The Celtic peoples have historically lived across mainland Europe stretching from Swizerland and Turkey in the east to Britain and Ireland In the west. They can be defined by multiple physical characteristics such as red hair, blue and green eyes, tartan clothing, and prominent statures.
Other traits far more prevalent among people of Celtic ancestry include lactase persistence and red hair, with 46% of Irish and at least 36% of Highland Scots being carriers of red-head variants of the MC1R gene, possibly an adaptation to the cloudy weather of the areas where they live.
The ancient authors regularly describe Celtic women as large, crafty, brave and beautiful. Diodorus and Suetonius, in particular, describe the sexual permissiveness of Celtic women. According to Suetonius, Caesar spent a lot of money on sexual experiences in Gaul.
Most of the inhabitants today of the Galicia region of Spain are fair skinned with light blue or green eyes. This is due to the intermarriage of Celts with the Iberian people. One only has to walk around Santiago de Compostella, the capital of the region, to see the difference in skin complexion.
Having said that, common hair colourations among the European populations that had Celtic cultures were dark brown along the Atlantic coastal regions due to the migration of people from the Iberian peninsula, with red or blond hair in common with northern Europeans more common elsewhere.
The Celtic and Slavic people rank among the Icelandic in terms of having the highest percentage of people with green eyes; this eye color tends to appear when one parent has blue eyes, and the other has light brown or hazel eyes.
Among the Gaelic Celts of Scotland and Ireland, men typically let their facial hair grow into a full beard, and it was often seen as a sign of weakness for a Gaelic man to have no facial hair! The ancient Celts had such a distinctive style that the Romans named them 'Gallia Comata' or 'Long-Haired Gauls'.
Today, the term 'Celtic' generally refers to the languages and cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany; also called the Celtic nations.
What did the Celts look like? Looking again at the recordings by Roman literature, the Celts were described as wearing brightly coloured clothes, with some having used blue dye from the woad plant to paint patterns on their bodies.
The term Celtic is used to refer to persons who trace their ancestry back to one of the present Celtic territories located in the westernmost parts of Europe. Through the ages, each of these places has managed to preserve a significant portion of its original culture as well as its particular language.
Ireland — 172.02cm (5 feet 7.72 inches)
The average Irishman is 178.92cm (5 feet 10.44 inches) tall. The average Irishwoman is 165.11cm (5 feet 5 inches) tall.
DNA testing will tell you if you are Celtic-German. However, Celtic alone is not one of the options that DNA will give you. Irish is mostly Celtic with a good percentage of Norse, especially around Dublin. French, Spanish and Northern Italian are also heavily Celt.
A DNA test by iGENEA provides you with evidence of whether you have Celtic roots. Based on your specific genetic characteristics, we can identify your origins and state from which line the Celtic descent is (paternal, maternal or both lines).
They were also found to have most similarity to two main ancestral sources: a 'French' component (mostly northwestern French) which reached highest levels in the Irish and other Celtic populations (Welsh, Highland Scots and Cornish) and showing a possible link to the Bretons; and a 'West Norwegian' component related to ...
Celtic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and assembled by Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance.
Celtic hold the distinction of being the first British club to win the European Cup and they are among Britain's best supported teams. However, while they are undoubtedly Scottish and British, the Glasgow outfit have a strong connection to Ireland and a unique affinity with Irish supporters.
There was no single 'Celtic' genetic group. In fact the Celtic parts of the UK (Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Cornwall) are among the most different from each other genetically.
They found the Stone Age Briton had dark hair - with a small probability that it was curlier than average - blue eyes and skin that was probably dark brown or black in tone. This combination might appear striking to us today, but it was a common appearance in western Europe during this period.
Celtic culture first began to form around 1200 BC, so intrinsically Celtic mythology did not begin until that time (much later than Greek mythology). Celtic mythology also was not recorded in writing until much later when Christian scribes began transcribing the myths until the 8th century AD.
Most historians agree that the Celts were primarily white, though there were some Celtic people with darker complexions. There were also some Asian Celts, known as the Galatians, who lived in the Anatolia region.
There are likely more than 120 million people of Celtic descent in North and South America, Australasia, Africa and Europe. The largest single group is from Ireland, followed by Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.
The Celts and Vikings were two distinct peoples who lived in different parts of Europe during different periods. The Celts were an ancient people inhabiting what is now Ireland, Scotland, England, and other parts of Europe from as early as 1000 BC.
“All the Britons indeed dye themselves with woad, which occasions a bluish colour and thereby have a more terrible appearance in fight. They wear their hair long and have every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip”.
Yet it is noticeably absent in Germanic peoples. English people included. Both curly and straight are common in celtic people.
Scottish research has found that the Celts' flaming red hair can be put down to the weather. With ten percent in Ireland and 13 percent of people in Scotland boasting glorious red hair, there could be something to it. The experts believe that the gloomy climate in Scotland prompted a deliberate genetic adaptation.