Explore All Facets of Life in Celtic Ireland

The Celts were a significant power in Europe before the dawn of Christianity. At the height of their power, the Celts established themselves across Europe, naming substantial cities such as Paris, Milan, and Vienna. They were feared worldwide, conquered many places, and fought many battles. “Celtic” refers to people descended from one of the current Celtic regions on the western extremities of Europe, and each of these regions has retained much of its indigenous culture and distinctive language throughout the centuries. Life in Celtic Ireland was immensely different from any other culture as well.

In The Beginning

In the early Iron Age, a new culture started to evolve around Europe. This new culture was known as the Celtic culture, and its influence spread to Ireland through trade and travel. With the coming of the Anglo-Saxons, most of the Celts who lived in Britain fled to Ireland.

In time, Ireland became the major centre of Celtic culture. Ireland had new cities, and the people were divided into clans that lived in small villages. Most of them formed and raised cattle.

Nature of the Celts

The Celts were warriors and great farmers who came to Ireland from Eastern Europe. The historian Sicilus said: “The Celts are terrifying in appearance. They are tall, with moist white flesh; their hair is blonde. They wear vivid clothes, tunics dyed in every colour. They are boasters and threateners…”.

The Celts lived in ringforts, hillforts, promontory forts, and crannogs. Ringforts consisted of a circular bank of Earth surrounded by a trench. Inside the trench were houses built of wood with thatched roofs. Many ringforts contained an underground passage called a Souterrain. Hillforts were ringforts constructed on top of hills, offering more excellent protection to inhabitants, such as The Hill of Tara.

Check out more Irish castles here.

Similarly, promontory forts, like Dun Aengus, were built on clifftops for additional security. Crannogs were built on an island in the middle of a lake for also, you guessed it, protection. This made the Celts feel more at ease from potential invaders and wild animals.

The Celts divided Ireland into 150 kingdoms called tuath. Each tuath had a Ri (king).

Language and Communication

The Celts had a basic type of alphabet called Ogham, which they wrote by cutting a series of notches into the edge of a standing stone. A collection of Ogham stones is at UCC (University College Cork).

Celts Appearance

The Celts’ appearance was generally rigid. They took excellent care of their appearance. They bleached their hair blonde using lime wash. Men often spiked it up to make themselves frightening. They also shaved their beards but kept their moustaches, and they kept them long. Amidst all of that, jewellery was popular among the Celts. They wore necklaces called torcs. The Broighter Hoard is a collection of gold Celtic objects near Limavady, Co. Derry.

Men and women alike wore a long woollen cloak called a brat, tied at the neck with a brooch or a pin. Poorer Celtic men wore trousers under their brat, called Bracac. Under the same brat, women wore a tunic to their ankles.

Celtic warriors limed their hair, making it stand up and pulling it back to the nape of their neck. This was probably a battle tactic to make themselves look frightening to the enemy. They painted themselves with a blue paint called Woad. Both men and women were heavily tattooed. They also beat their swords and spears against their leather shields, creating an awful sound to scare the enemy.

Celtic Society

The Celtic people reach out to us through the mists of time. Out of the depths of the Dark Ages, throughout Europe and in the lands of the British Isles. Tales are told of people who had a closeness with nature. They are painted as gentle and kind, living in harmony with others. Having no actual written language, others were left to tell their tale. Some of these tell of a different nature to these people. A king or chief was in charge. Farmers were part of the lower class in Celtic society. Despite their reputation as being barbaric, they were pretty skilled in metalworking and made fine jewellery from gold, silver, copper and bronze. True, the Celts loved to fight. Warriors would even fight for the best piece of meat, the hero’s portion.On the other hand, the Celts loved poetry. The poet was a very respected member of the society. Their marriage traditions were simple but full of allusions to mysticism, much like the current Irish wedding traditions.

