Just who were the Celts, anyway?

A´ charde                      

The present day Celts who reside primarily in Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Mann, Cornwall, Breton and Wales are descended from a group of people who occupied lands which stretched all the way from Galatia, in Asia Minor, to the lands we know today as the British Isles. They traded freely with the people with whom they came in contact. While no written documents exist in their own writings (having no written language as such) a fair picture is possible from bountiful archeological evidence as well as the accounts from writers of other lands.

The first official, if you will, note of these people came from Northern Italy about 500 BC when a previously unknown barbarian horde descended from the Alps and displaced the Etruscans from the fertile lands in the Po valley….and actually out of history altogether.

Next noting came from the then fledging Roman Empire who, having heard tales of these fierce warriors, sent observers to the Po Valley to study this new force.

Roman impressions...

On first meeting, all seemed well between the Romans and the Celts, as the smooth speaking Celts ‘assured the Romans that they (the Romans) must indeed be an heroic people if it was to them that the Etruscans turned in their hour of need’. They quoted the motto of the Celts “To the brave belong all things” when the Romans chided them for seizing the Etruscan lands. Despite the fact that the Romans signed a peace treaty with the Celts, they broke it deeming their best interests would be served in siding with the Etruscans. This resulted in a devastating attack by the Celts upon Rome to which they laid siege for 7 months, agreeing only to let off if the Roman would pay them one thousands pounds in gold. The Romans hesitated at such a staggering sum – indeed it was all the gold they possessed, but the Celts stood firm.

Finally wearying after so much haggling the Celtic chieftains threw their swords onto the scales demanding even a greater amount of gold. The Romans could see the Celts meant business and gave in. The Celts extracted their tribute and left, but history dictated that these foes would meet again one day.

The Romans described the Celts as tall (very tall, ‘tis said) – but do remember how small were the Romans; their hair appeared to be blond but was in fact rather dark but due to the fact that they artificially lightened their hair with lime, combed it straight back and grew their mustaches to astonishing lengths. Their eyes were piercing blue. Imagine how they must have look to the clean shaven, short haired, very short, dark eyed Romans!

Most were content with their natural endowments and would go into battle naked. Before engaging in battle they would sound unusually shaped horns, beat their swords on their shields and utter cries of astonishing fierceness. All of which would prove to be quite unnerving to their enemies. While Celts did cut off their enemies’ heads, they only did so to those they deemed worthy of the honor, much in the same manner as more modern man does with a prized kill. Such heads were preserved in oil and kept in wooden boxes. However, sometimes they used them as drinking vessels.

They have survived despite efforts to annihilate them, and have prospered and grown. Witness, if you will, the rebirth of those grand nations of Ireland and Scotland without the necessity of mother's guiding hand; can Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isle of Man be far behind?

Re-enactment

In the meantime, Queen Medb Encampment, Inc., a 501 Non Profit State and Federal Educational Organizations continues to roll on like a great rock gathering adherents as it goes. Our mission???...just to educate and inform the general public, without personal financial enrichment, of the joys to be had in being a Celt. By the way, anyone can be a Celt; it's more a state of mind than anything.

If you would love to be part a great extended family, enjoy music, story telling, good food, conversation, sword play, shinty, re-enactment of the time of the Iron Age Celts, et al and do not mind contributing your talents, you would find an understanding and loving derbfine in Queen Medb Encampment. In fact, if your ancestors come from anywhere in Europe you are probably a Celt anyway. Why fight it? All we have to do is to acknowledge the gigantic debt we owe to the 7 extant nations of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Isle of Man and Galatia. They are worthy of so much more than a footnote in school and history books. WE, IN QME, ARE THOSE BOOKS...living, breathing, fantastic books.