6. General Characteristic of Celtic Art

They were highly skilled in visual arts and Celtic art produced a great deal of intricate and beautiful metalwork, examples of which have been preserved by their distinctive burial rites.

Celtic art is ornamental, avoiding straight lines and only occasionally using symmetry, without the imitation of nature or ideal of beauty central to the classical tradition, but as far as we can understand it often involves complex symbolism. It includes a variety of styles and often incorporates subtly modified elements from other cultures, an example being the characteristic over-and-under interlacing which only arrived in the 6th century when it was already in use by Germanic artists.

7. Non-material Culture and Religious Patterns

7.1 Sources of Facts

Three main types of sources provide information on Celtic beliefs: the minted coins of Gaul; the sculptures, monuments and inscriptions associated with the Celts of continental Europe and of Roman Britain; and the insular literatures of Celtic mythology that have survived in writing from mediaeval times. All pose problems of interpretation. The pre-Roman coins of the 1st century BC and early 1st century AD bear no inscriptions, and their iconography derives partly from standardized Hellenistic numismatic prototypes and partly presents highly local emblems. Most of the monuments, and their accompanying inscriptions, belong to the Roman period and reflect a considerable degree of syncretism between Celtic and Roman gods; even where figures and motifs appear to derive from pre-Roman tradition, they are difficult to interpret in the absence of a preserved literature on mythology.

Only after the lapse of many centuries—beginning in the 7th century in Ireland, even later in Wales—were Celtic mythological traditions consigned to writing, but by then Ireland and Wales had been Christianized and the scribes and redactors were monastic scholars.

7.2 Language Matters

The Ogham alphabet Celts used consists of twenty distinct characters (feda), arranged in four series aicmí (plural of aicme "family"). Each aicme was named after its first character (Aicme Beithe, Aicme hÚatha, Aicme Muine, Aicme Ailme – "the B Group", "the H Group", "the M Group", "the A Group"). Additional letters are introduced in manuscript tradition, the so-called forfeda.

Monumental Ogham inscriptions are found in Ireland and Wales, with a few additional specimens found in England, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Shetland. They were mainly employed as territorial markers and memorials (grave stones). The more ancient examples are standing stones, where the script was carved into the edge (droim or faobhar) of the stone, which formed the stemline against which individual characters are cut. Roughly 380 inscriptions are known in total, the highest concentration by far is found in the southwestern Irish province of Munster. Some of the stones may also have a runic inscription, but there is no such a thing as “Celtic runes”.

Ogham text is read beginning from the bottom left-hand side of a stone, continuing upward, across the top and down the right-hand side in the case of long inscriptions. Inscriptions written on stemlines cut into the face of the stone, instead of along its edge, are known as "scholastic", and are of a later date (post 6th century), and some medieval inscriptions feature Forfeda. Ogham was occasionally used for notes in manuscripts down to the 16th century.

Ogam script was used, as it is said usually, for ceremonial purposes mainly, so Celts produced little in the way of literary output. There was no literature, as language was Magic. Oral words, when rhymed, had great power, while written ones were much more powerful and dangerous. You can’t use such a weapon for minor purposes.

There was oral Bardic tradition. The oldest recorded rhyming poetry in the world is of Irish origin and is a transcription of a much older epic poem, leading some scholars to claim that the Celts invented Rhyme. Bard was a poet, especially one who wrote impassioned, lyrical, or epic verse. Bards were originally Celtic composers of eulogy and satire; the word came to mean more generally a tribal poet-singer gifted in composing and reciting verses on heroes and their deeds. In Gaul the institution gradually disappeared, whereas in Ireland and Wales it survived. The Irish bard through chanting preserved a tradition of poetic eulogy. In Wales, where the word bardd has always been used for poet, the bardic order was codified into distinct grades in the 10th century. Despite a decline of the order toward the end of the European Middle Ages, the Welsh tradition has persisted and is celebrated in the annual eisteddfod, a national assembly of poets and musicians.