Warriors

Since most men in the Celtic society grew up on the doctrine of war and fighting for the nation’s sake, other occupations didn’t matter much then. Yes, being a merchant or a sailor was essential in Celtic society, but it not prestigious and highly regarded as one looked at as a soldier. Several commentators at the time, notably Caesar, have mentioned that the Gauls were essentially mad warriors. To them, war was like a cult centred on individual warriors. They tried to prove their worth by killing as many people as possible. A Greek historian, Diodorus, wrote of the Celtic tribes threatening the Mediterranean civilizations at his time. Their aspect is terrifying; they are very tall with rippling muscles underneath their clear white skin.

The Celtic way of fighting was alarming. Most warriors armed themselves with the weapons nature had given them. They used to go half-naked into battle, painting crimson blood on their bodies and faces. They were fearsome warriors, but the Celts only fought when necessary and sometimes held firm to their humane beliefs.

Women

Among the Celtic peoples, women had a vital and distinctive role from those in other contemporary societies. For example, they could hold property, which they couldn’t do in different cultures. They could initiate a divorce, were accepted as warriors, and were strict in warfare. It is, indeed, a unique role for Celtic women. Goddesses were equal, but that was not the case in other religions. Not much evidence points to women warriors among the Celts; also, Queen Boudica led an army against the Romans around AD60. Celtic women were not to be messed with.

The Celts were seafaring people, too—they made boats called coracles by stretching cowhides over a wooden frame. Some coracles were large enough to hold as many as 30 people. The boats handled well at sea and were used for travel, trade, and fishing.

The Celts could remain free of Germanic attacks because their island was farther out in the Atlantic Ocean than Britain. Scholars, artists, merchants, and monks from different parts of Europe came to Ireland because of its peace and safety.

Celtic Religion

The Celts were pagan, and they believed in many gods. The Celtic priests were called Druids. They wore white linen tunics and offered animal sacrifices to the gods.

Christianity influenced Irish scholars and artists. St. Patrick founded the Irish Church. Born in Britain in 400 AD, St. Patrick was kidnapped when he was young and taken to Ireland by Irish pirates. Later, he escaped to Europe, where he studied to be a priest. After becoming a bishop, he returned to Ireland and converted people to Christianity. He spread his message throughout the island and set up many new churches.

Ireland was in contact with Rome during the Germanic invasion of the Roman Empire; this meant that the Pope could no longer lead the Irish Church. So, the Church turned into its Abbots; many were related to the heads of different clans, and each clan supported its monastery.

The monasteries became centres of Irish life, although many were in inaccessible places, like rocky coasts or steep hills. Most monasteries were made up of huts with a wooden stockade around them. Some monasteries were built of stone because of poor transportation and communication. Church organization was weak, so each monastery took charge of its affairs.

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Irish monks soon began to follow practices different from those of the Roman Church. They wore their hair differently and celebrated Easter on a different day. The rituals were not the same as those of the Romans. Moreover, Irish monasteries set down few rules: a monk was free to move from one monastery to another; many monks had the choice to be hermits as long as they still followed the manners and convictions of the Church; becoming a missionary was not obligatory as it was when someone reaches a certain age. Additionally, many schools were set up around the country.

One of the best-known monks was Saint Columba. He set up a monastery on Iona, an island off the west coast of Scotland. From his base on Iona, St. Columba did missionary work among the many non-Christian Celts along the coast. Monks from Iona went to Northern England to preach to the Anglo-Saxons. Other Irish monks went to Northern Europe to build monasteries and churches.

Many Irish scholars joined Charlemagne’s Palace School. They helped spread Christianity and learning throughout the Empire.

Where Did the Celts Come From?

While much has been written on the arrival of the Danes, Angles, Saxons, and Normans to the British Isles, few have explored the origins of the people who occupied the land before them. Just where did the Celts come from?

After the decline of the Roman Empire, around 410 AD, the Angles and Saxons began moving from mainland Europe and settling across England and the lower parts of Scotland. By the 9th century, the Danes started building settlements around the British Isles, and in the early part of the 11th century, in 1066, the Normans invaded.

