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Pan Celticism)
Pan-Celticism is the name given to a variety of movements that espouse greater contact between the various Celtic countries and regions.
Types of Pan-Celticism
Pan-Celticism can operate on the following levels -
- Cultural - The main organisation promoting cultural contacts is the Celtic Congress.
- Political - The Celtic League is the main Pan-Celtic political organisation, although there are others. Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party have co-operated at some levels in Westminster and Plaid Cymru often asks questions in Parliament about Cornwall and cooperates with Mebyon Kernow. Political pan-Celticism can be taken to include everything from a full federation of independent Celtic states, to occasional political visits.
The term 'Celtic'
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There is great controversy surrounding this term for a variety of reasons. One of these is that some consider it to be an inaccurate term to be applied to modern day peoples, and another is that others do not think that there is sufficient evidence of a link between the ancient Celts and the new 'Celts'. For further discussion on this matter see the wikipedia articles on the ancient Celts and modern Celts.
The Celtic regions/countries
See also: Modern Celts
The Celtic Congress and Celtic League consider the following to be the Celtic nations - Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales.
However, in music festivals it is common to find bands from Galicia and Asturias. Val d'Aoste and Friuli in Italy are sometimes claimed as Celtic regions, as are parts of England (not just Cornwall). See also article on the Modern Celts. In the last few years there has also been a process of "Celtic revival" in Northern Portugal. The Iberian connection it not as tenuous as it may seem. While the languages of the area are largely Latinate and have been for many centuries, the people themselves are almost certainly partly descended of Celtiberian stock, and their musical traditions share a lot in common with those of Brittany, Wales and Cornwall.
In the Western Hemisphere there are notable Celtic enclaves in western maritime Canada (which has produced a number of world-class bagpipers, and has a notable population of Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers), and the Patagonia region of Argentina, which has enough Welsh speakers to support a Welsh-language radio station. The Celtic diaspora in the Americas, as well as New Zealand and Australia, is significant and organized enough that there are numerous organizations, cultural festivals and university-level language classes available in major cities throughout these regions. One of the best research libraries in the world for Celtic language and history materials is at the University of Wisconsin. Scottish games and music events, in particular, often draw thousands of participants, even in rural areas of the U.S., and are becoming increasingly pan-Celtic in tone. The annual San Francisco Celtic Music and Arts Festival runs for several days in a row, and fills a former military building larger than most aircraft hangars, to near capacity. Besides the Spanish and Portugues, many Germans, French and Italians consider themselves at least partly Celtic (and are generally correct, from a genetic viewpoint - the Franks and other Nordic invaders of west central Europe did blend to an extent with the earlier Gaulish inhabitants, and the Cisalpine Gauls of northern Italy are surely still well-represented among modern Italian bloodlines. Even the far East evidences a vicarious pan-Celtic interest; the journal (mostly in Japanese) Studia Celtica Japonica is well regarded among scholars. (See also Modern Celts for more detail on the Celtic diaspora.)
Timeline of Pan-Celticism
See also
