From: ian@mcclure.net   
      
   Cloudberry@btinternet.com wrote:   
   > "Iain MacGiolla-odhar"  wrote in message   
   > news:4700085A.60809@mcclure.net...   
   >> Alfred C. Shine wrote:   
   >>> Can someone define for me, please, a Celt?  I've heard and read so   
   >>> many differing and conflicting definitions.   
   >> A Celt is anyone who takes Celtic culture as their own. Typically, it is   
   >> someone who:   
   >>   
   >> 1. Uses or is learning a Celtic language.   
   >> 2. Takes part in Celtic cultural events such as (as a small sample)   
   >> choirs, festivals, music, dancing, sporting events.   
   >> 3. Feels part of the Celtic world.   
   >>   
   >> It is not based on genetic descent, especially since the genome of Celts   
   >> is already a mixture of people with a Basque base plus Anatolian/Adriatic   
   >> Indo-European, Berber, Egyptian and Semitic influences.   
   >   
   > Point 1, Anyone can learn a Celtic language, and indeed they would if there   
   > were any literature of note written in any of the Celtic languages, which   
   > there is not.   
   Yes, lots of people of all origins are learning Celtic languages -   
   particularly Dutch, German, English and Polish people. This makes them   
   part of the Celtic cultural club in my opinion. Before the oppression of   
   English and French nationalism, we accepted all comers into our culture   
   (even the remnants of the Anglo-Saxon elite as refugess wiped out   
   elsewhere by the Norman-Breton-Flemish knights on and after 1066) and   
   today we are getting back to that hopefully.   
   Ever heard of Taliesin, Aneurin, the Mabinogion (in Cymraeg), the   
   numerous books of Irish Mythology (in Gaelige) - I could recite the   
   names of a score of these books, Carmina Gadelica (in Gaidhlig), ... ?   
   But most importantly, what about the rich heritage of song and poetry in   
   Celtic languages that is so strongly a part of local and global culture   
   today ?   
   >   
   > Point 2. Celtic folklore is more important than jigging up and down to harps   
   > and fiddles.   
   Please don't disparage the interests of other people - music and dance   
   are important to me. You have added folklore which is good too.   
   >   
   > Point 3. Your view about descent rejects French people, the French are   
   > direct descendents of the Gauls, they are just as Celtic as you, perhaps   
   > even more so. Feeling part of the Celtic world, IF all parts of the Celtic   
   > world are included, is o.k., for example some Turkish and Czeck "feel"   
   > Celtic.   
   >   
   > The problem is the filthy Southern English claim that everyone south of   
   > Hadrian's Wall, west of the River Tamar, and West of Offa's Dike (NOT Offa's   
   > wife please note), are genetically pure members of the white Anglo-Saxon   
   > master race.   
   Only those English that adhere to the fascist rantings of English   
   Heritage and the like.   
   >   
   > Cloudberry   
   >   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)