican Army-esque equivalents for their own nations and the "liberation" of the rest of the Celtosphere would prove a disappointment. A militant Scottish volunteer force founded by Gillies,Fianna na hAlba; which like theÓglaigh na hÉireann advocated republicanism and Gaelic nationalism; was discouraged byMichael Collins who advised Gillies that the British state was stronger in Scotland than Ireland and that public opinion was more against them. Once theIrish Free State was established, the ruling parties;Fine Gael orFianna Fáil; were content to engage in inter-governmentaldiplomacy with the British state in an effort to have returned the counties in Northern Ireland, rather than supporting Celtic nationalist militants within Britain. The Irish state, particularly underÉamon de Valera did make some effort on the cultural and linguistic front in regards to Pan-Celticism. For instance in the summer of 1947, the IrishTaoiseach de Valera visited theIsle of Man and met with Manxman,Ned Maddrell. While there he had theIrish Folklore Commission make recordings of the last, old, nativeManx Gaelic-speakers, including Maddrell.
A group called "Aontacht na gCeilteach" (Celtic Unity) was set up to promote the pan-Celtic vision in November 1942. It was headed by Éamonn Mac Murchadha.MI5 believed it to be a secret front for the Irish fascist partyAiltiri na hAiseirghe and was to serve as "a rallying point for Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Breton nationalists". The group had the same postal address as the party. At its foundation the group stated that "the present system is utterly repugnant to the celtic conception of life" and called for a new order based upon a "distinctive celtic philosophy". Ailtiri na hAiseirghe itself had a pan-Celtic vision and had established contacts with pro-Welsh independence political partyPlaid Cymru and Scottish independence activistWendy Wood. One day the party covered South Dublin city with posters saying "Rhyddid i Gymru" (Freedom for Wales)[23][24][25][26]Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, former President of theEuropean Free Alliance Youth is a member.[27][24][28]
The rejuvenation of Irish republicanism during the post-war period and intoThe Troubles had some inspiration not only for other Celtic nationalists, but militant nationalists from other "small nations", such as the Basques with theETA. Indeed, this was particularly pertinent to the secessionist nationalisms of Spain, as the era ofFrancoist Spain was coming to a close. As well as this, there was renewed interest in all things Celtic in the 1960s and 1970s. In a less militant fashion, elements withinGalician nationalism andAsturian nationalism began to court Pan-Celticism, attending theFestival Interceltique de Lorient and thePan Celtic Festival atKillarney, as well as joining the International Section of the Celtic League.[29] Although this region had once been underIberian Celts, had a strong resonance in Gaelic mythology (i.e. –Breogán) and even during the Early Middle Ages had a small enclave of Celtic Briton emigrants atBritonia (similar to the case with Brittany), no Celtic language had been spoken there since the eighth century and today they speakRomance languages.[30] During the so-called "Galician crisis" of 1986,[29] the Galicians were admitted to the Celtic League as a Celtic nation (Paul Mosson had argued for their inclusion inCarn since 1980).[29] This was subsequently overturned the following year, as the Celtic League reaffirmed the Celtic languages as the integral and defining factor in what is a Celtic nation.[31]
Following theBrexit referendum there were calls for Pan-Celtic Unity. In November 2016, theFirst Minister of Scotland,Nicola Sturgeon stated the idea of a "Celtic Corridor" of the island of Ireland and Scotland appealed to her.[32]
In January 2019 the leader of the Welsh nationalistPlaid Cymru party,Adam Price spoke in favour of cooperation among the Celtic nations of Britain and Ireland following Brexit. Among his proposals were a Celtic Development Bank for joint infrastructure and investment projects in energy, transport and communications in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, and the foundation of a Celtic union, the structure of which is already existent in theGood Friday Agreement according to Price. Speaking to RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster he proposed Wales and Ireland working together to promote the indigenous languages of each nation.[33]
