Thoughts on Galicia?

[kingandrew]

This is all rather complicated. We are dealing with a rather vague and modern idea of "Celticness" that arose in the Romantic period and applying it backwards to ages when no one would have claimed such an identity. Then we use a few very limited scraps of information as evidence to support a much more sweeping claim.

As noted above, the idea of "Celts" comes from Roman sources applying names to the various "barbarian" (i.e. not Roman) groups they encountered in their march of conquest. There is little doubt that members of these tribes are among the ancestors of todays Scots, Irish, Galicians and so on. But there is little doubt that many others have also left their cultural and genetic heritage in these places over the years, especially the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and the Vikings, among many others.

And of course the intermarriage and cultural influences went the other way, too. So ideas and spouses from one area would move to other places. The Vikings were especially widely-traveled, trading and settling in places as widespread as Iceland, Sicily, Russian, the Byzantine Empire (in today's Turkey), and briefly in America. So scattered examples of some of their traits (blue eyes, light hair, artistic styles) are found widely across these areas.

Language creates group identity more powerfully than most other cultural ties. And the fact that the Scots, Irish, Welsh, and others were at the far edge of Europe made it easier for their distinct languages to survive into the modern era. This is not unique, as there are odd language survivals in other parts of Europe, too, such as Basque, Romansch, or Sami.

In the Romantic Era, beginning in the late 1700s, there was a renewed interest in folk traditions and the idea that language groups constituted "nations." During the 19th and 20th centuries, these ideas often translated into political and military efforts to provide these nations with geographic political independence from their neighboring language nations. Since there had been much trade, intermarriage, and movement of individuals over the centuries, such efforts were always messy and groups were well mixed regardless of where borders might be drawn. We are still seeing this process at work in the various Balkan conflicts of the 1990s and the ongoing independence movements of the Basque and Catalans in Spain.

Scholars, artists, and politicians of the early 19th century began to use the survival of the related languages of Scots and Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, and the Breton speech of Brittany as a reason to clump these groups together as "Celts." Many factors helped to popularize this idea, but the huge popularity of Sir Walter Scot's novels and MacPherson's "Ossian" poems helped to popularize the idea of Celtic culture and heritage far and wide. The colorful Highland dress of the Scots and the distinctive styles of folk music and dance associated with these groups also made for an easily-identified cultural "package."

The importance of Scottish Enlightenment academics and authors, the political tensions in Ireland, and the widespread immigration of people from these areas to the Americas and various parts of the British Empire helped to make the elements of folk culture that survived into a focus for identity for people across the diaspora of these groups. Hence the existence of Highland games or Burns Suppers in places like Florida or Shanghai (where I have attended them).

As with the whole "clan tartan" idea, the fact that a tradition is "only" a coupe of centuries old (dating from the Romantic period) does not negate the fact it is a tradition. Obviously I enjoy these cultural expressions and am happy to see Galicians who feel similarly. I don't think anyone has exclusive claim on these elements. The Galicians have obviously maintained piping and other traditions that connect with Celtic culture and have just as much right to identify that way as Lowland Scots (or Americans like me) have to wear the kilt. I just tend to downplay claims of "ancient" or unique traditions, since we can see that various elements (bagpipes, "plaid" patterned fabric, men in skirt like garments) are quite widespread through history. I welcome any who wish to embrace some or all of these things.

Putting them together in the mix we recognize and enjoy today is a relatively recent development, but still one I happily participate in. I just think it's all too easy for some to begin concocting dangerous and unwarranted "blood and soil" type ideas from these cultural expressions, which I would strongly discourage. It is also too easy to create rigid lines in one's mind of what is or isn't "Celtic," an idea that projects a few romantic modern ideas onto a hazy and distant past where they don't really apply.