Celtomania

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As Celtomania , more rarely Celtic ideology , the appropriation of Celtic culture and mythology for ideological or political purposes is described in the specialist literature . The term was coined in the 18th and 19th centuries - and here with a focus on France - especially for a transfigured view of the Celts . Then and later it found an undifferentiated application to theories on the geographical extent of the Celtic area, the cultural-historical influence up to the most recent times as well as the generous allocation of archaeological finds to the Celtic culture. This was used as evidence of a direct Celtic tradition and identity from the pre-Christian past to the present day of today's peoples and states.

history

Ancient and medieval depictions of the Celts

Even with the ancient Greek and Roman ethnographers there is a sometimes idealizing or sometimes negative representation of the Celts . Then as now, this had either moralizing or politico-military reasons, as can be clearly seen in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico . In the early Middle Ages , Celtic Ireland was described on the one hand as the “island of the saints” and, on the other hand, as a barbarian land in need of civilization.

Beginning of the Celtic idealization from the 16th century

From the 16th century continued in France the idea that the Gauls were the direct ancestors of the French, probably because of the then insufficient researched pre-Roman history of Gaul , more and more by.

"The work of historians popularized the idea that the Gauls were the true ancestors of the French, whereas the Franks were the ancestors of the aristocracy that was overthrown by the revolution of 1789."

This is where the French national symbol, the Gallic rooster , comes from , since in Latin gallus means "rooster", but also "Gauls". The beginning research into the Celtic languages and the prehistoric stone monuments also produced some errors - the Stone Age dolmens and menhirs in France and Stonehenge as well as other megalithic sites in the British Isles were interpreted as places of worship for Celtic druids . An important advocate of this erroneous assignment was the Irishman John Toland (1670-1722), who represented this still inadequate state of research in his work A Critical History of the Celtic Religion and Learning (1718/19, published 1726) and who nonetheless continued into modern times was quoted. John Aubrey (1626–1697) and William Stukeley (1687–1765) were other prominent representatives of this assignment in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The height of the Celtomania

“Based on the discussion about the origin of the French language, so-called 'Celtomania' arose in Europe in the 18th century: not only French, but also many other languages, names, architectural monuments, etc. a. were traced back to Celtic origins, the Celts declared to be the origin of all cultures and languages. "

“A general Celtomania took hold of the whole country. A Celtic troop corps was formed in Edinburgh, to whom W. Scott gave a flag as a present. "

The rediscovery of ancient ethnographers and their critical assessment brought about a significant upswing in Celtomania in the 18th century, as did research into the connections between the Gaulish and island Celtic languages, the systematic evaluation of archaeological finds and finally the development of island Celtic literature. A current controversy about the authenticity of an alleged bard poem contributed significantly to the intensive occupation with it: In the second half of the 18th century, James Macpherson forged the allegedly Caledonian bard poem Ossian and thus achieved a great influence on the Celtic image of Romanticism . The poets Friedrich Schiller , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Johann Gottfried Herder and the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy dealt with this sensitive and pathetic novel, "as gentle as a harp tone".

With the ideal image of the “noble savage”, represented by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), not only the natives of America , discovered in the 15th century , but also the Celts were associated.

Coinciding with the rise of the modern Celtic Studies from the second half of the 19th century - in 1853 by the Grammatica Celtica by Johann Kaspar Zeuß justified scientifically - grew up in France, the Keltomanie in the wake of the Franco-German conflict . Jacques Cambry, Jacques Antoine Dulaure and Jacques Le Brigant founded the Académie Celtique (today Société des antiquaires de France ) in 1804 ; later also promoted Emperor Napoleon III. archaeological research in order, among other things, to establish the thesis of Celtic-Germanic relationships as the origin of contemporary tensions. The scarcity of ancient information and its uncertainty, however, opened up a wide field of speculation for scholars and sometimes also misrepresentation of history in favor of the desired statements. The Austrian Celtologist Helmut Birkhan called this procedure “fictional science”.