Long before all of this, the Celts lived in the British Isles; they arrived centuries before even the Romans were established in Europe. If you visit the British Isles today, you may encounter a Celtic revival, as the National Curriculum in Wales requires all students to learn the Welsh language. This ancient language is a branch of the broader Celtic languages spoken along the western islands of Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, and Brittany.

More on Where the Celts Came From

Historians have traditionally seen the Celts as just another Germanic tribe that migrated west from central Europe. Still, a relatively new scientific study has found genealogical evidence to the contrary: Dr Mark Jobling from the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester published a journal on the Y-chromosomal lineage of the Celts. In this journal, the lineage of European male Y chromosomes was tested and analyzed with DNA evidence strongly supporting the theory that Celtic men “spread from a single source from the Near East” or the Middle East as it is more commonly called.

What is fascinating about the findings in this journal is that the route in which the migration occurred is entirely mappable. Moving through Turkey, across Europe and in particular, around the Mediterranean coastline and the Iberian peninsula, through the Gibraltar straights and up along the coast of Western Europe into the British Isles, is a clearly defined path.

The “increase in frequency and reduction in diversity from east to west” of the Y-chromosome supports a “rapid expansion” as a fading trail of the chromosome shows the Middle East’s migration path to the region where the Celtic people reside today. The study estimates that the timeframe of the expansion was approximately over 4,500 years, and this likely happened from 7,000 BC until as recently as 2,500 BC. Regardless of the accuracy of their dating methods, the migration did occur, and there is a corroborating historical document that we would like to cross-examine with scientific research, which may suggest more recent data for the migration.

There was a race of people who first occupied Ireland before the Celts. Know more about them here.

Extraordinary Facts about Life in Celtic Ireland

Celtic history is steeped in mystery. We don’t know much about the Celts because they left behind few written records, but they were quick to fight and conquer. Still, some historians have provided information about the Celts’ history and some of their everyday traditions and customs, so let’s delve into that.

The Romans Had Nothing on their Roads

While Romans often get credited for being the road builders of Europe, there’s substantial evidence to suggest that the Celts beat them to a punch. Not that the history books would ever tell you that, because as we all know, history is written by the winners. And for the bulk of early recorded history, the winners resided in the Roman Empire. When you’re the biggest, most brutal guy on the block, you can take what you want, including credit for things others have done, and according to some, that includes the building of roads.

Archaeological proofs now suggest that the Celts, not the Romans, were the first to build roads. Remnants of these roads indicate that they were constructed before the Roman conquest reached the British Isles. These roads were mainly built out of wood, carbon-dated to the Iron Age ─ suggesting that they predated the Roman Empire’s expansion far north. And they were speaking of the Iron Age.

The Celts Were among the First to Utilize Iron Weaponry

One aspect of Celtic culture that almost everyone is undoubtedly aware of is their reputation as fierce warriors. They were also technologically ahead of their time, which gave them a pretty giant leg up. After all, this group invented the exact chainmail later adopted by the famous Roman Legions.

That flies in the face of old rumours that the Celts fought naked since we can’t imagine chainmail would feel particularly great clanging against your bottom part. But it wasn’t just superior armour that gave the Celts an advantage in battle; it also gave them superior arms. The Celts are believed to be among the first to forge iron into swords, replacing the flimsier bronze swords most had been using until sometime around 800 BC. They also began to utilize more miniature, lighter swords and daggers made of iron around 600 BC. These were far less cumbersome than broadswords, enabling the Celts to be more agile and quicker to strike on the battlefield.

The Celts Were Insanely Wealthy

While history often paints the Celts in broad strokes as being somewhat barbaric, savage warriors, that’s not exactly the case. Sure, they did participate in some acts of barbarism, and many practised ritual human sacrifice. And yes, we’ll get to that in just a bit. But that aside, they were also massively wealthy thanks mainly to being highly active in trade.