Blogger Owen Donavan published, on his blogState of Wales, his views on a Celtic confederation, "a voluntary union of sovereign nation-states – between Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Isle of Man would presumably be a candidate for inclusion too. Cornwall and Brittany could be added as future members if they can attain a measure of self-government." He also considered a Celtic Council, a similar co-operation that was proposed by Adam Price.[34] Journalist Jamie Dalgety has also proposed the concept of a Celtic Union involving Scotland and Ireland but suggests that lack of support for Welsh independence may mean that a Gaelic Celtic Union involving may be more appropriate.[35] Bangor University lecturer and journalist, Ifan Morgan Jones has suggested that "a short-term fix for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland might be a greater degree of cooperation with each other, as a union within a union." he also suggested that "If they could find a way of working together in their mutual interest, that’s a fair degree of combined influence, particular if the next General Election produces a hung parliament."[36]
A movement among some archeologists known as "Celtoscepticism" emerged from the late 1980s, through the 1990s.[37] This school of thought, initiated byJohn Collis sought to undermine the basis of Celticism and cast doubts on the legitimacy of the very concept or any usage of the term "Celts". This strain of thought was particularly hostile to all butarchaeological evidence.[38] Partly a reaction to the rise in Celtic devolutionist tendencies, these scholars were opposed to describing theIron Age people of Britain as Celtic Britons and even disliked the use of the phrase Celtic in describing theCeltic language family.[citation needed] Collis, an Englishman from theUniversity of Cambridge, was hostile to the methodology of German professorGustaf Kossinna and was hostile to Celts as an ethnic identity coalescing around a concept of hereditary ancestry, culture and language (claiming this was "racist"). Aside from this Collis was hostile to the use ofClassical literature andIrish literature as a source for the Iron Age period, as exemplified by Celtic scholars such asBarry Cunliffe. Throughout the duration of the debate on the historicity of the ancient Celts,John T. Koch stated that it is "the scientific fact of a Celtic family of languages that has weathered unscathed the Celtosceptic controversy."[39]
Collis was not the only figure in this field. The two other figures most prominent in the field were Malcolm Chapman with hisThe Celts: The Construction of a Myth (1992) andSimon James of theUniversity of Leicester with hisThe Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention? (1999).[40] In particular, James engaged in a particularly heated exchange withVincent Megaw (and his wife Ruth) on the pages ofAntiquity.[41] The Megaws (along with others such asPeter Berresford Ellis)[42] suspected a politically motivated agenda; driven byEnglish nationalist resentment and anxiety atBritish Imperial decline; in the whole premise of Celtosceptic theorists (such as Chapman,Nick Merriman and J. D. Hill) and that the anti-Celtic position was a reaction to the formation of aScottish Parliament andWelsh Assembly. For his part, James stepped forward to defend his fellow Celtosceptics, claiming that their rejection of the Celtic idea was politically motivated, but invoked "multiculturalism" and sought todeconstruct the past and imagine it as more "diverse", rather than a Celtic uniformity.[41]
Attempts to identify a distinct Celtic Race were made by the "Harvard Archaeological Mission to Ireland" in the 1930s, led byEarnest Hooton, which drew the conclusions needed by its sponsor-government. The findings were vague and did not stand up to scrutiny, and were not pursued after 1945.[43][44] The genetic studies byDavid Reich suggest that the Celtic areas had three major population changes, and that the last group in the Iron Age, who spoke Celtic languages, had arrived in about 1000 BCE, after the building of iconic supposedly-Celtic monuments likeStonehenge andNewgrange.[45] Reich confirmed that the Indo-European root of the Celtic languages reflected a population shift, and was not just a linguistic adoption.
Pan-Celticism can operate on one or all of the following levels listed below:
Linguistic organisations promote linguistic ties, notably theGorsedd in Wales,Cornwall andBrittany, and theIrish government-sponsoredColumba Initiative between Ireland and Scotland. Often, there is a split here between the Irish, Scots and Manx, who use Q-CelticGoidelic languages, and the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons, who speak P-CelticBrythonic languages.
Our blossom is red as the life's blood we shed
For Liberty's cause against alien laws
WhenLochiel andO'Neill andLlewellyn drew steel
For Alba and Erin and Cambria's weal
The flower of the free, the heather, the heather
The Bretons and Scots and Irish together
The Manx and the Welsh and Cornish forever
Six nations are we all Celtic and free!