In 1860 the Berlin Society for the Study of Modern Languages ​​wrote in a review of the declining Celtomania and the countercurrent of Celtophobia ( called Celtoscepticism in English-speaking countries ):

“The preoccupation with Celticism and the aversion to it degenerated into a formal illness; Celtomania and Celtophobia alternate, so that, according to Schiller , one could say: 'As soon as the wild fever of Celtomania has left us, Celtophobia breaks out even more heatedly.' "

Modern effects

The literary Irish Renaissance ( Irish Revival ), beginning at the end of the 19th century, idealized the Celtic past, inspired by the ideas of Ernest Renan (1823-1892) and Matthew Arnold (1822-1888). However, in Ireland and Wales the Celts were and are still seen as a living part of today's culture - which led, for example, to a revival of the forgotten Eisteddfod (Welsh artists' meeting) in the 18th century - while in France the Celtomania focused on archaeological research limited, but at the same time the use of the Breton language by the government in Paris was severely hindered for centralistic considerations. East of the Rhine, where, according to more recent findings, the original Celtic settlement area was, the focus, for nationalistic reasons, was more on the Germans or Slavs .

Examples of modern Celtomania are: the Celtic-influenced fashion ( tartan and plaid , up to the “Carinthian kilt”), music ( jig and gigue , reel , ecossaise , Irish folk , the bagpipes and the Celtic harp ), cuisine and Keller ( Irish stew , Haggis , Whiskey / Whiskey, Guinness and especially the local for the Pub ), folklore events ( St. Patrick's Day , Highland Games , Samhain / Halloween , Hogmanay ), the tattoo with Celtic knot patterns , and the numerous Celtic events and Celtic adventure trails.

“A hiking program that also grounds in a certain way. At some point you get the feeling that all roads have been walked for ages, even the most remote. ( Celtic adventure trail Thuringian Forest - Rhön ) "

Neopaganism (neo-paganism), modern druidism , Wicca cult, New Age and other types of esotericism , but also the appropriation of the Celts for the idea of European unity , are modern forms of Celtomania. In 1997, a so-called tree -of-life circle with alleged importance for humans was set up on Pfaffenberg (Vienna) as part of the so-called Celtic tree horoscope .

In the comic series Asterix , the Celtomania is caricatured not only of the French, but also of other Celtic peoples (Belgians, British, Scots) - also in a nationalistic sense. In the fantasy comic and novel series Slaine , the Celtic identity of the main characters is emphasized, but at the same time interpreted in a modern way.

See also

literature

  • Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt to present an overall picture of their culture . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
  • Helmut Birkhan: Post-ancient Celtic reception. Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7069-0541-1 .
  • Helmut Birkhan: Observations on the mysterious image of the Celts, especially in Austria. Presentation at the Celtic Conference in Hallein 2010.
  • John Haywood: The Celts: Bronze Age to New Age . Pearson Education, 2004, ISBN 978-0-582-50578-0 ( preview in Google Book Search).
  • John T. Koch, Antone Minard: The Celts History, Life, and Culture . ABC-CLIO, 2012, ISBN 1-59884-964-6 ( preview in Google Book Search).
  • Waltraud Kokot: Periplus 2004: Yearbook for Non-European History . LIT Verlag Münster, 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7820-1 , p. 153 f . ( Preview in Google Book Search).
  • Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
  • Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview. Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-48234-1 .
  • Patrick Sims-Williams: Celtomania and Celtoscepticism. In: Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 36 , 1998, pp. 1-35.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marx / Hatzky / Kokot / Dorsch: Periplus 2004: Yearbook for Non-European History. P. 152.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . Pp. 188-189.
  3. ^ John T. Koch / Antone Minard: The Celts: History, Life, and Culture. Pp. 174-175: " The work of historians popularized the idea, that the Gauls were the true ancestors of the French, whereas the Franks were the ancestors of the aristocracy overthrown in the Revolution of 1789. "
  4. ^ Marx / Hatzky / Kokot / Dorsch: Periplus 2004: Yearbook for Non-European History. P. 153.
  5. ^ Leaves for literary entertainment, Volume 2. 1834, p. 925.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview. Pp. 21-26.
  7. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 10-11.
  8. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 571.
  9. ↑ Berlin Society for the Study of Modern Languages: Archive for the Study of Modern Languages ​​and Literatures, Volume 28. Verlag Georg Westermann, 1860, pp. 149–150.
  10. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. Pp. 685-747.
  11. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 736.
  12. ^ John Haywood: The Celts: Bronze Age to New Age. P. 212.
  13. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Observations on the mysterious image of the Celts, especially in Austria. P. 7.
  14. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 586, note 3.
  15. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. Pp. 513-528.