They were among the first to utilize iron, which helped fill their coffers. Gold was so abundant among the Celtic religions that they used it in armour, weaponry, and art. Silver and bronze were also widely used and became renowned for their finely crafted ornate jewellery. Their artistry was among the best in the world at that time, and their scientific and technological prowess was a big part of that.

The Celts were able to line their pockets very nicely through their art, wine, vast quantities of gold, and technological advancements.

The Celts Had Progressive Views on Gender and Sexuality

While we can’t exactly call the Celts progressive in terms of their views on slavery (they were pretty much into the whole thing like any other colonial entity at that time), we absolutely can when it comes to women and sexuality. Now, don’t get us wrong: even in a somewhat progressive tribal society, it was still patriarchal. But that doesn’t mean women didn’t have a say, couldn’t rise to power, or even become warriors or dignitaries. Quite the opposite is true.

Notably, before the Roman conquest, Celtic women could lead tribes, as with Boudica. Boudica represents far from the norm but was one of a few Celtic women to rise to power and lead her people before her death circa 60 AD. She was the queen of her tribe and led her warriors into battle against the Roman Empire.

Speaking of gender and sexuality, one element of Celtic culture that’s become widely believed is that not only could women hold positions of power, but that Celtic men often preferred the, ahem, “company” of other men. According to historical records, it was commonplace for men to seek out sexual companionship with their fellow male warriors, and likewise, women practised free love in Celtic culture.

They Weren’t Savages, but They Did Hunt Heads

As we’ve mentioned a few times at this point, the Celts were far from what barbarian history often painted them to be. They were an advanced society, took great care and pride in their appearance, and were wise enough to know it was an affront to wine connoisseurs everywhere to water the stuff down like those simpletons in the Greek and Roman empires. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t participate in at least a few practices that might qualify as brutal and violent.

Headhunting was chief among these practices ─ other than ritualistic human sacrifices, which we’ll get back to shortly. As with ritualistic sacrifices, Celtic headhunting was driven by religion, for the most part. You see, the Celts believed that the head contained a warrior’s soul, so you are capturing that soul by taking his head. At least, that’s one popular theory as to why they hunted heads. However, the exact reason is unknown and likely varied from tribe to tribe and warrior to warrior, notably since the practice continued even after most Celtic tribes had converted to Christianity.

The Number 3 Had a Huge Significance

An instrumental of the Celtics’ belief system was the concept of “triplicity”. While that may sound like a knockoff family counselling website, it concerns the number three. Specifically, things come in the form of ‘triplets’. That means three realms (Sky, Land, and Sea) and three types of gods (personal, tribal, and spirits).

Now, the Celts didn’t just have three gods, mind you. They had many (!). When we talk about the Celts worshipping three types of gods, we’re talking about the kinds that guide you when you’re alone, those that are with you when you’re in groups, and those that protect your home. Simply put, triplicity refers to three things that form a whole. It’s an essential part of cosmology and astrology, integral to Druid paganism.

For Most of their Existence, the Celts Were Polytheistic

Eventually, some Celtic tribes adopted Christianity as their preferred spiritual path. But for the bulk of Celtic existence, they practised polytheism, the worship of many gods. It’s not unusual that they’d have worshipped numerous gods, considering the same was true of their contemporaries, the Romans and the Greeks. And the chief purveyors of Celtic polytheism, or Celtic paganism, were the Druids. Believe it or not, much of what we know of the Druids and Druidism comes from Julius Caesar.

That’s part of what renders our knowledge of the Druids information that should probably be taken with at least a small grain of salt, considering Caesar and his Empire were frequently at war with the Celts. Still, Caesar relayed that the Druids were teachers and priests and rendered judgment and penalties resulting from crimes and disputes within their tribes. As alluded to in the previous entry, the stars played a significant role in the Celtic religion and Druidism. They also practised ritual sacrifice to appease their gods (with the burning of Wicker Men ─ sacrificial victims or victims inside ─ which will send a shiver down Nic Cage’s spin should he read this) and believed in reincarnation.

