A Report On The Celtic Culture
Bog bodies were preserved human bodies, mainly ones of those who lived during the late Bronze Age and the Iron Age time periods. Although, there are bog bodies from later time periods as well. These bodies were preserved in bogs across many Northern European countries. These countries included Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, and Norway. Bog bodies have been discovered in bogs since around the 1740s until the early 2000s. Archeologists do not expect to find many more bog bodies in the future. The people who lived in the areas of Europe where the bog bodies were found were known as the Celts. The Celts lived in small tribes across Northern Europe. Majority of the bog bodies found were those of Celtic people or their prisoners. The Celts ate what they farmed. They mainly farmed cereal, wheats (elmer, spelt, bread wheat), barley, beans, millet, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, fat hen, and gold of pleasure. The Celts also ate wild plants such as berries and many other wild fruits. Meats were also eaten by the Celts, the meats they ate included fish and the ribs of ox and sheep. Meat wasn’t eaten every day, but was occasionally eaten. Dairy products like milk and cheese were also eaten by the Celts. The Celts did also drink alcohol, they mainly drank fruit wine and beer. Sometimes to increase the alcohol content in the drinks they would add honey to it. The Celts also had to be able to store their crops to be able to last through the winter. To do this that used large pits; in some excavated pits charred grain was found.
The Celts had a great interest in their appearance as they strived to because to impress one another with their appearances. The clothing worn by the Celts was usually made from very colorful clothes. The Celtic men usually wore long shirts or tunics that were made of linen or wool, unless you were rich then the tunics and shirts were made of silk. Cloaks that were made from gallic sheep wool were also worn. The Celtic men would fasten their cloaks to their right shoulder using a fibulae (as known as brooches). Men would also wear long pants that they called breeches, as well as belts. Celtic men’s hairstyles differed some were shaggy and had long hair, beards, and large moustaches. While there were others who had short hair, were clean-shaved, and some would shave their body hair as well. Some of the men also wore jewellery items including armlets and metal neckrings.
The Celtic women wore wrap-around skirts that were made from fabrics with bold patterns. The skirts normally came to ankle or calf length, so that they could avoid getting mud on their skirt. Women would also wear cloaks made of wool or linen (the rich would use silk). Celtic women also wore a type of dress called a peplos. A peplos was a simple kind of dress that was made using two rectangles of fabric there were tied together at the sides. Women also used a fibulae to hold the peoples together at the shoulders. The Celtic women’s hairstyles were usually very elaborate. Most women had long hair and used hairpins to create the elaborate hairstyles. Women usually didn’t wear hats or headdresses, partly because of their hairstyles. The Celtic women loved wearing jewellery. They wore bracelets and anklets that were typically made of bronze as well as black shale bracelets. Women also wore necklaces made from glass beads, amber, or coral.
Clothing that was typically worn by Celtic warriors going to battle were tunics that had embroidery on them and were colorfully dyed. The warriors also wore striped cloaks that they fastened with a fibulae. Trousers were also worn by the Celtic warriors, but usually only by the cavalrymen. The warriors would sometimes wash their hair in chalky water to spike, to create a fearsome look. Although, this wasn’t something that was done often because when their hair was spiked it made it difficult to wear a helmet. One of the Celts system of laws was known as Brehon Laws. The laws that are under Brehon Laws can be found the “Book of the Dun Cow. ” Under Brehon Laws there were 9 types of marriage laws that correspond with the 8 types in the Hindu Law of Manu. The Celtic women also had considerable rights especially compared to many other civilizations at the time. There were laws that protected women from rape and sexual harassment as well as other things.
The basic structure of a Celtic house was wattle walls, a conical roof, and clay daub that was used to help weather proof the house. Stone walls were sometimes used depending on the location of the house and what resources were available. The size of these house varied greatly from 15 ft-50 ft in diameter. Some of the larger houses needed an inner post ring for more support (long rafters); the houses that needed this were usually nobility houses or feasting halls. The Celtic farmhouses were usually a rectangular shape, they are often compared to the way modern Canadian log cabins look. Farmhouses were either single roomed or multi-roomed with a central corridor. The farmhouses were made of wood and were one story tall. The Celtic houses in Britain and Ireland were usually a round shape and made of wood. These houses were two or three stories tall. The Celts had many different occupations. One big occupation of the Celtic people was farming. The people who worked on a farm would farm most of the foods they ate, including: many types of wheat, barley, and millet. The farmers also farmed flax that was used to made oil and linen. Farmers also took care of different animals; these animals were sheep, pigs, and cattle. The farmers counted on surpluses and large harvest because they had to be able to feed and help support the classes that didn’t create and farm their own food. Some other occupations were merchants, aristocrats, warriors, and men of art. The men of art included the people who were craftsmen, bards, and druids. The social classes system of the Celts was based on a caste system, which is similar to most of the early Indo-European people. The divisions of their caste system are very similar to the Greek and Roman society. The divisions ranked from highest to lowest are: the King/Chief, warrior nobility, men of art (craftsmen, bards, priests, druids), and then farming folks. During the late Iron age the Celts lived in small territorial sub tribes. The Celts were ruled by a king, in the Celtic society the word “rix” means king. The kings lived in marvelous and enormous fortresses. The kings job was to protect their people, and they were thought of a divine by their people. The Celtic kings were thought be descended from their gods, and they would ritually mate with a goddess. There are no written records of the Celts religious beliefs. The Celts’ religion was a polytheistic religion that believed in over 200 deities. A lot of the deities that the Celts believed in were local or tribal gods. The Celts believed that their deities were ancestors rather then creators. One of the major gods that they believed was Cernunnos, his name means “the horned one. ” In the Celts’ religion the bogs that they lived near were considered sacred places. They would make sacrifices to the gods in the bogs. Some of the ways they made sacrifices in bogs were cutting off long braids and throwing them in, rings were buried and thrown in (brings good fortune and fertility), men and women were also sacrificed (bog bodies). The Celts also made other sacrifices. These sacrifices included prisoners from war, the Celts would cut the prisoners throat over a cauldron because cauldrons were considered sacred vessels. Animals were also sacrificed to the gods. As an offering to the gods the Celts would destroy weapons.
