Pan-Celticism

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Pan-Celticism is the name given to a variety of movements that espouse greater contact between the various Celtic countries.

Contents

1 Types of Pan-Celticism
2 The term 'Celtic'
3 The Celtic regions/countries
4 Timeline of Pan-Celticism
5 See also
6 External links

Types of Pan-Celticism

Pan-Celticism can operate on the following levels -

Linguistic - Many organisations promote linguistic ties, notably the Gorsedd in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, and the Irish government sponsored Columba Initiative between Scotland and Ireland. Often, there is a split here between the Scots, Irish and Manx, who use Q-Celtic Gaelic languages and the Welsh, Cornish and Breton who speak P-Celtic Brythonic languages
Cultural - The main organisation promoting cultural contacts is the Celtic Congress.
Music - Inter-Celtic festivals are extremely fashionable now, some of the most notable including those at Lorient, Killarney/Kilkenny/Letterkenny and Celtic Connections in Glasgow
Political - The Celtic League is the main Pan-Celtic political organisation, although there are others. Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party have co-operated at some levels in Westminster and Plaid Cymru often asks questions in Parliament about Cornwall and cooperates with Mebyon Kernow. Political pan-Celticism can be taken to include everything from a full federation of independent Celtic states, to occasional political visits.
Sporting - This is much less common, although Scotland and Ireland play each other at Hurling and Shinty internationals. There is also the Celtic League (Rugby Union), and teams from Cornwall and Brittany sometimes engaged in wrestling matches.

The term 'Celtic'

There is great controversy surrounding this term for a variety of reasons. One of these is that some consider it to be an inaccurate term to be applied to modern day peoples, and another is that others do not think that there is sufficient evidence of a link between the ancient Celts and the new 'Celts'. However since most Pan Celtic enthusiasts support the view that modern or 'Atlantic Celts' speak, or have spoken a Celtic language within recent history, the term 'Celtic' is a just one. Atlantic Celts, while bearing little genetic simularity to modern peoples occupying the so called 'Celtic Homelands' of central Europe, do share remarkable genetic markers with each other. The obvious conclusion is that Atlantic Celts are culturally 'Celtic', whilst being racially indiginous to the Western fringe of Europe. The term 'Celtic' does not, nor could it ever, constitute a racial grouping. Rather it is cultural and intrinsically international in nature. For further discussion on this matter see the wikipedia articles on the ancient Celts and modern Celts.

The Celtic regions/countries

See also: Modern Celts

The Celtic Congress and Celtic League consider the following to be the Celtic nations -

Brittany

Cornwall

Ireland

Isle of Man

Scotland

Wales However, in music festivals it is common to find bands from Galicia and Asturias.

Galicia

Asturias The Aosta Valley and Friuli in Italy are sometimes claimed as Celtic regions, as are parts of England (and rarely, the whole). See also article on the Modern Celts. In the last few years there has also been a process of "Celtic revival" in Northern Portugal. The Iberian connection it not as tenuous as it may seem. While the languages of the area are largely Latinate and have been for many centuries, the people themselves are almost certainly partly descended of Celtiberian stock, and their musical traditions share a lot in common with those of Brittany, Wales and Cornwall. However it is generally claimed that the 'litmus test' of celticness is a Celtic language.

In the Western Hemisphere there are notable Celtic enclaves in western maritime Canada (which has produced a number of world-class bagpipers, and has a notable population of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers), and the Patagonia region of Argentina, which has enough Welsh speakers to support a Welsh-language radio station. The Celtic diaspora in the Americas, as well as New Zealand and Australia, is significant and organized enough that there are numerous organizations, cultural festivals and university-level language classes available in major cities throughout these regions. One of the best research libraries in the world for Celtic language and history materials is at the University of Wisconsin. Scottish games and music events, in particular, often draw thousands of participants, even in rural areas of the U.S., and are becoming increasingly pan-Celtic in tone. The annual San Francisco Celtic Music and Arts Festival runs for several days in a row, and fills a former military building larger than most aircraft hangars, to near capacity. Besides the Spanish and Portugues, many Germans, French and Italians consider themselves at least partly Celtic (and are generally correct, from a genetic viewpoint - the Franks and other Nordic invaders of west central Europe did blend to an extent with the earlier Gaulish inhabitants, and the Cisalpine Gauls of northern Italy are surely still well-represented among modern Italian bloodlines. Even the far East evidences a vicarious pan-Celtic interest; the journal (mostly in Japanese) Studia Celtica Japonica is well regarded among scholars. (See also Modern Celts for more detail on the Celtic diaspora.)

Timeline of Pan-Celticism

1820 : Celtic Society of Edinburgh founded
1838 : First Celtic Congress, Abergavenny, Wales
1845 : Tynwald recognised by UK
1867 : Second Celtic Congress, Saint Brieuc, Brittany
1888 : Pan-Celtic Society, Dublin
1899 : Celtic Association formed at Cardiff eisteddfod
1900 : First major Celtic Congress
1914-1918 : First World War
1919-1922 : Irish War of Independence, five-sixths of Ireland becomes independent, Northern Ireland gets devolved government
1922-1923 : Irish Civil War
1923 : Breton party ‘Breizh Atao’ adopts official pan-Celtic policy
1929 : a Celtic League founded in Scotland
1939-1945 : Second World War and German occupation of Brittany
1947 : Irish government sponsors Celtic Congress
1949 : Republic of Ireland formed.
1952 : Collapse of Celtic Union. A new Celtic Association is also formed in London after a rally of 10,000 people.
1953 : First Celtic Congress of Canada
1961 : Modern Celtic League founded at [[Rhosllanerchrugog|R
1968 : Welsh League of Youth holds inter-Celtic camps.
1971 : Killarney pan-Celtic festival begins
1977 : “Pan-Celtic News” founded
1985 : Scrif Celtic, the Celtic book fair begins
1997 : Columba Initiative began
1999 : Scotland and Wales are devolved and the Cornish Constitutional Convention is created finally collecting over 50000 signatures endorsing the call for a Cornish Assembly.
Late 1990s: Scottish and Irish Youth parliaments begin

External links

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