The Celts, Well, They Weren’t Celts

Confused? Don’t be. It’s much simpler than the header, which probably makes it sound. You see, the group you think of as the “Celts” isn’t the Celts, not because Romans were the Romans or the Greeks were the Greeks. That’s because the Celts weren’t just one group; they consisted of many, including the Gaels above, the Britons, the Gauls, and the Galatians. “Celtic” refers to the language and dialects these various tribes use.

That said, grouping all those tribes under one umbrella ─ done by contemporaries like the Greeks and Romans since the Celts didn’t keep written records ─ is probably misleading. Some historians suggest that the languages were different enough, and the groups so spread out (as far east as Turkey, all the way west to the Atlantic Ocean) that it’s doubtful most of the tribes were remotely united. It’s believed part of the reason why the Romans ultimately defeated them was their lack of unification. In essence, calling a Gaul “Celtic” would be akin to calling a German “European.” Technically correct, but highly generalized.

Celtic Folklore

Celtic Folklore is full of creatures and beasts from different mythologies. Whether it’s an actual legend or a passing myth, Irish people were and will always be huge believers in the mystic. And Celtic lore has some creatures that should be considered intriguing by any standards.

The Nuckelavee

Legends tell of a creature beneath the northern sea, a demon with one red eye that burns like a flame in the depth and breath so foul that it can wilt crops, poison livestock, and leave children cold and dead in their cribs. During the summer, the myth of the sea keeps it trapped beneath the waves, but come winter, you must lock your doors and mind the sea, lest you meet The Nuckelavee.

The Nuckelavee is one of the most fearsome creatures in all Celtic folklore. The story comes from the Orkney Isles, their equivalent of Satan. No one knows what form it takes underwater, but on land, it’s said to look like the torso of a man fused to a horse’s back. It has no skin to hide its yellow bloated muscles and black throbbing veins, and its proportions are wrong with a fleshy 3-foot broad head that lulls uselessly atop its shoulders and arms so long its knuckles drag on the ground.

The horse, half of the beast, breathes out a fetid black smoke which causes a disease called Mortasheen that can pretty much kill anything, namely crops, livestock, and small children. If the Nuckelavee catches sight of you, it will pursue you relentlessly; nothing but the vastness of the sea can contain it. In the past, people feared this creature and wouldn’t even whisper its name. But there is one way to escape it: as a demon of the sea, the Nuckelavee can’t tolerate fresh water. To escape the beast, you only have to cross a stream of running water, and then it should leave you alone for a little while.

The Fomorians

Once, long ago, before man ever set foot on it, Ireland was a place for Gods. Some of the first settlers were the tribe of the gods. They were beautiful, powerful, and well-loved but weren’t without their enemies. Some of their bitter rivals were the Fomorians, a giant grotesque race of seafaring monsters. Accounts of what they look like vary: some say they’re humanoid with goat heads, others say they only have half a body, one arm, one eye, and one leg, but most stories seem to indicate that they’re all ugly and disfigured in their unique ways with a few exceptions. Like the Greek Titans, the Fomorians embody all our world’s harsh, evil forces ─ they’re made to be the bad guys.

Fortunately, they’re not around anymore. Over time, they were forgotten, and the word Fomorian came to be used for “pirate” or “sea raider”.

Hobs

Not all Celtic folklore is about evil giants or demons of the sea. Some are quite nice. For instance, it was a pretty commonly held belief, especially around the Anglo-Scottish border, that tiny, hairy, wise old men existed who would settle down around people’s homes or barnyards and provide them with aid in the night. These creatures were known by many as hobs, “hob” being short for “hobgoblin,” which may have meant goblin of the hearth.

