Page 2   VARIATIONS OF ETHNIC CELTIC DRESS `` Three excellent qaulities in dress;      Style comfort, and durability.    From the 33 Triads, ninth century       Celtic Costumes vary by century and by region, with each country having a slightly differing variation on it's so-dubbed "nation costume. "  Many of these traditional outfits as we know them today were developed in the Elizabethan period ( the late sixteenth century).      Celtic Art preserves for us many dipictions of the dress of the early millennia. Illuminated manuscripts as well as carvings show us the costumes of the second to the ninth centurires C.E. From these, and from historical and archaeological studies, we can get a good idea of what the average celt wore from day to day.       Embroidery was a highly prized art, and Celtic clothing, even everyday wear, was often lavishly embellished with symbols of rank, family, country or spirituality.  Though the women usually were given the charge of this craft, men were not above the taking a needle to fabric when the spirit moved them     Simple tunics, woolens, and animals furs were worn for everday use, especially in the northern reaches of the celtic world where the summertime highs rarely exceeded 65 degrees, and the winters are damp and chilly. Sleeves were long, but not floing, and clothing for warmer weather was usually made from serge or linen called srol. There is mention  in several extant sources of a fabric called "irish silk" which was widly expensive and believed to have been prized by the fourteenth- century Queen Clemence of Hungary. It is doubtful, given the climatic conditions, that this silk was the thing, cool fabric we know today.      Women wore long dresses, or ankle-length tunics, unless they were warrioresses, in which case they dressed similarly to the men in breeches or shorter tunics which would leave them free to move agilely in battle.      The celts were superb metalcrafters, and the more affluent or higher ranking among them woreelaborately carved jewlery usually made from gold or bonze. Archaeologists have uncovered many such pieces which are now on display in the national museums of the Celtic Lands.      Males of Modestly high rank often wore a neckpiece known as a torque (tork) ,a round,  heavy brace of twisted metal extravangtly decorated with Celtic inter-locking designs and usually made of gold or broze. The highest nobility (read successful warriors and clan chiefs) wore collars called maniacis, similar to a torque but which denoted one's clan.      Woman of privilege would wear a headpiece called a niam-lann (NEEM-lawn), a headband which is often used in modern Wicca as a headdress for the priestess. It was usually crafted out of silver, copper, or findruine (white bronze), and at its front it usually sporteda jewel or design of some kind which rested over the power spot (chakra) known in the Eatern Traditions as the Third Eye, a Center of psychic energy. In its modern incarnation this design  is often the three moons of the Tripple Goddess      The "adlers tongue" (ouion anguinum in Gaulish) was another pan-Celtic ornament which doubled as a protective charm. It was usually an amulet made from a snake or adders egg, or somtimes sea shell or black stone, and was worn on a leather thong around the neck as a charm of protection and as an amulet to help the wearer contact the spirit world.      Broaches (called delg in Irish and Scots Caelic, and tlws in Welsh) were also used and often denoted one's rank in society, and were worn by both men and women. The most famous broach the Tara Broach found accidently by a child, is crafted of gold and precious jewels and is on display in the National Museum of Dublin. It is often copied by Celtic Jewlers today. These broaches were usually used to secure cloacks ( called "mantles' in Ireland and "kerseys" in Scottland ) to the shoulder.      Mantles and Kerseys were highly person item and they were often the one item of clothing to which the most thought was given and the most cost invested. The Irish Book of Rights, when outlinging the tribute to be paid to the kings, discusses in detail the appropriate bumber and style of mantles permissible to offer for each rank of society. The mantles were decorated to match one's rank, with the highest starta of society favoring cloth embroidered with genuine gold filigree or trimmed with costly furs.     Women had a wide variety of other fine jewlery, ear clasps, bracelets, and even gold-framed mirrors called scadarcs. Many of these things can be brought today as fine reproductions from import stores.      Leather goods were also crafted by the Celts and used for belts, boots, and weapon holsters much as they are today. These were embellished with Celtic design and worn as much as a sign of rank as for any practical purpose.     Most students of Celtic culture are surprised to discover that hair was given  a great deal of attention and was often meticiously curled or plaited by both males and females.     Males were even known to plait or decoratively tist their long beards. Persons of both sexes often carried around elaborately decorated combs in embroidered cior-bolgs(comb bags) for quick touch -ups. Smal gold balls were used to decorate or cap the braids of both genders.      The use of the Scottish tartan (breccan), a plaid with a specific pattern designating one's clan ties began early in Scotland but itwas not until the victorian period when the Queens love of all things Scottish made fashionable the dress tartan as we know today. Specific plaids began to be adoptedby Celtic Clands both in  and out of Scottland as early as the fifth century C.E. but were not standarized for many hundreds of years, and the one used by one clan in the eastern highlands might have been used by a rival caln in the west.      