The statement of a Celtic heritage, despite a theoretically objective ethnic trace (the “Celtic blood”), is above all things a subjective ideological act that depends heavily on cultural and political aspects.
If only the ethnic/biological aspect is considered, then, taking in account the Centuries of fractioning and miscegenation through which this people (and all their contemporaries) passed through, we can declare that Celts do not exist anymore. Ethnically, to assume a Celtic identity would make as much sense as to assume an Indo-European one.
On the other hand, when stated through the preserving of cultural values, the Idea of a Celtic identity detaches itself of a remote past and sticks up to a regional element and to the everyday life: to the practice of old sports (such as hurling, gaelic football and shinty), maintenance of traditional music (mainly bagpipes and gaelic singing) and – the most remarkable trace – the preserving of a Celtic language.
These traces are kept with different intensity in the original Celtic area (see previous topic), but also were transplanted to other places like Canada (Nova Scotia region), United States (that played an active role in the Fenian Movement (cf. Stearns, 1981 or here) and even in the Welsh settlements in Argentine’s Patagonia (cf. Agozzino, 2006).
The statement of a Celtic Identity does not always come along with the uninterrupted maintenance of cultural traces. As it was written in the beginning of this topic, there is also a political aspect in the building of an identity. The remote past may be rescued by a group to establish a sense of otherness in relation to another group. In this type of scenario, the Celtic identity is particularly “productive” by its association (in many periods of History) to resistance against a dominant power. This background was interesting both to the left-wing Irish Republican Army as well as to the right-wing Wise Use movement faction in New Mexico, USA. In an article about this movement (which is against State intervention and is pro-privatism), McCarthy and Hague wrote:
“Those claiming Celtic identity simultaneously maintain a white identity and assert distance from a privileged, dominant position in society” (McCarthy & Hague, 1995, p. 389, [alternative link])
The authors quote in the same article an at least curious speech of the leader of the movement, Jim Catron:
“Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar instantly would have recognized the Marlboro Man as a Kelt, a Gaul” (op. cit., p. 387)
As we can see, the Celtic identity is something subject to intense debate and, in this debate, the language is a central issue. We point out as an evidence of that the demand that a country/region has of maintaining at least one Celtic language to join the Celtic League and the Celtic Congress. A demand that excludes Galicia, for instance, a region that preserves many traces of Celtic culture, though not the language.
On this blog, we will focus in the preserving and revival of the Celtic languages of the called Six Celtic Nations – Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man and Brittany – inside their territories and, eventually, outside them.
The six Celtic Nations
EXTRA MATERIAL
The Irish Speech - On this scene of the TV series Boardwalk Empire, the character Eli Thompson pronounces a speech about the Irish-American support to IRA. It ends up on a fight about Irish identity.
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