Generally, Hobs were looked at as kindly, helpful spirits. If you treat them with respect, put a dish of cream or milk every night, and your little friend may stick around, but if you get stingy and forget to leave your treat, your hob may abandon you, or worse, he might turn into a poltergeist and cause all kinds of mischief around your home. Interestingly, Hobs have also been called naked goblins, primarily due to their strange aversion to human clothes ─ when given an article of clothing like a sock, they usually get offended and leave.

Changelings

Fairytale creatures have always had interesting relationships with mankind. One of the strangest and perhaps most disturbing is that of humans and Changelings.

When a fake creature fell ill or died of old age, some stories say they’d be disguised with a unique charm that made them look like human infants. Then, at night, the fairies would steal a human baby from its crib and replace it with a look-alike. The fairies would go on to raise the baby as their own, while the human parents were left to grieve their slowly sickening child or at least what they thought was their child. As the fairy charm wore off, the hideous form of the changeling was revealed.

Believe it or not, this was a comforting story to many people. Before the advent of industrial medicine or pathology, the infant mortality rate worldwide was quite a bit higher. The concept of changelings helped ease that pain; it allowed people to believe in a better alternative, that their child wasn’t dead, just… stolen and swapped at birth. They were perhaps living out an enchanted life in the fairy realm. However, most variations of this story are pretty dark.

It’s easy nowadays to look at creatures like these and think that they’re just weird, quirky tales that people made up to entertain themselves, and in some cases, that’s probably true. But you have to remember that many people believe in these things. These were the stories they used to make the harsh, unfair world they lived in feel a little more just.

Celtic Homes

The Celts are famous for their all-around roundhouses. Although roundhouses are unique to Europe, the Celts in the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsulas built them extensively from the Bronze Age until the end of the Iron Age. In Scotland, they were still using round houses until the end of the Picts. It was a significant fortification style that still existed in Celtic society even after it went out of fashion.

You may ask, why didn’t the Romans or other cultures use the same style? Why did they stick to square-ish or oblong structures? Well, it’s mostly due to the influence of the early farmers and the cultures that already existed in Europe before the spread of the Indo-Europeans. So, consequently, the Celts were less influenced by the architecture of that group of people.

Celtic Games

Literary and archaeological evidence sheds light on the fact that playing board games was a viral and culturally significant phenomenon among the Celtic-speaking peoples of Britain and Ireland in the first millennium AD. Yet little attention has been given to the origin of such games in these islands. Writers of British history appear to have taken it for granted or at least allowed it to be possible that board games were a feature of ancient Celtic society from the earliest times. However, The view is that board games arrived in Britain and Ireland through contact with the Roman world and are part of the broader picture of cross-frontier material-cultural interaction.

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Medieval literary sources from Ireland and Wales frequently mention board games, an essential aspect of daily life among the elite, whose interests are reflected in the texts. Amongst several games recorded, special status is accorded to the game of fidchell (Irish) and gwyddbwyll (British). The British evidence is, in general, later and more meagre than the Irish, and only general comments can be made regarding the nature of gwyddbwyll. The Irish evidence, however, is considerably more plentiful and detailed and can deduce several features of Mitchell. Celticists have recognised both games since the mid-nineteenth century, though their significance has not been adequately probed. The forms that appear in British are Welsh gwyddbwyll = gwydd (wood) + pwyll (sense). In Irish (Gaelic) the form is fidchell = fid (wood) = chiall (intelligence). Though not directly attested, the parent form can be reconstructed as Common Celtic widu-^kw eilla¯ = widu- wood + ^kweilla¯. The name, which is not based on any Roman game name, enshrines the principle that this was a game of skill played on a wooden board.

Celtic Food and Drinks

Common foods and general diets are relatively straightforward to assess using archaeobotanical analysis, stable isotope analysis, and traditional archaeological excavation techniques. In addition to food practices, archaeobotanical and ceramic assemblages (the array of stone tools or ceramic objects found at a site) from Celtic/Iron Age sites spoke to the technology related to producing alcoholic beverages.

