Thoughts on Galicia?

[kingandrew]

I agree that we can see similarities and consider them one group in many ways.

However, their conception would likely have been very different. Even a couple of centuries ago, the typical Scottish Highlander would not have considered himself (or herself) a "Celt" or seen any connection with the Irish or Bretons. In fact, they would likely have considered themselves members of Clan McX and considered themselves enemies of Clan McY, rather than embracing some kind of "pan-Celtic" identity.

It's also true that nobody in the Byzantine Empire called it that. They called it "Rome." Later historians created the term "Byzantine" to identify the Eastern Roman Empire that survived 1,000 years after the fall of Rome itself. Hindsight is 20/20, or at least different than the way things look while they are happening.

So it's find for us to look back and talk about elements of a Celtic cultural pattern that spread across many areas of Europe. But imagining that this was one "nation" of cultural or political unity is inaccurate and projecting 19th-20th century ideas onto a period thousands of years earlier with very different social structures, beliefs, and communication technologies.

But I am happy to see people embracing things that bring them together. "Man to man the world o'er/ Shall brothers be, for a' that" as Burns wrote.

Andrew