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The Celtic Cross Masaryk University Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature The Celtic Cross Bachelor Thesis Brno 2012 Supervisor: Written by: Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D. Eliška Vaníčková Declaration: Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou (bakalářskou) práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. V Brně, 20. dubna 2013 _____________________ Eliška Vaníčková Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my tutor Lucie Podroužková for her continuous support and helpful advice. I am grateful to my family for patience and stimulus for my work. I am also grateful to the Masaryk University libraries: Faculty of Education library and Faculty of Art library, especially the Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages library for kindly lending me the books I would otherwise have difficulties to gain. I would also like to thank people who share their knowledge about Celtic Crosses and related topics on their web pages, some of them being important sources of information for this work. The Outline Introduction..........................................................................................................................................5 The Goal of the Work......................................................................................................................5 General Introduction to the Topic....................................................................................................7 Ireland.........................................................................................................................................7 Who Were Celts........................................................................................................................14 Sources About Celts..................................................................................................................16 Celtic Languages.......................................................................................................................17 The Arrival of Celts to Britain and Ireland...............................................................................18 Celtic Importance for the Czech Culture..................................................................................19 Celtic Art pre-Roman and post-Roman.....................................................................................20 Main Body..........................................................................................................................................25 The Cross as a Sign........................................................................................................................25 The Celtic Cross.............................................................................................................................35 The “Simple” Celtic Cross........................................................................................................35 High Celtic Cross in Ireland......................................................................................................37 Art of the High Crosses........................................................................................................43 Where High Crosses Can Be Found, How Old Are They....................................................44 Function of the High Cross..................................................................................................46 Meaning of the High Cross..................................................................................................47 Some of the Most Well Known Irish High Crosses..............................................................51 Celtic Revival................................................................................................................................61 The Modern Celtic Crosses.......................................................................................................63 Usage of the Celtic Cross in Celtic Revival..............................................................................64 Literature and Drama............................................................................................................65 Festivals and Films...............................................................................................................68 Druid Revival.......................................................................................................................68 Misuse of the Celtic Cross........................................................................................................69 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................71 References..........................................................................................................................................73 Czech Sources................................................................................................................................73 English Sources..............................................................................................................................74 Pictures and Supplement Cited......................................................................................................76 Introduction The Goal of the Work The author of the work decided to write a thesis about the Celtic cross due to several impulses. One of the first incentives was that she visited Ireland and could feel the culture difference which was caused among other factors by the Celtic historical background. She is further interested in Celts because they are not a phenomena of English speaking countries only as they have a deep roots in Czech culture as well, which can be seen in archaeological findings in Czech lands. Also, Celtic cross is an important symbol of faith for her and she was interested in its origin and connections to Celtic culture, most particularly in Irish high stone crosses. What is more, current Celtic revival touches almost the whole of Western Europe, so it is an interesting phenomena worth of investigation. The work is based on extensive secondary sources research. The integral part of the work will be a comparison of these sources in terms of quality and credibility of given information and for the content itself. As shall be seen mainly in the area about the meaning of the Irish high crosses, even some confident claims may be disclaimed by another source. The introduction to the topic is longer than the common practice because it has been written with regard to the facts that the topic requires the clarification of main points, for example the outline of Christianity and culture in Ireland, explanation of the main terms such as Celtic cross and Celticism, Celtic religion, Celtic art and other facts that relate to the development of the Irish Celtic crosses before it can approach to a more detail description of the Celtic cross. The main body of the work consists of several parts that look at the Celtic cross from different perspectives. First it looks at a cross as a sign throughout history showing the attitude and usage of the cross as a sign in different cultures and finishes with the usage in Christianity. Second part is aimed at the Celtic cross in general explaining its origin, meaning and general shape and – 5 – function. The third part is aimed at Irish high crosses, their functions, age and appearance. There is also a sub-chapter about stone works as such to illustrate stone monuments in Ireland. In the chapter Meaning of the High Celtic Cross the work tried to introduce the different points of view on the cross and indicate the relationship of the cross with Celtic religion and Christian Church. The chapter about Irish high crosses follows from the general description to the specific examples from Ireland. Finally, the last part is devoted to 'Celtic' influence nowadays – the Celtic revival – where connections appear between medieval stone crosses and contemporary culture. Some misconceptions and myths about Celtic culture which are commonly handed down among people and which are worth mentioning are discussed there. At the end of the work, in references, Czech and English sources are divided for clarity because the Czech sources have been translated for the purpose of this work by the author of the thesis. In the supplement there are pictures of twelve chosen Irish high crosses mentioned in the chapter Examples of some well known Irish high crosses. There is also a map of Irish high crosses, that have been modified by the author of the thesis, which indicates where in Ireland they can be found and viewed. The map together with a part of the work aimed at Irish high crosses can be used as a basis for several teaching activities throughout curriculum, for example in History, Geography, or English. Other parts of the thesis can be used in teaching as well as a base for a lesson or for a discussion. The author hopes that the work will serve as an inspiration for further research for individuals and will make the work easier for the teachers who would like to create a lesson about Ireland, Celts or Celtic crosses. – 6 – General Introduction to the Topic It is challenging to look
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