Celtic Revival

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Celtic High cross in Quebec (Compare with an original)

The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight

Edward Plunkett (Lord Dunsany) stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish literature and Irish poetry in the late 19th and early 20th century.[3]

"Bollelin" series pewter plate designed by Archibald Knox, 1899

In aspects the revival came to represent a reaction to

racialized view that referred to the Irish, whether positively or negatively, as a separate race.[5]

A widespread and still visible result of the revival was the reintroduction of the High cross as the Celtic cross, which now forms a familiar part of monumental and funerary art over much of the Western world.[6]

History

Research into the Gaelic and Brittonic cultures and histories of Britain and Ireland gathered pace from the late 18th century, by antiquaries and historians like Owen Jones in Wales and Charles O'Conor in Ireland. The key surviving manuscript sources were gradually located, edited and translated, monuments identified and published, and other essential groundwork in recording stories, music and language done.

The Welsh antiquarian and author

Neo-druidism
movement.

Interest in Scottish Gaelic culture greatly increased during the onset of the Romantic period in the late 18th century, with James Macpherson's Ossian achieving international fame, along with the novels of Sir Walter Scott and the poetry and lyrics of Thomas Moore.

Throughout Europe, the Romantic movement inspired a great revival of interest in

Beethoven[7]
was commissioned to produce a set of arrangements of Scottish folk-songs. A growing sense of Celtic identity encouraged and fed off a rise in nationalism throughout the United Kingdom, which was especially intense in Ireland.

Druids Bringing in the Mistletoe (1890) by E. A. Hornel

In the mid-19th century the revival continued, with Sir

penannular brooches of the 7–9th centuries were worn by figures such as Queen Victoria,[8] many produced in Dublin by West & Son and other makers.[citation needed
]

In Scotland were

Anna Traquair (1852–1936), who was commissioned by the Union to paint murals in the Mortuary Chapel of the Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, (1885–86 and 1896–98) and also worked in metal, illumination, illustration, embroidery, and book binding.[10] The most significant exponent of the artistic revival in Scotland was Dundee-born John Duncan (1866–1945). Among his most influential works are his paintings of Celtic subjects Tristan and Iseult (1912) and St Bride (1913).[11] Duncan also helped to make Dundee a major centre for the Celtic Revival movement along with artists such as Stewart Carmichael and the publisher Malcolm C. MacLeod.[12]

Caneware with raised gilding, by Wedgwood

The

Nationalist movement such as Douglas Hyde, Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. These were connected with another great symbol of the literary revival, the Abbey Theatre
, which served as the stage for many new Irish writers and playwrights of the time.

In 1892, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy said,

A group of young men, among the most generous and disinterested in our annals, were busy digging up the buried relics of our history, to enlighten the present by a knowledge of the past, setting up on their pedestals anew the overthrown statues of Irish worthies, assailing wrongs which under long impunity had become unquestioned and even venerable, and warming as with strong wine the heart of the people, by songs of valour and hope; and happily not standing isolated in their pious work, but encouraged and sustained by just such an army of students and sympathizers as I see here to-day.[7]

The Celtic Revival was an international movement. The Irish-American designer

Romanesque Revival chapel framework with lavish Celtic reliefs designed by Mary Fraser Tytler
.

Celtic-style tattoo

The "plastic style" of early Celtic art was one of the elements feeding into

Czech Lands and influenced the Czech Art Nouveau designer and artist Alphonse Mucha
(Mucha, in turn, influenced the Irish-American O'Shaughnessy, who had attended a series of Mucha's lectures in Chicago). The interlace design motif remains popular in Celtic countries, above all Ireland where it is a national style signature. In recent decades, it had a re-revival in 1960s designs (for example, in the Biba logo) and has been used worldwide in tattoos and in various contexts and media in fantasy works with a quasi-Dark Ages setting. The Secret of Kells is an animated feature film of 2009 set during the creation of the Book of Kells which makes much use of Insular design.

In France,

Académie Celtique in 1805, by Cambry and others.[13]

John Duncan was one of the leading artists of the Celtic Revival and Symbolism. He was inspired by the early Italian Renaissance and made works in the medieval medium of tempera. He was a prolific artist working in a range of mediums including stained glass, illustrating and painting.[citation needed]

Linguistic and cultural revivals, after 1920

Modern copper jar with a Celtic motif.

In the Celtic nations

Main article: Celtic nations

Brittany

Main article:
Breton revival

In 1925, Professor Roparz Hemon founded the Breton-language review Gwalarn. During its 19-year run, Gwalarn tried to raise the language to the level of a great international language. Its publication encouraged the creation of original literature in all genres, and proposed Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works. In 1946, Al Liamm replaced Gwalarn. Other Breton-language periodicals have been published, which established a fairly large body of literature for a minority language.

In 1977, Diwan schools were founded to teach Breton by immersion. They taught a few thousand young people from elementary school to high school. See the education section for more information.

The

Spirou, Titeuf, Hägar the Horrible, Peanuts and Yakari
.

Some original media are created in Breton. The sitcom, Ken Tuch, is in Breton.

Yann-Ber Kalloc'h, Roparz Hemon, Anjela Duval, Xavier de Langlais, Pêr-Jakez Helias, Youenn Gwernig, Glenmor and Alan Stivell
are now known internationally.

