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The Galicians: the autonomous Celts of Spain
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article    •    About the Author    •    Bibliography/Sources

This article analyzes the culture, history, and identity of the Galician Celts of Spain, an autonomous minority that considers itself to be non-Spanish.

The modern nation of Spain possesses a highly complicated and decentralized system of regional autonomy that was originally intended both to promote national solidarity and to assuage revolt from the sizable Catalan and Basque minorities. In this federalized system, supreme political power resides in Madrid, but local affairs and the local regional languages (or dialects) are devolved to the autonomous communities. Some of these groups, like the Andalusians, acknowledge their close relation to the dominant Castilian culture. However, the three most divergent groups -- the Catalans of Catalonia, the Basques of Euskara, and the Galician Celts of Galicia -- consider themselves either firmly distinct cultures or entirely different ethnicities and nations. Many Basques and Catalans have even employed violence in their efforts to divorce from Spain.

The Galicians of the far northwest are one of Spain's most unique communities, and claim to be of an entirely separate ethnic, genetic/racial, and cultural heritage than the Castilians, Basques, and Catalans. Although their language (in reality a dialect of Portuguese) has almost no Celtic influence and is closely related to Spanish and Portuguese, they consider themselves to be Celtic, that is, related to the Irish, Bretons, Scots, Cornish, and Manx. The very name of "Galicia" derives from the early Roman word for the "Gauls" of France and Spain, and is sometimes postulated to be related to the word "Gaelic." Although Galician nationalist parties rallying for independence are comparatively pacified and diffident in comparison with the Catalans and Basques, Galicia has a virulently separate national and cultural identity.

The red indicates the most independent autonomous communities of Spain (original owner unknown)

The flag of Galicia is flown ubiquitously alongside, and often instead of, the flag of Spain

The Celtiberians and the history of Galician identity

Galicians claim descent from the ancient, original Celtic tribes of Iberia that preceded the modern Mediterannean-Catholic culture of modern Spain. From the early 1st millennium BCE until the first centuries before Christ, Celtic tribes rapidly migrated throughout Europe. They settled in France (Gaul), Iberia (Spain and Portugal), Bohemia, northern Italy and the Alps, England, Ireland, and even as far away as central Anatolia in modern Turkey (called Galatia in ancient times). Ancient Roman writers named most of the territories in Europe after the Celtic tribes. The Celtic migrants who settled in Iberia after the 5th century BCE have today been called the Celt-Iberians. One of the Celtiberian tribes were the Galicians straddling what are now northwestern Spain and Portugal. The Galicians of today insist that the Galician Celtiberians were the only tribe to escape the total "Hispanization" of Castile's Mediterannean and Catholic cultural orbit, despite the Galicians' adoption of Catholicism and the abandonment of any ancient Celtic language in favor of a dialect of Portuguese.

The Celtiberian tribes retained their Celtic culture and languages until the gradual process of Christianization and incorporation into dominant national hegemons like Portugal, Leon, and Castile. They even possessed one of ancient Europe's most unusual and unique writing systems that still remains untranslated (shown below). It was believed to be inherited from roving traders and merchants from Carthage, although many nationalists claim an independent, native origin of the Celtiberian script. Very little is known about their religious myths or cultural heritage, and most characterization is drawn from depictions of their Celtic relatives to the east.

The ancient writing system of the Celtiberians (thanks to Omniglot.com for the image)

The independent identities of the Celtiberians and the Galicians eroded with the domination of Iberia and France by the Roman Republic after the Punic Wars of the 2rd-1nd centuries BCE. Previously under Carthaginian control, southern Iberia passed to Rome. The northern Celtic tribes of Portugal and Spain, especially the Lusitanii (hence Lusitania) remained distinctly independent and intractable. Brutal revolts among the Celtiberians forced the Romans to send huge armies into Iberia to pacify the region. The most pugnacious of the Celtiberians was the tribal leader Sertorius, whose revolt initated a huge war with the Romans throughout the 70'sBCE. After his defeat, nearly all of Iberia and Portugal (excluding the Basque Country) was formally under Roman control. Galicia and other northerly tribes, however, remained relatively distanced from Roman hegemony.

Inclusion in the Roman orbit led to a gradual adoption of the dominant Mediterannean ethos and, later, Christendom. As a result, most features of a Celtic culture dissolved among the Galicians. The obliteration of the Western Roman Empire by the German Ostrogothic tribes in 476 gradually led to the creation of independent polities. Most of Europe was conquered by the Frankish tribe from Germany. Spain was dominated by the Visigoths. The region of Galicia in northern Spain was absorbed into the Germanic Suebian kingdom before falling to the Visigoths, who soon dominated all Spain and much of Portugal before falling to the Muslim invaders in the 8th century. After the Visigoths were crushed, Galicia was divided between the nascent Portuguese state and the Spanish kingdoms of Asturias and Leon before before firmly becoming a part of Castile by the 12th century. With the unification of Spain under Castile and Aragon in 1492, the Galician Celts became a part of Spain for the next 500 years as they remain today.

The Celtic Galicians rapidly assimilated into the pervading Spanish, Catholic, Latin-based culture of the rest of Spain and most of the Celtic roots were lost. Their language was entirely extinct, and what is today called the Galician language today is merely a regional dialect. However, with Christianization, Galicia became one of the most significant destinations for pilgrimage and theology in Catholic Europe. The Pilgrimage for St. James to the mountain monastery of Santiago de Compostela has been one of the holiest rituals in Christendom for almost 2,000 years. It is asserted that St. James, brother of John the Apostle, proselytized the Christian faith all the way to Galicia to found a massive cathedral. This is often deemed absurd by most historians. His remains are interred in the basement of the basilica. Galicia thus remained a significant region in Europe despite the submersion of its national and independent cultural identity.