The high percentage of cooking pot sherds recovered suggests that soups and stews were standard fare in Mediterranean France and throughout Celtic communities during the Iron Age. Cooking dry meat from sheep and cows was the primary provider of protein and energy for the Celtic communities.

Alcohol Consumption

The prominent role of alcoholic beverages in Celtic and Iron Age Europe, which has been in place since at least the Bronze Age, has received much attention from scholars. Doctor Hans-Peter Stika’s results confirm that there was an emphasis on the importance of the drink in the Iron Age and Celtic cultures and that beer was at least being produced during this time in southwest Germany. The results also shed some light on the production process and some of the technology used to create alcoholic beverages, of which little is known. Evidence of beer, mead, and wine consumption has previously been recovered from burial mounds, sherds, and classical bowls. However, mead and beer were considered the primary alcoholic beverages in Celtic society, though bragget, malt, and ale were also mentioned within historical texts regarding Celtic drinking practices.

Luxury Food

The idea of ‘luxury food’ in Celtic/Iron Age Europe was likely different from that of Roman period Europe, as in Celtic cultures, alcoholic drinks and large quantities of typical food would have constituted the luxury factor. Though not necessarily considered an exotic fare (excepting imported wines), alcoholic beverages were staples at feasting events. As stated above, alcoholic drinks like beer or mead would have been prepared locally. On the other hand, wine was imported from Italy or France and would have been expensive and generally accessible only to higher-class members of society.

Celtic Music

The history of Celtic music is multifaceted. The instrumental music tradition flourished immensely during their time—instruments like the flutes, the fiddle, the accordion, the concertina—and all these instruments arrived in Irish music at different times over two or three hundred years. In Ireland, music was chosen as one of the significant cultural centres.

Celtic music is the music played by people who, in a sense, share the peoplehood of the Celts, and since the Celts founded most of the countries in Britain, their musical culture spread all over them and thus began the Celtic music world. Many songs were about their prosperous livelihood and continued the tradition of mentioning Irish history from its beginnings. Relatively, there is a saying in Ireland that goes, “Those in power write the history and those who suffer write the songs”.

While focusing on contemporary music at that time (which concentrated on folklore music and ballads), the Celts also managed to sing about their reclamations and conquers. It was (and still is) a tradition that was in a constant state of growth.

Want to know more about famous Irish musicians and public figures? Click here.

Celtic Festivals & Religious Holidays

Ireland has eight special sacred days, holidays, and festivals from when the old Celtic world stopped to celebrate. Christianity adapted many of its feast days to match the old Celtic traditions, and they ranged from joyous to downright scary. These were a massive part of life in Celtic Ireland.

Bealtaine

An ancient Gaelic festival is ushering in the joy of summer blossoms across Ireland and Scotland, parts of Europe, and Wiccan and Pagan communities worldwide, such as Beltane. (In the Southern Hemisphere, Wiccans and Pagans mark Samhain). Beltane or Beltaine is the anglicised spelling of Bealtaine or Bealltainn, the Gaelic names for either the month of May or the festival on 1 May.

Centuries ago, bonfires were lit to welcome the arrival of summer. In Ireland, depending on what day the holiday falls on, the feast is marked by a public holiday. In towns around the country, May Day fairs are held where farmers and traders all gather in towns to sell their wares.

Midsummer (Summer Solstice)

Midsummer may simply refer to the period centred upon the summer solstice but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or that take place around 24 June and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between cultures.

In parts of Ireland, bonfires, like Bealtaine on the side of the road, mark the summer solstice. In rural Ireland, communities gather for their local bonfire and celebrate the longest day of the year with song and dance.