Music is a notable aspect of Celtic cultural links. Inter-Celtic festivals have been gaining popularity, and some of the most notable include those atLorient,Ortigueira,Killarney,Kilkenny,Letterkenny andCeltic Connections in Glasgow.[46][47]
There are similarities across Celtic wrestling styles, with many commentators suggesting that this indicates they stem from a common style.[48]
In the Middle Ages it is known that the "champions from the Emerald Isle (the Green Island or Ireland) met the Cornish regularly to wrestle".[48] The Irish style is known asCollar-and-elbow wrestling and uses a "jacket" as doesCornish wrestling. This was still true in the 1800s when Irish champions regularly came to London to wrestle Cornish and Devonian champions.[49][50][51][52]
Cornwall and Brittany have similar wrestling styles (Cornish wrestling andGouren respectively). There have been matches between wrestlers in these styles over centuries. For example, in 1551 between Cornish soldiers, involved withEdward VI's investingHenri II with theOrder of the Garter, and Breton "farmers".[48] There is folklore that fishing disputes between Cornish and Breton fishermen were settled with wrestling matches.[48]
More formally Inter-Celtic championships between Cornwall and Brittany started in 1928, but became less frequent since the 1980s.[48][53][54]
The Celtic wrestling championship started in 1985 comprisingGouren andScottish Backhold orCumberland and Westmorland wrestling and sometimes other styles such asCornish wrestling.[48]
Teams that have competed in the Celtic wrestling championship include:
Ireland and Scotland play each other athurling/shintyinternationals.[55]
As with Hurling and Shinty,Irish handball andWelsh handball (Welsh:Pêl-Law) share an ancient Celtic origin, but over the centuries they developed into two separate sports with different rules and international organisations.
Informal inter-Celtic matches were very likely a feature of industrial southern Wales in the nineteenth century, with Irish immigrant workers said to have enjoyed playing the Welsh game. However, attempts to play formal inter-Celtic matches would only begin after the formation of The Welsh Handball Association in 1987. The association was tasked with playing international matches against nations with similar sports such as Ireland, USA (American Handball) and England (Fives). To facilitate international competition, a new set of rules were devised, and even Wales' most famous Pêl-Law court (The Nelson Court) was given new markings, more in-keeping with the Irish game.[56]
Meaningful Welsh-Irish matches finally became a reality in October 1994, with "The One Wall World Championships" held in Dublin and an inaugural "European One Wall Handball Tournament" held at three courts across southern Wales the following May.[57] The 1990s were the high point for these inter-Celtic rivalries. The success of Wales' Lee Davies (World Champion in 1997) saw large crowds and high public interest. In recent years however, the decline of handball in Wales has resulted in little interest in inter-Celtic competition.[58]
A Pan-Celtic rugby tournament had been the subject of intermittent discussions throughout the early years of professionalism. The first material steps toward a Pan-Celtic league were taken in the 1999–2000 season, when the Scottish districtsEdinburgh andGlasgow were invited to join the fully professionalWelsh Premier Division, creating theWelsh–Scottish League. In 2001, the four provinces of theIrish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) joined, with the new format being named theCeltic League.[59]
Today, the tournament is known as theUnited Rugby Championship, and has since expanded into Italy andSouth Africa, with no plans for expansion into the other Celtic nations. However, inter-Celtic rivalries continue within the league, under the legal name of the body running the competitionCeltic Rugby DAC.
