Where does the association with Celtic and Ireland come from?

Question

After all, Ireland was a johnny-come-lately to the Celtic World. The Celts originated in northwestern France and rose to immense power there long before any of the Celtic people relocated to the British Isles. Yet when I (Northwestern French ancestry) assert that I( too am of Celtic descent, I am looked at questionably. Are those of Irish Celtic descent in denial or are they just uneducated about the whole history of the Celtic people?

Brightest Blessings,

Raji the Green Witch

Answer 1

You cannot claim to be of Celtic descent just because of your location.  Northwestern France was Germanic more recently than it was Celtic.  The Celts, like the Germanic peoples, did not just originate somewhere they migrated from earlier regions.

I always look at people questionably who claim to be of Celtic descent since "Celtic" refers to a linguistic group and to culture where genetics really played no role.  A group of Romans who lived in Celtic lands, under Celtic law and spoke a Celtic tongue would eventually be deemed Celtic -- after meeting the generational/legal requirements.

Answer 2

My son is classically pict, bright eyes, olive skin and big loose brown curls...

With the exception of the height he's every bit my Cornish family's offspring.

I've heard people say he isn't Celtic, too.

[Don't tell them, but red hair is German. Shhhhhh.]

Lovingly-

A Celtic mutt without a drop of Irish.

Answer 3

Maybe the reason they look at you funny is that your name is Raji the Green Witch.

Answer 4

Because Ireland, along with other areas such as the Scottish Highlands, comprise the "Celtic Fringe", wherein Celtic culture remained intact long after the rest of Celtic Britian was overrun.

Also, Ireland is the only predominatly Celtic country that is independent (unless you count Iceland, which some people think you should).

The rest of the Fringe is dominated by non-Celts.

Answer 5

The Celts were pushed out of Western Europe, across the British Isles, to Ireland. Ireland was/is their last stronghold. If you are from Northwestern France you are more likely Norman, which derives from North Man, which is what the Scandinavians were called when they conquered and settled in that part of Europe. If not then you are probably of Frankish descent, from the Frank Goths who were the ones that drove the Celts out of France, and who France is named after.

Answer 6

Actually Im Irish and when I hear Celtic I associate it with a non-Irish (generally American) sort of fake culture that is supposed to represent Ireland but shows no real understanding of Irish culture.

Or I think of Brezhoneg and Brittany. Anyone who has been to Ireland and Brittany should know that the Bretons are more Celtic than the Irish.

Answer 7

Uneducated and ego-centric, no doubt.  Sort of like people "claiming" to be American who have middle names like Hussein.  Surely not! [/s]

Answer 8

By the early centuries AD, following the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations of Germanic peoples, Celtic culture had become restricted to the British Isles.

Answer 9

No, they look at you funny because you call yourself a witch in the 21st century. That's what's funny!

Answer 10

Honestly it is probably because you said Celtic and didn't say Catholic.

Answer 11

Why does it matter where something originated? and that it wasn'y "here", why is that a point at all?  

Answer 12

To my knowledge, the French don't tend to stress their Celtic heritage...not to say they can't, but I don't think they do.  The British, on the other hand, have been overly enamored with the Celts for more than a century.  In addition, Celtic culture survived longer in Ireland than anywhere else, due to their remoteness.  The Irish today still often think of themselves as Celtic, and the Irish language is Gaelic, a Celtic language.  I've never known a Frenchmen to speak Gaulish (their version of Celtic).  Celtic influences are still clear in Irish artwork today as well.  Again, not something you see elsewhere.

Answer 13

maybe you don't look like it.

Answer 14

Ireland is culturally celtic but genetically non-celtic (if you want to go on the definition of celts as originating in mid Europe around Hallstatt in Austria). There were NO huge invasions of celts to Ireland in the Iron Age (and not a great deal of immigration into Britain either,for that matter.) The celtic languages are now believed to have arrived in the early bronze age or even during the great migrations of the neolithic, and what we think of as 'celtic Ireland'  developed from the preceding bronze age.

Just ask any modern archaeologist!

But I do agree with you one one thing-a lot of people immediately think of just britain & Ireland when one mentions 'celtic'...but there were celts all over Europe from Denmark down throufgh France and Spain and even  into Northern Italy and Turkey.