After the Spanish Civil War (1933-9), General Francisco Franco y Bahamonde assumed dictatorial rule in order to wrest the country from severe bankruptcy, infighting, and a widespread Communist and anarchist revolt supported by many Americans and Soviets abroad. In order to force the centralization of the nation and quell regional discord, General Franco dissolved the autonomous linguistic and political rights of the Galicians, Basques, and Catalans. Their languages (or dialects) were banned in all political interaction. Although Franco brought a broken federation into a unified and industrialized nation, his brutal policies of suppressing regional identities contributed to the intense political movements among Galicians, Basques, and Catalans for autonomy and independence ever since. The murders and assassinations of civilians and government officials by the Basques was, in their argument, merely a response to brutal oppression from the Castilians under Franco. After Franco's fall in 1975 and the subsequent establishment of a liberal republic, Galicia, the Basque Country, and Catalonia were given tremendous autonomy. Their languages were elevated to official status nearly co-equal with Castilian. Whereas the Catalans and Basques continued violent and non-violent political struggles, the Galicians remained far more pacific.

The Galician "Celtic" culture today

Today, Galicia retains a very different topographic, cultural, and religious identity. A strong cultural and semi-religious connection with nature, spirits, and ghosts is used to evoke the Galicians' supposed Celtic heritage. The climate and land are far more green, mossy, and wet than the rest of Spain, giving it a superficial feeling of Northern Europe and the climate of the other Celtic lands. It must be emphasized that the legitimate "Celtic" roots of the Galicians have been debated. Many cultures invent a mythological and independent origin in order to distance themselves from a foreign hegemon. Some argue that the Galicians are merely "Spaniards" who claim a link to the ancient inhabitants of their homeland in order to reject intrusion by the Castilians. Others note that Galicia's geographic proximity to Ireland and England made it a prime destination for settlement of monks from the Celtic north and thus caused a proliferation of Celtic traditions to a non-Celtic Iberian population. So too, many point to the fact that the Galicians possess many cultural elements from Scotland that did not exist until long after the fall of the Roman Empire, and thus the Galicians simply adopted them later from Scots immigrants and travelers. Galicians today bitterly disagree, emphasizing their unaltered connections with their ancient Celtic ancestors. Galicians also note the high proportion of "Celtic features" in the population that discern them as a different race than the Castilian Spaniards, Catalans, Basques, and Andalusians.

Galician culture is undeniably independent from the rest of Spain and highly reminiscent of the Celts. The Galicians have a unique religious tradition that meticulously combines pagan "Druidic" religion of the ancient Celts with Spanish Catholicism. Ghosts are believed by many to be ubiquitous elements of nature that intercede in daily life. Crops and houses often have wards and scarecrow-like figures to dispel bad spirits. Omens are significant in Galician culture. Many homes and cemetaries have the traditional Celtic cross and other Celtic symbols that inspire a bond with natural forces. Alongside these Celtic "pagan" symbols are icons of Christian tradition. As a result, Galician culture effectively merged the natural pagan religion of the Celtiberians with the Catholicism of the Spanish sovereigns without retaining polytheism. Catholic saints gained popularity due to their parallel with ghosts and spirits of Galician Celtic heritage. Galician society expresses much pan-Celtic cultural exchange, including bagpipes, variants of Scottish kilts, elements of Irish and Scottish food such as trite and mutton, and a distinct musical tradition that is reminiscent of the British Isles. The traditional costumes and national dress of Galicia (my photos shown below) even includes the famous red pointed hats that are based on ancient Celtic religion and were later adopted by the Ku Klux Klan in the United States. Galicia firmly emphasizes its independent "nationality," as is emphasized in the windows of many stores and homes that wave Galician regional flags instead of Spanish flags and say "made only in Galicia." As mentioned above, the center of Galician cultural heritage is Santiago de Compostela in the small town of Vigo (shown below), where one of Europe's oldest and most majestic basilicas stands in resplendent condition. Pilgrims walk over 200km from France and eastern Spain all the way to Galicia in commemoration of the passion of St. James. Walking sticks with unique shells and gourds derived from ancient Celtic culture are visible everywhere, giving Galicia a blatantly unique and independent heritage.

Although Galicia has very little graffiti, stickers and spraypaint often announce Galician nationalist slogans that emphasize the region's non-Spanish heritage. Most of the political parties of the autonomous region focus on local, Galician interests, like the Galician Nationalist Bloc that call for full-scale national independence and has even accrued as much as 20% of the regional vote. Although Galicians pride themselves as an independent Celtic nation long subsumed under Spanish hegemony, it is unlikely that the Galicians will demolish their auspicious economic and political ties with the national government in Madrid. Instead, the political ideology of "Gallicanism," espousing a focus on the affairs and needs of the Galicians instead of the nation of Spain as a whole, will remain pervasive among this proud and distinct culture.

My photo of the basilica of Santiago de Compostela (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

The interior of the basilica (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is a historian and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies (language and history), am presently working for my Masters in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate. I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles of native European and immigrant minority identities. See my staff entry for more information.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

-personal photos, observations, and interviews

-Omniglot.com

-Images that lack an EHL watermark are not our property. If no link is provided, we were unable to locate the original owner. If you find that your property has been used, feel free to notify us.