InWomen's rugby union, The IRFU, WRU and SRU established the Celtic Challenge competition in 2023. While the first tournament was contested by one team from each nation (Combined Provinces XV, Welsh Development XV and the Thistles), it is hoped that the tournament will expand to six competing teams (two from each union) in 2024, with further expansions planned over the next 3 to 5 years.[60][61]
Political groups such as theCeltic League, along withPlaid Cymru and theScottish National Party have co-operated at some levels in theParliament of the United Kingdom,[citation needed] and Plaid Cymru has asked questions in Parliament about Cornwall and cooperates withMebyon Kernow. TheRegional Council of Brittany, the governing body of theRegion of Brittany, has developed formal cultural links with the WelshSenedd and there are fact-finding missions. Political pan-Celticism can be taken to include everything from a full federation of independent Celtic states, to occasional political visits. Duringthe Troubles, theProvisional IRA adopted a policy of not mounting attacks in Scotland and Wales, as they viewed England alone as the colonial force occupying Ireland.[62] This was also possibly influenced by the IRA chief of staffSeán Mac Stíofáin (John Stephenson), a London-born republican with pan-Celtic views.[62]
In 2023 a 'Celtic Forum' took place in Brittany. Attendees included First Minister of WalesMark Drakeford, Deputy First Minister of Scotland,Shona Robison, Leader of theCornwall Council, Linda Taylor, Republic of Ireland Ambassador to France, Niall Burgess andLoïg Chesnais-Girard, the President of theRegional Council of Brittany. Political representatives fromAsturias andGalicia were also present. Drakeford described the forum as "an excellent opportunity to come together as Celtic nations and regions, to build on our cultural and historical links and seek out areas for future collaboration, such as marine energy."[63]
Town twinning is common between Wales – Brittany and Ireland – Brittany, covering hundreds of communities, with exchanges of local politicians, choirs, dancers and school groups.[64]
The kingdom ofDál Riata was aGaelic overkingdom on the western seaboard of Scotland with some territory on the northern coasts of Ireland. In the late sixth and early seventh century it encompassed roughly what is nowArgyll and Bute andLochaber in Scotland and alsoCounty Antrim in Northern Ireland.[65]
As recently as the 13th century, "members of the Scottish elite were still proud to proclaim their Gaelic-Irish origins and identified Ireland as the homeland of the Scots."[66] The 14th century Scottish KingRobert the Bruce asserted a common identity for Ireland and Scotland.[66] However, in later medieval times, Irish and Scottish interests diverged for a number of reasons, and the two peoples grew estranged.[67] The conversion of the Scots toProtestantism was one factor.[67] The stronger political position of Scotland in relation to England was another.[67] The disparate economic fortunes of the two was a third reason; by the 1840s Scotland was one of the richest areas in the world and Ireland one of the poorest.[67]
Over the centuries there was considerable migration between Ireland and Scotland, primarily as ScotsProtestants took part in theplantation of Ulster in the 17th century and then later, as many Irish began to be evicted from their homes, some emigrating to Scottish cities in the 19th century to escape the "Irish famine". Recently the field of Irish-Scottish studies has developed considerably, with the Irish-Scottish Academic Initiative (ISAI) founded in 1995. To date, three international conferences have been held in Ireland and Scotland, in 1997, 2000 and 2002.[68]
A number of Europeans from the central and western regions of the continent have some Celtic ancestry. As such it is generally claimed that the 'litmus test' of Celticism is a surviving Celtic language[2] and it was on this criterion that the Celtic league rejectedGalicia. The following regions have a surviving Celtic language and it on this criterion that they are considered, by The Pan Celtic Congress in 1904 andCeltic League, to be theCeltic nations.[2][69]
Other regions with Celtic heritage are:
There are notableIrish andScottish Gaelic speaking enclaves inAtlantic Canada.[73]
ThePatagonia region of Argentina has a sizeable Welsh speaking population. The Welsh settlement in Argentina started in 1865 and is known asY Wladfa.
The Celticdiaspora in theAmericas, as well as New Zealand and Australia, is significant and organised enough that there are numerous organisations, cultural festivals and university-level language classes available in major cities throughout these regions.[74] In the United States,Celtic Family Magazine is a nationally distributed publication providing news, art, and history on Celtic people and their descendants.[75]
The IrishGaelic games ofGaelic football andhurling are played across the world and are organised by theGaelic Athletic Association while the Scottish gameshinty has seen recent growth in theUnited States.[76]
J.T. Koch observes that modern Pan-Celticism arose in the contest of European romantic pan-nationalism, and like other pan-nationist movements, flourished mainly before the First World War.[77] He sees twentieth century efforts in this regard as possibly arising out of a post-modern search for identity in the face of increased industrialization, urbanization and technology.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
|  | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
