Well - instead of all the "Celtic Twilight" stuff that we have ben force - fed for years, let us celebrate our art, music, literature and culture for what it is. You know what I mean - all those "Celtic harps" and "Celtic crosses" and "Celtic embroideries" in the "Celtic" gift shops. Let us recognise the wonderful music, folklore, metalwork, jewellry etc etc for what it is - home grown native culture and not something imported from Austria. You could check out http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/stj/celtindex.html
Mike Pearce on another list says it very neatly:
"There has been plenty of academic discussion of the Celts over the
last ten years. Caesar only mentions Celts in mid and southern Gaul,
and clearly states that the inhabitants of Britain are indigenous,
except for those in the South, who are Belgians (ie Germanics). From his Gallic Wars
narrative:
"The interior of Britain is inhabited by people who claim, on the
strength of their own tradition, to be indigenous. The coastal areas
are inhabited by invaders who crossed over from Belgium for the sake
of plunder and then, when the fighting was over, settled there and
began to work the land; these people have almost all kept the names
of the tribes from which they originated".
Pytheas the Greek of Marseilles circumnavigated Britain about 350 BC
reporting that the Prettanic Isles were North of the lands of the Celts.
John Collis notes that "the indigenous nature of the British Iron Age
is now generally accepted, but with continuous rather than punctuated
contacts with the continent followed by periods of complete
isolation." (Collis 2000, 181) Collis makes a great case for
rethinking the nature of the Celts in his "The Celts. Origins, Myths,
Inventions" essentially making a critical study of Celtic Studies."