A big part of the Celts’ religion were the Druids. The Druids were judges, astronomers, intellectuals, diviners, and mediators with the gods. Druids were typically male, although it is known that female Druids did exist; they were known as Dryades or Druidesses. Druids would pass down their wisdom from generation to generation. Druids were integrated with society and in everyday life of the Celts. There were mainly responsibilities that the Druids had. They officiated when worshiping to the gods, acted as a judge in disputes (between tribes and individuals), gave answers to religious questions, gave young men advice, and were guardians of the traditions of the Celts. Druids were also responsible for fixing festivals, naming unlucky days as well as lucky days, conducting sacrifices, and maintaining the calendar. To become a Druid people had to memorize laws, verses, traditions, histories, and magic formulae. Druids also had to complete many years of studies and training; the process of becoming a Druid could take up to 20 years. Druids were usually recruited from aristocracy. When a outcome of a dispute is decided those who don’t accept the outcome of the dispute get banned from partaking in religious services, including sacrifices. If a person was under this ban they were thought of as impious criminal. They would also get shunned by everyone, because people feared that they could get some of the harm they cause. Most feasts that the Celts had were religious or ceremonial events. These events, however, could be drunken and wild events that could sometimes turn into deadly affairs. At a Nobles would sit in formal orders based on their status. During a feast warriors would also get their skills tested in public; they would duel to the death. Bull festivals were also another religious event that the Celts partook in. In the Celtic religion bulls were thought to represent strength, virility, and ferocity. During a bull festival a druid would eat a bull’s flesh and drink a broth that was made from the bull. While the Druid was doing this four people would chant over the Druid. The point of bull festivals was to get a vision of who the next thing should be.
The Celtic Kings were buried in royal graves. The king was buried in a oakwood tomb under large barrows. The kings were also buried with grave good including: chariots, wagons, personal ornaments, jewelry, and utensils with food and drinks. The grave good for other people that weren’t the kings were personal effects, clothing, and jewelry. Women were worthy enough for rich graves. Sometimes they were buried in chariot burials. A chariot burial was where the body was placed inside of a chariot with the wheels removed and placed leaning on the interior walls of the chariot. Children didn’t seem to be worthy enough to be buried because there were very few children graves found. The Celts had very elaborate and expensive funeral ceremonies. During these ceremonies there were feasts, rites, and people threw spears into the graves as a ritual. Later on, cremation became more popular among the Celts. After the Celts cremated the bodies they would still bury the ashes. In a cremation grave was iron fire-dogs, metalwork, pottery, and bronze-decorated wooden buckets. In Celtic culture the women got to choose who they married, and their marriage was more like a partnership, even though the men still had some authority over their wives. In a marriage each partner would collect equal amounts of money. When one partner died, the partner that was still alive got everything. The wife could even inherit the property if her husband died. Men and women also had equal rights to divorce one another. There were very few Celtic rulers. In Brehon Laws there is only one reference to there being female rulers. There could however be female heirs, if there were no male heirs, that inherited full property rights. Women did have some responsibilities in Celtic culture. These responsibilities included things like food production, working with pottery, leather work, and basketry. The men were responsible for the metal work.
Some people thought that the Celts were an illiterate society because they didn’t write native books, however this isn’t true and is just a myth. The Celts did you multiple alphabets; the alphabets they used were the Greek, Phoenician, Etruscan, and Latin alphabet. Druids were also very educated in Celtic culture because they had to undergo studies that could take up to 20 years to complete. Both Celtic girls and boys were educated. Boys went to school from when they were seven years old until they were 17 years old. Girls went to school from when they were seven years old until they were 14 years old.
