Insular Celtic

Throughout history, the Druids have always been seen as sorcerers who had a strong bond with nature. Ancestral knowledge holders within Celtic society, directed all religious activity as the highest authority linked to the gods, practiced human sacrifices and festivals organized as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad or Samain, etc.. all aspects of which are discussed in this article.

Un'analisi che esamini la Miniatura Insulare a partire dal sostrato culturale e storico-artistico in cui si è sviluppata, tenendo in considerazione la cultura e l’arte dei popoli contemporanei ad essa ed i precedenti, che si insediarono nella medesima area geografica, creando civiltà altrettanto diverse tra loro.
Alle isole britanniche si riconducono le popolazioni celtiche, che ivi si sono stanziate, e quelle germaniche, che lo hanno fatto in seguito, dando vita quindi ad un miscuglio di popoli con caratteristiche del tutto uniche, che confluiscono nell'affascinante mondo dell’arte insulare.

For know the controversial history of the Druids in the Celtic world, will investigate the sources of its origin, through stories of classic texts and medieval legends of Gaul, Britain and Ireland. His role in Celtic society surpassed the religious sphere, covering war, politics, medicine and the law. Almost unknown is the participation of women in this institution.

A detailed survey of the Atlantic roundhouse at Loch Glashan (NMRS: NR99SW 8; NR 9227 9301) was carried out over two weeks in June 2003 alongside a small-scale excavation to assess the extent of damage caused by encroaching vegetation and to obtain dating evidence. The structure is a large dry-stone circular building located above Loch Glashan, and the excavations produced architectural evidence suggesting more than one phase of occupation, alongside Iron Age artefacts and radiocarbon dates. These reinforce the argument that circular Iron Age structures in Argyll belong within the wider Atlantic milieu of brochs or Atlantic roundhouses dating to the second half of the 1st millennium cal BC.

Alice Blackwell recently suggested that the terminals of the pseudo-penannular Hunterston, ‘Tara’ and Dunbeath brooches conceal embedded animal heads which flank a Christological symbol on the bridge linking the two terminals. She interpreted this as a motif based on the Canticle of Habakkuk’s statement that Christ would be recognised between two living things. Her argument is based on the shape of the terminals and on the placement of the studs, which she suggested echo the design of filigree animals ornamenting the front surfaces of these brooches. This paper, which is based on detailed study of the brooches and on analytical drawings of their animal ornament, challenges Alice Blackwell’s suggestion, and offers a different explanation for the features that she identified.

RESUMEN El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar, a través de la clasificación, comparación y análisis de textos específicos clásicos y tardoantiguos griegos y latinos, cómo las fuentes antiguas sobre Britania e Irlanda están, tanto directa como indirectamente, basadas principalmente en datos e información histórico-religiosa, según la expresión de un punto de vista historio-gráfico que, en sus raíces, pretendía reunir y verbalizar el marco épico y mítico de los celtas insulares. Además, esas fuentes tienen un interés historiográfico, geográfico y etnográfico, que se expresa en mayor detalle en la adquisición de topónimos y etnónimos que no omiten elementos sagrados y religiosos, por lo que el conjunto de fuentes reunidas persiste como antes, como testimonio real de un mundo religioso que, desde el punto de vista clásico, nutre la fascinación geo-historiográfica y mitopoyética. ABSTRACT Aim of this article is to show, through the classification, comparison and analysis of Greek and Latin specific classical and late antique texts, how the ancient sources on Britannia and Ireland are, both directly and indirectly, mainly based on historico-religious information and data, as the expression of a historiographic point of view that, back to its roots, was aimed to collect and convey the mythical and epic framework of insular Celts. Moreover, those sources show a historiographic, geographic and etnographic interest, which is expressed in greater detail in the acquisition of toponyms and etnonyms that does not overlook sacred and religious elements, so that the ensemble of the collected sources persists as before, as a real testimony of a religious world that, from the classical point of view, fosters both a geo-historiographic and mythopoietic allure.

