What is a Celtic Pagan?

Question

I ask because of the answer here - and I admit, it peaked my curiousity.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Avj1myqjhgsuTLaTm91i_hrzy6IX?qid=20061009143856AAGRNFm

Answer 1

well i guess that i would be the perfect person to answer this huh?

Pagan (at least in today's use of the word) refers to a person that follows more than one god.

Celtic, Refers to the people of pre christian europe that were mostly centered in Ireland and the British Islands. and are commonly associated with the Druids.

A Celtic Pagan follows the Gods and many of the beliefs of these ancient people. but we do not call ourselves Druids because to become a Druid one must be trained by a Druid. there are still legitimate Druids left in the world today. and to assume this title without doing the 20 years of service and training is a great insult to these people. furthermore, we do not follow a specific druidic system. and to call oneself a druid when one does not follow the exact beliefs of these ancient priests only serves to destroy their colture. we are basically Neo-Pagans but we follow the ancient Celtic Gods and Goddesses. we believe in new Wisdom and seek knowlege. we preserve the ancient Celtic colture, in part by distanceing ourselves from it. but also by learning everything that we can about it. we understand that the title of Druid is one that we will likely never attain but we do not seek to. most would prefer to be known as scholars or pillars of our respective communities.

as for myself.
I am an ordained minister
and currently am teaching a small grove in Maryland.
the ordination was simply done so that i can legaly marry people
and officiate at funerals if need be.

by most new age standards i have every right to take just about any title that i want for myself. but i really hate titles. especially when people just assign them to themselves. i tell my grove that if they must give me a title let it be the title of Teacher or Friend.
they are far more accurate to what i am than Priest or Minister...

any more questions?

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i seen the need to edit this in response to some of the other answers.

besicaly whatever you think that you may know. you do not.
Celtic tradition was handed down by word of mouth. the only people that ever worte about the celts were thoes whom tried to destroy them. mainly rome where we can find the first writings about the Celts in the journals of emperor Julius Cesar.
It is the way of the world that the winner of the war will write the history. the simple fact that the clets kept a verbal history is the reason that today noone knows much about them or their society.
what is known is mostly from comparrison with the other early socities from the area. thus it is subject to debate.

another note on sacrifice. the Gaelic word SACRUMFACERE, is commonly mis-interpreted as sacrifice. and has nothing to do with the bloody rituals that Christian historians would attribute to everyone that was not christian.

Sacrumfacere, simply meant to make a person or object Sacred. by chargeing it with the intentions and and feelings of the community for the purpose of passing through the Devine world.
if the object to become sacred was a human they obviously wanted some information back so killing them was out of the question. besides how often to you make something sacred and consider it a god,,then kill it...

offerings of wheat,corn fruits and vegitables were common and is attributed to in stone carvings depicting the ancient Celtic gods.
animal offerings did happen, but you cannot show me an early civilization that they did not happen in.

many of you will also find that i am not just a religious man but a scholar of religion. valid misconceptions about my faith or any faith that i see i will refute.
simple trouble making such as mr. Ultimate posts i will largly ignore but i will say this.. sir. if i wished to find attention i would not dress in medieval garb and grant myself some religious title..i would simply follow your example and be a Yahoo troll it is much cheaper and you reach a much larger audience.

Answer 2

The Celts (pronounced Kelt not Selt) were a primitive and aggressive people. They are where we get the term Berzerk from. They were run madly into battle. Often buck naked. They painted themselves. The women were so busy handling daily life the men often had sex with little boys. Or so the archeologists tell us.

They worshipped nature. Sacrified babies so they might have a fruitful year. Sacrificed slaves to win wars. They were transient. Which means traveling from place to place. Not really farmers.

The term Celt comes from the Greek word Keltoi which means a barbarian. Even their women fought with them.

They were also called the Gauls. I think by the Romans. As such they spoke Gaulic or Gailic as it's called now. There were several branches of the language. Broken down by tribe.

See the link below for one of the world's most famous sculptures of a Celt. The Dying Gaul.

The druids, as mentioned above by several folks, were also heavy into human sacrifice. See link provided.

Answer 3

A Celtic pagan is someone who worships/honors/works with the Celtic Gods, namely Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Galicia & Asturias, Brittany, and Ireland.

Answer 4

I am a Celtic/Gaelic Pagan. We follow the beliefs of the Celts of old, who worship Gaia and several other gods. It is a very nature-based religion, based in universal compassion and acceptance. We also do some magic involving the charging of stones with spiritual power. There are rituals, too, to the various Gods and Goddesses.

It is the origin of Ostara (which the Catholic Church turned into Easter in an attempt to convert us), Samhain (which the Catholic Church turned into Halloween for the same purpose), and Yule (which, again, the Catholic Church turned into Christmas for the same purpose).

Answer 5

A Celtic pagan would be an Irish druid. That is an ancient - pre-Christianity religion. They do worship nature, fertility.

Answer 6

These links can explain it better than I can.
http://members.aol.com/porchfour/beliefs/celtic.htm
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswa&c=trads&id=6645

Blessings )O(

Answer 7

Obviously someone who wants to dress up in Druid type clothing, with some sort of possibly irish/welsh ancestory, who wants to be different. Possibly cant see the good in the main stream religions, due to the plank in his own eye, yet sees the splinter in the churches. Normally someone looking for attention and seeking for meaning in their life....in the wrong place. Paganism in the irish celtic tradition was incorporated in the catholic faith, hence some unusual irish religious practices.

Answer 8

they make beutiful music