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21 - Insular Celtic religion

from PART II - ANCIENT EUROPE IN THE HISTORICAL PERIOD

Karen Bek-Pedersen
Affiliation:
University of Southern Denmark
Lisbeth Bredholt Christensen
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg, Germany
Olav Hammer
Affiliation:
University of Southern Denmark
David A. Warburton
Affiliation:
Aarhus University, Denmark
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Summary

A discussion of almost any aspect of Celtic culture requires that some attention be given to a definition of who “the Celts” were and what is meant by the term “Celtic”. These questions may appear to some to create unnecessary obstacles but they are highly relevant. For the purposes of the present article the actual existence of “the Celts” will be assumed, though a discussion of the term itself remains necessary. Employed linguistically, “Celtic” refers to a branch of Indo-European languages that has split into two groups, namely Q-Celtic and P-Celtic, of which the former includes Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic whereas the latter includes Welsh, Breton and the now extinct Cornish and Pictish. In terms of archaeology, “Celtic” refers to material culture of a distinctive type found across most of the European continent. With regard to political nationalism of recent centuries, the term has a different meaning again (Ross 1972: 18). The difficulty is not so much understanding that different cultural aspects may all be referred to as Celtic, but rather appreciating what it is that ties these disparate elements together as one relatively homogeneous Celtic culture.

When the focus is turned to the pre-Christian religion of “the Celts”, with as limited a scope as is the case in the present context, a definition of what is meant by “Celtic” will necessarily also be limited in some ways.

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Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2013

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