Lughnasa

Lughnasa was one of the four principal festivals of the medieval Irish calendar: Imbolc at the beginning of February, Beltaine on 1 May, Lughnasa in August and Samhain in October. One early Continental Celtic calendar was based on the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles, so the actual calendar date in ancient times may have varied. Lughnasa marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends.

In Gaelic folklore, it was a time for handfastings or trial marriages that lasted a year and a day and could then be renewed. Many celebrate the holiday today with reunions, bonfires, and dancing.

Autumnal Equinox

Similar to the St. Patrick’s Day festival, the Autumn/Fall Equinox celebrates when night and day are of equal duration and usually falls in the middle of Fall, around 21 September, precisely when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the Sun being vertically above a point on the Equator.

The symbol of the sacred day is the cornucopia, as all the harvest is collected, and the stocks for winter are hoped to be plentiful.

Samhain

Samhain; from Irish samhain, cf. Scots Gaelic samhainn, Old Irish samain (summer’s end), from sam (summer) and fuin (end) is a festival on the end of the harvest season in Gaelic and Brythonic cultures. Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year.

This day falls between Oíche Shamhna (31 October) and Lá na Marbh (1 November). Oíche Shamhna is Halloween, and Lá na Marbh is the Day of the Dead, or All Souls Day when those who have passed away are remembered. It marks the beginning of the “darker half” of the year as the winter approaches.

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice celebrates the shortest day of the year and, depending on the calendar, occurs between December 21 and 23. Though the winter solstice lasts an instant, the term is also colloquially used, like “midwinter”, to refer to the entire 24-hour period of the day it occurs.

Annually, hundreds of people gather in Newgrange, Co. Meath, Ireland, to watch the sunrise magically illuminate the ancient burial site. Globally, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture. Still, most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.

Imbolc

Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar. It is celebrated among Gaelic peoples and other Celtic cultures at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring.

The Irish Imbolc translates from the Old Irish Imbolg, or “in the belly”—a tribute to the early spring pregnancies of ewes. As lactation begins, an array of dairy foods eaten on this day symbolizes new beginnings. Corn dollies, fashioned like Brighid, are made by young Pagans, while adults twist Brighid crosses. After dark, candles are lit to welcome the rebirth of the sun.

St. Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick’s Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig; Ulster-Scots: Saunt Petherick’s Day) is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick’s Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture.

A special mass marks the religious day for the feast, and traditionally, everyone wears green. This is considered the middle of the Spring season and referred to as the Spring Equinox.

The Fall of the Celtic Empire

By 300 BC, the Celts had lost political cohesion, and the Empire began breaking apart. Tribes began wandering in search of new lands. Some went to Greece, where they outraged their former allies at the sack of Delphi in 273 BC. Others renewed the war with Rome in alliance with the Etruscans and were defeated at Sentinum in 295 BC and Lake Vadimo in 283 BC. One of the great ironies of history is that the Romans, destroyers of the early Celts, were also the protectors of the later Celts. When the German tribes, including the Lombards, Goths, and Franks, attacked the Roman Empire, sweeping through Gaul to create the massive feudal states of the Middle Ages, they subjugated the earlier peoples, including the Celts. These lower classes would eventually mix with the German nobility, coming up with the peoples we now know as the French, Italians, Belgians and Spanish.

One group entered Asia Minor and founded Galatia (Southeast Turkey), where a Celtic dialect was still spoken until 400 BC. These were eventually assimilated into Turkey (or its centre). Others enlisted as mercenaries with Carthage. Wars between Celts and Germans or Celts who had settled earlier were fought all over Mid-Europe, Gaul and Britain. By this end, the only Celtic strongholds were Britain and Gaul. The beginning of the Christian era saw Britain under Roman rule.

More worthy reads:

Digging Deeper into the Shrouded Mystery of the Celts| The Unfolded History of Gaelic Ireland Throughout the Centuries| Digging into the Secrets of Irish Pookas| Get to Know Some Famous Irish Proverbs| Viking History: Insight into the Age of Phantom Travellers|