Celt Question

[davedove]

I was at a beer festival kilted on Saturday and got most of the standard comments and questions (nice kilt, what's the tartan, what was I wearing under it, etc.), but one question really threw me. A young lady asked if I was a full or partial Celt. I took it quite literally and answered partial (about 10% is the best estimate, unless my English ancestors are more Celt than Saxon, or Norman, or Norse, or even Roman). I got to wondering though if maybe there was another meaning to question, like maybe being a full Celt meant I was regimental??? Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

I also have to state that while I want kilts to be more generally accepted as everyday attire, it is nice being "the guy in the kilt" at an event.

[Iolaus]

I've not heard that particular one, but I would suspect it was a euphemism for "the question." I'm sure we've all had girls ask if we were "true Scots," and they're usually asking about what was being worn. This sounds like a another version of that.

You never know though; she may have wondered if you were from Scotland or something.

It was kind of an unusual question. I guess it depends on how the question was asked; you're the best judge of that.

[Wompet]

It could be a variation on the "Question", or maybe it falls in the same category as Riverkilt's "Professional Scotsman" remark. 'Course, we were still trying to categorize that one ...

[Graham]

I think she was trying to be clever, but talking nonsense.

There are no "full celts", genetically, we are all a mixture, considering that the celts came over from Europe to what is now the UK.

I'd answer: "in my mind and heart, YES, I'm a full celt".
Or you could say, "buy me a pint and I'll be a fuller celt"!

[Bil]

Or you could say, "buy me a pint and I'll be a fuller celt"!

Nice one! I'll have to remember that the next time some one asks me if I'm a full scot.

[James]

In all probability she was talking about the Celtic revival-which looks to Scotland-Wales-Cornwall and Brittany-I think there are some others.

James

[Graham]

In all probability she was talking about the Celtic revival-which looks to Scotland-Wales-Cornwall and Brittany-I think there are some others.

James

and Ireland;)

[KiltedManxman]

Don't forget the Isle of Man as one of the Celtic nations.

I think Graham is right - she was just trying to be cute and sound like she knows your groove, or something. Your kilt had her all twitterpated, I'm thinkin'.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Rob]

I took it quite literally and answered partial (about 10% is the best estimate, unless my English ancestors are more Celt than Saxon, or Norman, or Norse, or even Roman).

The English (on average) are about 60% descended from the Indigenous Britons (who are these days referred to as Celts) and 40% Germanic (Anglo-Saxon/Danish Viking). This ratio does vary throughout England. In the South and West the percentage of 'Celts' is up to about 75% (about the same as in mainland Scotland), and in York it is as low as 30%. Some counties in South and West England even have their own district tartans (e.g. Cornwall, Devon and Somerset). Strangely enough, the region of Scotland where the Gaelic language is still in most use (the Outer Hebrides) has the lowest percentage of 'Celtic' descent in Scotland, at only 55%. Wales and Ireland come top of the 'Celtic' descent list at about 90%.

Rob (the master of useless facts and figures)

[James]

Sorry, I was not trying to offer an exhaustive list: rather an idea.

It is all quite fascinating, for pundits are still arguing which tribes were Teutonic and which Celtic.

Too there is only one clan which claims a Celtic name-though many localities in it's ancestral lands boast of Norse/Teutonic names.

However there is something else happening at the present time-and that is the search for an identity: thus people who regardless of their actual racial stock, are in fact claiming this or that identity. Possibly this is a result of globalisation and people finding it hard to identify with major say national groupings-are looking for something smaller with which they can claim an identity. Self actualisation at work.

Thus I know here in the UK families who fifty years ago would have said they were British-are now looking to say Cornwall or Wales.

Now to get lynched, at a guess I'd say that many familes who in America as say first and second generation Americans would have cleaved strongly to their new identity, are now looking to link it with some sort of Scots-Irish or whatever roots.

The great joke being that as global groupings get larger-communications improve-and in Europe anyway it can be hard to tell at a glance which country one is in: main shopping centres being full of international names, and people dressing alike. The other side of the coin is this search for an identity that is not lost in the mass.

James