O encanto que permeia a cultura celta faz-se notável por seus elementos alegóricos, sua configuração mitológica caleidoscópica e por seus dialetos de traços peculiarmente melódicos e enigmáticos. Ao defendermos que a língua naturalmente comporta em sua constituição elementos intrínsecos às afirmações de identidades nacionais, faz-se imprescindível, àqueles que se interessam pela língua inglesa, desmistificar os existentes retratos reducionistas das comunidades celtas formadoras do arcabouço cultural-linguístico do atual Reino Unido. A presente oficina se vale de Jessi (1999) e define mito genuíno como a realidade pela qual o conhecimento humano chega em contado com a verdade. Tal definição nos permite traçar uma semelhança entra a função desempenhada pela língua e pelo mito na existência humana e é, com base nessa afinidade, que a presente oficina pretende introduzir aos ouvintes o vasto acervo místico-religioso e linguístico de origem celta na Bretanha. Nos momentos iniciais, planejamos dar um resumido panorama histórico da formação e organização dos povos célticos insulares, para, então, apresentar suas figuras cultuadas, animais sagrados, etc. Acreditamos que o conhecimento que se pretende construir nesta oficina é pertinente até mesmo para aqueles envolvidos no processo de ensino-aprendizagem do Inglês como LE, visto que a língua está vitalmente atrelada aos contextos socioculturais em que se inserem os mitos e as crenças formadoras de um país. Finda a seção expositiva da oficina, planejamos também simular alguns rituais celtas seguindo as descrições e especulações de arqueólogos e antropólogos aplicados aos estudos célticos. Será também realizado um contato por parte dos participantes com o legado celta na sociedade atual, por meio de mostra de músicas, lendas, levantamento de alusões feitas pela mídia, e até mesmo por meio de um breve vislumbre das línguas célticas modernas, como o cornish (córnico) e o welsh (galês).


The charm that surrounds the Celtic culture is visible for its allegorical elements , its kaleidoscopic mythological configuration  and its dialectal traits peculiarly melodic and enigmatic . Once one believes that the language naturally supports in its constitution elements intrinsic to the assertions of national identity, it is essential to those interested in the English Language to demystify the existing reductionist portraits of Celtic communities, forming  cultural-linguistic framework of the current UK. This workshop draws from the theory of Jessi (1999) and defines myth as genuine as the reality by which human knowledge has contact with the truth . This definition allows us to trace a resemblance between the role played by language and by  myth in the human existence and is based in such affinity that this workshop aims to introduce to its listeners to the vast collection of mystical-religious and linguistic Celtic origin of Britain . In the early stages, we plan to take a brief historical overview of the formation and organization of the Celtic peoples  in the British island, to then present their figures of worship, sacred animals , etc.  We believe that the knowledge that we intend to build in this workshop is relevant even for those involved in the teaching and learning of English as Foreign Language, since the language is naturally linked to the sociocultural contexts in which myths and beliefs operate, forming a country. Once ended the expository section of the workshop, we also plan to recreate some Celtic rituals following descriptions and speculations of archaeologists and anthropologists dedicated to Celtic Studies. We will also demonstrate the Celtic continuity  in today's society  through songs , legends, lifting allusions made by the media, and even through a brief glimpse of the Celtic​​ modern  languages such as the Cornish and the Welsh.

This article researches the functions and diachronic developments of the preverbal marker ym- in the Middle Welsh Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi. It can be shown that MW ym-, which is commonly described as a marker of reciprocity and reflexivity, actually displays various context-dependent detransitivising functions. Reflexive ym-verbs include not only full reflexives, but the whole range of middle situation types as established by Kemmer 1993. On the discourse-pragmatic level, the ym-VERB a(c)-construction as discontinuous reciprocal construction demotes untopical participants of reciprocal events. In certain contexts, this construction can be identified as an antipassive, demoting the object of the corresponding transitive verb and shifting topicality to the agent.
The functions of MW ym- are thus comparable to those of the so-called reflexive markers based on PIE *s(u̯)e in other European languages. The article proposes a model explaining how MW ym-, which etymologically originates from the Proto-Celtic preposition *ambi- ‛about, on all sides’, expanded its scope and and developed into a marker of detransitivity.