Links

Featured link of the week: Kervarker

The other day when I was cleaning out my knapsack I found a pile of papers I had picked up at the Potomac Celtic Festival. Most of these featured web sites that promised more information about a particular aspect of Celtic culture. So I sat down and visited the sites.

The interesting thing (I think) about Celtic culture is how widespread it is. Many Americans, for example, probably think of Celtics culture as being limited to the United Kingdom. But there are thriving Celtic communities in France and Spain as well. Brittany is the home of the Celts of France. Bretons have embraced the web as a way to keep their language alive in a way that most other Celts have not. This probably has a lot to do with the French government's efforts to suppress the language. (The same is true of Spain and Euskara, the language of the Basques.) Kevarker is the online branch of the Sav-Heol, a society that promotes and offers lessons in Brezhoneg, the Breton language. They offer a simple tutorial, a pronunciation guide, and a Breton-English dictionary.

Other Celtic links of interest:

• Agan Tavas - I didn't know Cornwall was a Celtic region until I visited the Potomac Celtic Festival. There appear to be a handful of people who are devoted to keeping the Cornish Celtic heritage alive, but not many. Reading between the lines, it looks like Cornish Celtic culture pretty much died out for almost 100 years, but that increased interest in Celtic culture in general has contributed to a rise in interest in Cornish culture. Agan Tavas is a society devoted to promoting the Cornish language, and appears to have been rather successful in doing so. Good for them!
• Manx National Heritage - Did you know that the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom? I didn't until recently, but now I know that it's an "internally self-governing dependent territory of the Crown." All I really knew what that they had a slightly creepy national symbol, three legs arranged in a circular pattern. (I also knew that Waking Ned Devine had been filmed there.) The Manx government maintains a very nice web site about Mann; I thought the National Heritage pages were particularly interesting.
• Galicia 2001 - Galicia is a Celtic region of northwest Spain. Their territorial government has recently put out a comprehensive book about Galicia, a PDF copy of which is available at the governmental web site. The files are very large, and the connection not the fastest, so be patient.
• Bretagne Musiques On Line - BMOL is devoted to traditional Breton music. They have information about and, more interestingly from my perspective, sound clips of several Breton artists. Not all the pages have been translated into English, so if you want to hear the music go to the French pages look for links labeled "Point écoute."

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