Today, Breton is the only living Celtic language that is not recognized by national government as an official or regional language.

The first Breton dictionary, the Catholicon, was also the first French dictionary. Edited by Jehan Lagadec in 1464, it was a trilingual work containing Breton, French and Latin. Today bilingual dictionaries have been published for Breton and languages including English, Dutch, German, Spanish and Welsh. A new generation[clarification needed] is determined to gain international recognition for Breton. The monolingual dictionary, Geriadur Brezhoneg an Here (1995), defines Breton words in Breton. The first edition contained about 10,000 words, and the second edition of 2001 contains 20,000 words.

In the early 21st century, the

Ofis ar Brezhoneg ("Office of the Breton language") began a campaign to encourage daily use of Breton in the region by both businesses and local communes. Efforts include installing bilingual signs and posters for regional events, as well as encouraging the use of the Spilhennig to let speakers identify each other. The office also started an Internationalization and localization policy asking Google, Firefox and SPIP to develop their interfaces in Breton. In 2004, the Breton Wikipedia started, which now counts more than 50,000 articles. In March 2007, the Ofis ar Brezhoneg signed a tripartite agreement with Regional Council of Brittany and Microsoft for the consideration of the Breton language in Microsoft products. In October 2014, Facebook
added Breton as one of its 121 languages, after three years of talks between the Ofis and Facebook.

Cornwall

Main article:
Cornish revival

The

Gorseth Kernow in 1928 and the formation of the Cornish political party Mebyon Kernow
in 1951.

Ireland

Main articles:
Revival of the Irish language
See also: Status of the Irish language

Due to the revival of Irish in educational settings and bilingual upbringing, there has been an increase in young Irish people speaking the language in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is said it is more common to hear it spoken in Irish cities. Additionally, there is a modest revived interest in North America in learning Irish.[14]

Isle of Man

Main article: Gaelic revival
See also: Manx language § Revival

Scotland

Main articles:
Scottish Gaelic revitalisation
See also: Scottish Gaelic § Status, and Scottish Gaelic Renaissance

Wales

The

Celtic language by far. By 1911 it had become a minority language, spoken by merely 43.5% of the Welsh population.[15]
While this decline continued over the following decades, the language did not die out. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more.

The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7% of the population of Wales spoke Welsh,

2011 census, however, showed a slight decline to 562,000, or 19% of the population.[17]
The census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in the Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50% in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time.[18] According to the Welsh Language Use Survey 2013-15, 24% of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh.[19]

Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh.

Welsh medium education
, and Welsh is a compulsory subject in English medium schools, up to the age of 15-16.

Americas

Welsh in Argentina

Chubut province of Argentina.[22] Some districts have recently incorporated it as an educational language.[23]

Nova Scotia

Main article: Canadian Gaelic

Scots Gaelic
speakers outside of Scotland.

France

The

Gaulish language used to be widely spoken in France and beyond around the period of the Roman Empire. There have been attempts at revivals and reconstructions, despite very limited evidence for the exact original form of the language. Eluveitie is a folk metal band that writes songs in revived form of Gaulish.[24]

Auvergne

In

Auvergne, chants are sung around bonfires remembering a Celtic god. There are also modern attempts to revive the polytheistic religion of the Gauls
.

Auvergne is also a hotpot for the Gaulish revival movement, being the location of numerous important Gaulish sites and the home of the legendary Gaulish warrior, Vercingetorix.

Elsewhere in Europe

The Celtic cultural revivals in

Brythonic language of Northern (particularly Northwestern) England, a remnant of the Brittonic kingdoms of Hen Ogledd.[citation needed
]

There are small areas of Celtic revival in Galicia (Spain).[25]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Perkins (1979), p. 471.
  2. ^ Quinlan (2011).
  3. ^ Foster (2003), pp. 486, 662.
  4. ^ Castle (2001), pp. 2–3.
  5. ^ MacManus (1921), p. [page needed].
  6. ^ Walker (n.d.).
  7. ^ a b Castle (2001), p. 239.
  8. ^ "Brooch given in November 1849". Royal Collection. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011.
  9. ^ Gardiner (2005), p. 170.
  10. ^ MacDonald (2000), pp. 155–6.
  11. ^ MacDonald (2000), pp. 156–7.
  12. ^ Jarron (2015), pp. 48–91.
  13. ^ Watts (2007), p. 168.
  14. ^ De Vise (2012).
  15. ^ "The Industrial Revolution". Wales History. BBC. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  16. ^ "2004 Welsh Language Use Survey: the report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  17. ^ "2011 Census: Key Statistics for Wales, March 2011". ONS. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  18. ^ "2011 Census: Number of Welsh speakers falling". BBC News. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  19. ^ "Welsh Government | Welsh language use survey". gov.wales. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  20. ^ Davies (1993), p. 34.
  21. ^ Williams (1990), pp. 38–41.
  22. ^ "Welsh: A language of United Kingdom". Ethnologue. SIL International. Archived from the original on 22 November 2011.
  23. ^ Aeberhard, Benson & Phillips 2000, p. 602.
  24. ^ https://glosbe.com/en/mis_gal academic paper
  25. ^ Alberro (2005).

Works cited

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Celtic Revival art.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Celtic Revival.
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