Scottish men ( and also the men of Ireland and Brittany) began wearing kilts, the plad pleated "skirts", around the fifteenth century, though plaid breeches were more often seen. Extant drawings and paintings of Scots in battle usually show them sporting breeches.       Scottish women wore plaid skirts of home-woven wool, and both sexes usually wore a feileadh mor, a long length of wool plaid thrown over the shoulder like a sash and fastened to the shirt, called a leine, with a broach. The shirts and tunics worn today with the kilts and shirts are usually white, but were once abright saffron yellow, a custom taken from teh Picts, who used the herb to color their bodies for ritual occasions.      Today, full dress kilts with all the accoutraments can be very expensive- as much as 1,200 American dollars. The COplete outfit includes the plaid wooden knee socks, the sporan, lace jabots, ghille shoes, argyle jacket, cuffs, and the balmoral hat(boneid). The cost isslightly less for the modern woman's version of the kilt because all the male dress accents are not included.      If you like the look of tartan, youshould not hesitate to find the one for your own clan, or just to adopt one ofr yourself that you happen to like. If the cost of purchasing a ready-made kilt is out of your reach, check out your local yard goods stores for plaid fabric and patterns. a skillful seamstress should be able to put together a kilt in a couple of days at a fraction of the cost of buying one.      Celtic Charioteers and other warriors often wore metal helmets reaching well down the back t o the vunerable area between the shoulder blades. These helmets were adopte as part of the warriors dress when they came into contact with the romans at gaul. The Celtic versionsoften had horns (representing the horned god) or animal totems carved  or set onto the tops.      The Druids priest wore long robes of white or blue, the druidness ones of white or red. These werebelieved to have been made of silk or linen and had hoods which could be drawn up over the head for various ritual needs. They also wore or carried a sceptercalled a slat(slawt) made of ritually selected and cut wood, a symbol of their ower and rank and was used like a wand in magick.      In Ireland the wooden staff known as a Shillelagh was traditionally made of blackthorn wood, a cursed wood among the English Celts. These were usually carrid by men and Doubled as a walking stick, as well as magickal wands. In Brittany the men carried similar staff known asthe pen-bas or cudgel.       The Bretons, like the Scots, also developed their own national dress which utilized the kilt. The bretons are the people of brittany, that peninsular part of Northwestern France which was settled by the Celts. The region consists of the departments (provinces) of Finistere, Cote-du-Nord, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Iferieure. The Brentons used lots of black woolens in their clothing, and linens were also widely used with embroidered black waistcoats under dark jackets. Women wore dark or white aprons of satin or velvet, plain for unmarried girls, and embroidered for married women. They aslo lavishly embroidered embellishements on the bodices of their dark blouses.      Their skirts were multi-tiered skirts also woven of a dark fabric. Under these, Brenton women wore several petticoats called Pieces, and these were always in the same color as their skirts (Irish and Scottish women usually opted for many multi-colored slips).      The Brenton men still wear the voluminous homespun breeches known as  Bragoubras ( usually in blue or brown fabric), which are held at the waist by a wide leather belt and metalbuckle. Their waist coats often depict symbols of showing the region of Brittany from which there caln hails, or the mark of the itinerant tailor who made the costume. Broad-brimmed hats finish the costumes. A peaked hat indicate it being worn by a bachelor and on enot turned up at the side is worn by a married man.      If you follow the Breton Celtic path you may wish to deveop embroidered design which will be meaningful to you to add your ritual wardrobe.      Elaborate hairstyles were aslo used by the bretons, and if one attends a pardon ( a Breton festival) today, representations of this odl style can still be seen as a matter of ethnic pride.  These were called by the French word coiffe, and were tall columns of hair said to be symbolic of the menhirs, or sacred standing stones, of the region. For daily wear. Breton women often covered their hair with small rectangles of linen lace somewhat like the samnish mantilla. To make one of these for  yourself, take a simple white linen handkerchief and add a bit of lace trim to the edge.      Another feminine headdress still seen today as the Bigouden, the flemish-styled cap which covers all the hair but the bangs and ties under the chin.      In wales, a feminine variation of this type of national dress requireda tall black hat which resembles a traditional "witche's hat," but which was flat on top and was worn over a mob-cap with a ruffled edge. Over the clothing of both male and females the Welsh wore a full "Red Riding Hood-style" cloak made popular during the reign of cronwell and his puritans.      Contrary to popular belief, the celts were rather fastidious for their time, and references to this are made by the Roman and Greeks as wellas in the celtic Myths themselves. Cleanliness was especially important prior to religious Rituals, and the idea of a ritual bath is still a popular in Paganism because of the Celtic influence.      All of thes ideas of Celtic ethnic dress are starting points, ideas you can adopt, adapt, discard, or altar to create your own idea of celtic ambience.           ©Celtic Myth and Magick By: Edain McCoy Web Design by: ©Graphics R Us