Ancient+Celtic+Civalization

- After the Celts first appearance in the history that we have discovered the Celt’s came into war with the Mediterranean people. After they moved into Po Valley, they got the Etruscans out of their hair for a while by defeating them in many battles. Then they celebrated. During a battle against an Etruscan city, the Romans where called in as negotiators. During the negotiations a Roman emissary killed one of the Celtic leaders. Seeking revenge, the Celt’s sent over warriors to Rome demanding that they hand over the murderer. The Roman Senate refused. After this event the Celtic’s decided to march into Roman territory defeating a Roman army on the way, the Celt’s took over Rome. The Romans did not want to go into battle with the Celt’s but instead they went to Capitol Hill. The Romans complained about the Celt’s balances being out of line. The Romans were afraid to try and push the Celtics out of Rome so over time the Celtic’s left Rome one by one to settle in Scotland and Ireland far away from Rome. - In Celtic times there was a war season, kind of like a fishing season. It started in spring and went through summer. Before the season the Celt’s would prep there weapons to the finest so they can fight their best. The Celtic’s would get intoxicated and act crazy to intimidate the enemies before the battles. To make them look even scarier they would paint their bodies in blue patterns and wash their hair in clay so they could spike it up. To cause a disturbance the Celt’s would stir up dust with their chariots. Most of the battles were between local tribes over arguments over land and stolen cattle. - For weapons the average Celtic warrior would have the typical Spear and sword. Only the wealthy warriors would have their own sword. The spear was made of a led spearhead that was attached to a wooden pole that was about two and a half metres long. It was really hard to get out of a human so the warriors would only throw their spear if they were very desperate. Since the Celtic warriors battled nude with paintings on them, they needed a shield. The average shield was made of wood with a handle in the middle of it. They were usually very well decorated. They had a boss covering the handgrip so their hands do not get cut off and there was also a metal rim around the sides of the shield to give it stability and a sturdy structure. The sword was made from a long iron blade that was sharpened on both sides. The bottom of the sword was decorated. The scabbard was used to protect the tip of the blade and they were also well decorated. - I would like to see a Celtic war because I would like to see the unique weapons they used and see how the technology in weapons has changed so much since the ancient times. Also the odd intimidations and scaring tactics they used on their enemies.
 * __ Celtic Warfare __**

[|http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/reticulum/NORTHERNFRONTIER/TheWretchedBritons/CelticWarfare.htm#Swords.html] - A Celtic wedding was a very special time for both the man and the woman. They would invite family and friends from as far as 30-35 miles away and they would walk all that distance to take part in the wedding. Most of the bride and grooms families already knew each other because they usually grew up in the same neighborhood, unlike bride and grooms families today. All of the weddings were at churches. Lots of the time the wedding couple would spend their wedding night in the barn. The brides girl-friends got her dressed for bed and tucked her into bed before the groom got there. The groom’s buddies would delay and harass the groom before he was allowed to join his wife in the barn. Than both the bride and grooms friends would pull pranks on them and peep in on them until they were too intoxicated. - For the preparation of the wedding the bride and grooms friends and family would set up the festivities for the wedding. They would bring out the alcohol, the food and all of the decorations for the wedding. They would also get the gifts for the bride and groom prepared. For the bride and grooms rings they would get their parents and grandparents rings and cuffs and almost anything gold they had. Then they would take the gold to a metal smith and he would turn it into new rings. - The bride and groom would get a salute of gun shots to open up the wedding. During the wedding ceremony there would be a piece of bread broken over the bride or grooms head and the family and friends would tussle with each other to eat the crumbs off of the floor so they would have food fortune for their weddings. After the ceremony the bride and groom would open the presents and then it would be a night full of feasting, dancing and lots and lots of drinking. - I would like to attend a Celtic wedding to see the very odd and funny wedding traditions they had that would be considered strange and morbid in the 21’st century.
 * __ Celtic Weddings __**

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- Celtic roundhouses were circular houses made by stone or wood poles that were joined together by wattle and daub panels. They ranged from 5-15 meters in diameter. Eventually they started to be more eco-friendly and they started to make them out of straw and cob with reciprocal frame Greene roofs. - In the Celtic roundhouses they had heating, lighting and cooking. The lighting was not anything fancy; it came from the doorway in the daytime and from the fire in the night time. The heating came from the stone fireplaces that they had inside the roundhouses and the sun during the day and the daub that held the walls together also worked as insulation very well to keep the heat in the house. The cooking was done by the fire if the food needed to be warmed up or cooked. They would set rocks outside the fireplace till they get red hot and then cook food on the hot rocks. - Most of the roundhouses were made in ditches or right beside the ditches and only the warriors and their families would live in them. They figure that chief lived in the largest homes and people think that the peasants lived in hovels inside the walls of the fort. - I would like to visit a traditional Celtic roundhouse to see how small of an area a family of four would have to live in and realize how much times have changed and how much more intelligent we are now a days.
 * __ Celtic Roundhouses __**

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[] - To prepare for a typical Celtic Christmas you would put a candle on your window to guide Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. They would hang a holly and an ivy wreath outside their houseto scare off the evil spirits. They would decorate a Christmas tree to celebrate the sun, the moon and the stars and some of the decorations represent those who have died. - On Christmas day they gave each other Christmas gifts because they represent the day of the winter solstice which was the day that people shared gifts to each other and Christmas gifts always help lighten the mood of the Christmas spirit. They would have a large Christmas meal at the end of the day. - After Christmas the Celts would would take down the tree and decorations and save them for the next year so they can have multiple happy Christmases. - I chose Celtic Christmas because I think it would be interesting to see what kind of beliefs they had about Christmas.
 * __ Celtic Christmas __**

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