** ancient civilizations -- Celtic clothing










The Ancient Celts: Clothing


Figure 1.--Irish dancing costumes have next to nothing to do with aicent Celtic clothing, especually the elabiorately glitsy costimes common today. This Irish dancing studio has opted for plain blue dresses adopting some of the motiffs seen in ancient Celtic sculptures and metal working. They lo ppeared in yhe illuminated Bibles created by Itish monks.

Information on Celtic costume is very limited. Northern Europe is not like the Egyptian desert where textiles might be preserved for long periods. There are a few artifacts such as the Danish bog people which may have been Celctic or Teutonic. Primarily information on Celtic dress comes from how the people they came in contact with described them, especially the Greeks and Romans. There is reason to believe from some textile finds such as at a mine near Salzburg, Austria that the celts had well developed weaving technology. [Barber, p. 204.] The garment most associated with Celtic culture, at least Scotland and Ireland is the kilt. In fact, there is little evidence that the ancient Celts wore kilts. The legendary Scottish kilt is a much more recent development. The kilt (a breacan feile or belted plaid) appears very late in Celtic history, probably about 1550-1600 AD. Scottish and Irish Celts throughout most of their history wore a linen or wool tunic (leine) and in cold weather a large cloak (brat) with or without breaches. [Riley and McGann.] In fact, while Roman soldiers wore a kilt-like skirt, Celtic warriors more commonly wore breaches. (Some Celtic warrirs went into battle naked, but this appears to ahve been on exceptional occasions. Celtic soldiers and calvary wore trousers and colored cloaks and tunics. The breaches worn by Celtic men appear to have varied considerably over time and in different locations. [Dunleavy, p. 17] The skirt wearing Roman legions viewed these Celtic breaches as an example of their barbarity. It is Ironic that a millenia later, the kilts adopted by the Celtic Highland Scotts were seen as barbaric by the well-breached English and Scottish lowlanders. The wealthy Celts might have woen their beaches with gold and silver plaited belts. [Duffy, p. 88.] The Celts unlike Roman men wore trousers called bracae which was the origin of the English word breaches, the first form of trousers worn by European men. [Duffy, p. 88.] Another source reports that Celtic men wore tunics with and without breaches.[Riley and McGann.] Women also sometimes wore trousers. Women primarily, however, although tight-waisted skirts were more common. [Duffy, p. 113.] Another source suggests Celtic women were influence by Greek fashion. [Riley and McGann.] Both men and women wore leather shoes and sandals. Both men and women wore tunics at lengths from the waust to the knees. Most sources agree that the tunics worn by Celtic men were coloful. One source describes the tunics as having narrow to the wrist, but also short sleeves. Decoration at the wrist and neck was common. [Riley and McGann.] Covering these tunics in cold weather might be a cloak which fastened with a broach. Wealthy Celts would have very fancy broaches. The cloaks coukd also be fancy and were a sign of rank and social status. [Duffy, p. 113.] There appears to have been some similarity among the different Celtic tribes. The Romans that invaded Britain found that the Celtic Britians dressed and behaved much as the Gauls. [Duffy, p. 113.] There must have been differences, however for a people whose history spans such a long period and inhabiyed such a large area. We do not have any information specifically on Celtic children's clothes.

Limited Information

Information on Celtic costume is very limited. Northern Europe is not like the Egyptian desert where textiles might be preserved for long periods. There are a few artifacts such as the Danish bog people which may have been Celctic or Teutonic. As the Celts had no written language, primarily written information on Celtic dress comes from how the people they came in contact with described them, especially the Greeks and Romans. This greatly reduces the amount of information as well as the relaibility of the information. A reader writes, "It has to be said that sources of information on Celtic in the Classical age is patchy to say the least, and to a great extent one must look to better documented times and extrapolate into the darker regions of history. We know much about the wearing of the kilt in medieval times, it was a popular choice of garb. We know a little about pre-mediaeval times and the two together allow us to form a reasonable conclusion as to the development and ascendancy of the kilt. It is fair to say that after the Tudor prohibition on the Irish Kilt, that breaches/trews were still acknowledged to be a popular mode of dress in Ireland, a form of dress just as abominable to the Tudor mind as it was to the Roman. Unlike the kilt, which was associated with guerilla warfare and which association continued into the early 19th century, the breaches/trews were not prohibited." [Freemantle]

Weaving Technology

There is reason to believe from some textile finds such as at a mine near Salzburg, Austria that the celts had well developed weaving technology. [Barber, p. 204.]

Garments

We have some limnited information on the garments worn by Celtic men abd boys.

