A Search for Meaning

What was it that made Celts Celts as they migrated over centuries from the Caucasus Mountains across the northern Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula to the British Isles? According to Dr. T. Anantha Vijayah, in his Fourth World Journal article Digitizing Worldviews Intangible Cultural Heritages, it was their stories.

As they recorded and retransmitted ideas over generations and geographical locations, these stories that encompassed their indigenous knowledge and worldviews were more reliable than cultural artifacts and natural heritage sites in transporting their culture.

In his article about indigenous peoples’ cultural survival, Dr. Vijayah notes that while the expressive part of culture is subject to change, the culture that underlies that expression is that which determines the perception of the community and the worldview of their culture. Their worldview, in turn, determines their perception of reality.

Worldviews, Vijayah observes, emerge from the totality of peoples’ perceptions and beliefs. Aboriginal worldviews, he notes, are founded on a search for meaning from a metaphysical journey for knowledge based on the premises of skills that promote personal and social change that leads to harmony with rather than control over the environment.

Indigenous worldviews, intrinsically holistic and interdisciplinary, have had to survive alongside colonial worldviews. As indigenous peoples, Celts, like all other aboriginal societies, have experienced intercontinental migration and colonial subjugation. The stories they carried with them create a mental space for others to experience their culture and way of thinking.

Alba

With recent wins by the Scottish National Party, a referendum on independence from the UK is a certainty. London says it will not interfere.

Sally O’Neill

Sally O’Neill walks the talk.

Meitheal Mara

Meitheal Mara builds traditional Irish watercraft called currachs. Located in Cork, Ireland, they also build character in Irish youth and those who wish to carry on this maritime heritage.

Remembering Che

Ernesto Guevara was Irish on one side of his family, so it is not surprising that the artist who created the iconic Che poster was also. Jim Fitzpatrick met Che when he was in his teens, and after Guevara’s death wanted to make sure he wasn’t forgotten. To say he succeeded would be a colossal understatement.

Celts in Spain

Causa Galiza, the pro-independence initiative of Galicia, has launched a challenge to the legal framework of the Spanish Constitution. Citing the undue limits imposed on Catalan national autonomy in northeastern Spain, the Galician nation of northwestern Spain has opted for self-determination under international law. As a Celtic people, the Galicians continue their own traditions, including maintenance of their own language and government.

An American Hero

John P. O’Neill

Lughnasa

Good Time God

Eddie Stack writes from West Clare about Lughnasa, the Irish harvest festival honoring Lugh, the ancient god of arts and crafts. Unlike the Catholic adaptation, says Eddie, “Lugh was a good time god.”

Alba Cymru and Kernow

As we look forward to the centennial of the 1916 Easter Rising as a deadline for Irish reunification, we look to the present for Celts in Cornwall to achieve autonomous status on par with Scotland and Wales.

Children of the Forest

Helen O’Neill explores the Choctaw–Irish connection.