What Are Celts?

It was almost more than 2000 years ago that the Celts lived in the region of Western Europe. Generally tall people with fair hair and blue eyes. The language that Celts spoke was referred to as Celtic. Craftsmanship and art were few of the many talents of Celts. Archaeologists have found various forms of their crafts and works, finding such evidences in the graves and ruins of the towns in which Celts lived.

Regarding the religion of early Celts, they used to worship nature gods. The priests of Celts were called Druids. The pagan religion that Celts followed witnessed its end with the arrival of Christian missionaries, most notably Saint Patrick. Later on a strong Christian church was developed and was known as the Celtic Church. It was developed in the clime of the British Isles, flourishing until the 11th century until the even more instrumental Church of Rome suppressed its power.

Yes, that's true. It's most commonly pronounced wih a hard c, unless you are speaking of the Boston Celtics (basketball). And yes, as catmom says, the remnants of modern-day Celtic peoples reside in those areas as well as parts of Iberia (Spain and Portugal) and northern France. Their origins are still somewhat controversial. Some scholars believe they originated sometime during the bronze age as the urnfield culture, between 1200-700 BC. Most however agree they began during the iron age, which followed the bronze age, in a large area of central Europe as the Hallstatt culture (800-500 BC), then later as the La Tene culture (450-50 BC). During Roman rule, in France they were called Gauls. As warriors they were known to be quite barbaric and, like the Picts in Scotland, would sometimes appear in battle naked, which proved a winning tactic as their nudity and behavior would scare their enemies into retreat. They were a great European culture throughout history and those who have Celtic ancestry today are very proud of their heritage. Some ancient Celtic religious tenets are still practiced today. Unfortunately though, what is left of their language (Gaelic), is very scant throughout small areas in the UK, France, and Spain. Whatever the dialect (Manx, Cornish, Irish and Scottish Gaelic), it's a beautiful and, as some would refer, a romantic language. Over the past couple of decades there has been a revival of interest in Celtic history and culture. There are loads of websites offering Celtic jewelry for instance. There's a genre of music of Celtic rock and folk. And there are a lot of folks running around out there sporting Celtic knott tattoos!  

Celt is pronounced as kelt. Many people incorrectly pronounce the word Celt as selt. A Celt is a member of an ancient European race of people. These people lived mostly in Britain, Ireland, Spain and Gaul before the Roman times. The Celts spoke languages which belonged to the Indo-European branch of languages, which showed the commonality that existed between the different nationalities of Celtic people. The Celts were an important race in Europe in the prehistoric times, and were particularly dominant during the Iron Age.

The word Celt is also defined in archaeology as a long and thin implement which is shaped like a chisel, an axe or a hoe. Celts may be made either of stone, bronze or metal. This prehistoric tool has a sharp edge, like that of a chisel. In the Sixto-Clementine edition of the Latin Vulgate Bible, Job 19:24 misread and hence mistranslated the Latin word certe, which means indeed, as celte, which means an ancient chisel. He accidentally wrote Stylo ferreo, et plumbi lamina, vel celte sculpantur in silice, instead of Stylo ferreo, et plumbi lamina, vel certe sculpantur in silice.