Kilts

The garment today most associated with Celtic culture, at least Scotland and Ireland is the kilt. In fact, there is little evidence that the ancient Celts wore kilts. The legendary Scottish kilt appaers to be a much more recent development. Some writers discussing Celtic clothing do not even mention the kilt. [Thompson] A HBC reader, however, reoports that the kilt or a kind of kilt-like garment was widely woirn by the Celtic peasantry. [Freemantle] A reader writes, "Without doubt the preferred garb of those peoples described by Caesar of what later became Gaul was breaches/trews. These were frequently the items of choice for everyday affairs, but not always for battle, however the classical historians, especially the Greeks at the rape of Delphi, also leave us in no doubt that at least some of the Celtic tribes that caried out that attack wore plaids which were abandoned at the point of battle." [Freemantle] Other reports suggest that the kilt (a breacan feile or belted plaid) appears very late in Celtic history, probably about 1550-1600 AD.

Tunics

Scottish and Irish Celts throughout most of their history wore a linen or wool tunic (leine) and in cold weather a large cloak (brat) with or without breaches. [Riley and McGann.] Both men and women wore tunics at lengths from the waist to the knees. One source describes the tunics as having narrow to the wrist, but also short sleeves. Decoration at the wrist and neck was common. [Riley and McGann.]

Cloaks

Covering these tunics in cold weather might be a cloak which fastened with a broach. Wealthy Celts would have very fancy broaches. The cloaks could also be fancy and were a sign of rank and social status. [Duffy, p. 113.]

Breaches

Few people realize that it was the ancient Celts who first wore garments comparable to modern trousers. While Roman soldiers wore a kilt-like skirt, Celtic warriors more commonly wore breaches. (Some Celtic warrirs went into battle naked, but this appears to have been on exceptional occasions. Celtic soldiers and calvary wore trousers and colored cloaks and tunics. The breaches worn by Celtic men appear to have varied considerably over time and in different locations. [Dunleavy, p. 17] The skirt wearing Roman legions viewed these Celtic breaches as an example of their barbarity. It is Ironic that a millenia later, the kilts adopted by the Celtic Highland Scotts were seen as barbaric by the well-breached English and Scottish lowlanders. The Celts unlike Roman men wore trousers called bracae which was the origin of the English word breaches, the first form of trousers worn by European men. [Duffy, p. 88.] A HBC reader reports that breaches were most common among the affluent strata of Celtic society. [Freemantle]

Social Class

The wealthy Celts might have woen their beaches with gold and silver plaited belts. [Duffy, p. 88.] A HBC reade writes, "The wearing of trews/breaches was very much the province of the wealthier classes in Celtic society. The wearing of the great plaid or kilt was very much the garb of the more numerous legion fodder of the Celtic peasantry." [Freemantle]

Children

We do not have any information specifically on Celtic children's clothes. As far as we can tell, boys dressed like men and girls like women. We have not noted in the available literature any indication that children had any destinct garments or fashions.

Women

Women also sometimes wore trousers. Women primarily, however, although tight-waisted skirts were more common. [Duffy, p. 113.] Another source suggests Celtic women were influence by Greek fashion. [Riley and McGann.]

Footwear

Both men and women wore leather shoes and sandals.

Color

Most sources agree that the tunics worn by Celtic men were coloful.

Tribal Variations

There appears to have been some similarity among the different Celtic tribes. The Romans that invaded Britain found that the Celtic Britians dressed and behaved much as the Gauls. [Duffy, p. 113.] There must have been differences, however for a people whose history spans such a long period and inhabiyed such a large area. A HBC reader writes, "There was no supernational Celtic state, only a disparate collection of tribal holdings with a very loose connection in language and culture, and even then with a distinct binary divide. There was thus no hard and fast rule about who wore what when, though undoubtedly there were popular fashions which commanded an appeal outside their point of origin. Climate and time of year clearly also came into the choice of apparel." Thus Celtic clothing may have been more varied than suggested by some authors and tghe wearing of breaches in particular not as wide spread as believed.

Sources

Barber, E.W.J. Prehistoric Textiles (Princeton University Press: Princton, 1991).

Duffy, Kevin. Who Were the Celts (Barnes and Nobel: 1996).

Dunleavy, Mairead. Dress in Ireland (Homes & Meier Publishers, Inc.: New York, 1989).

Freemantle, Clive. E-mail, November 12, 2003.

Riley, M.E. and Kass McGann. Clothing of the Ancient Celts (1997 and 2002).

Thompson, Heather. "Clothing" An Ceangal Mara Foundation website, 1999.






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Created: April 18, 2003
Last updated: 5:50 AM 9/3/2021