Quote Originally Posted by Rob
There would appear to be no straightforward answer to the question of who are Celts in Britain and Ireland. The answer can be anything from no one, if we believe that the true Celts were the continental Celts such as the Gauls, to about 70% of the people of Britain and Ireland if we choose to define the Celts as those whose ancestors were Britons and spoke an Insular Celtic language. If we define the Celts as those who currently speak an Insular Celtic language, the total number of Celts drops to a very small percentage of the population of Britain and Ireland. The simple answer to the question of who are Celts, and who are not, is that there is no simple answer.


Rob
Excellent post James.

And the numbers based on genetic testing really highlight why I am concerned with the desire in some quarters to claim Scottish culture and heritage as Nordic. The language is not Nordic, incredibly amounts of the culture are widely divergent, the norse peoples were viewed as invaders and not admired by our ancestors, and the Nordic blood is not in the majority. Scots are not primarily Germanic. If someone for some reason is uncomfortably admitting their heritage and desires to claim Nordic ancestry, that's fine. But there is nothing superior about Nordic culture, the Nordic peoples, or the Nordic blood. It is simply different; neither superior nor inferior, just different. Personally, I don't quite understand this desire to ascribe Scottish accomplishments, which make perfect sense as indigenous developments, to an outside culture.

And I for one and proud to embrace all of the bloodlines which flow through my veins.