cl-Celts-msg - 6/5/96 Clothing of the early Celtic peoples. NOTE: See also the files: clothing-msg, cl-Scotland-msg, cl-Ireland-msg, cl-Scot-fem-art, cl-Scot-male-art, clothing-MN-msg, underwear-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: jerryn at crl.com (Kati Norris) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Celtic Dress (F) - long! Date: 9 Apr 1995 17:33:18 GMT Organization: Cathlin ban Gerald / Stargate / Ansteorra Someone (my system rebooted and I lost the message) wanted to know what 11th cent. Celtic Ladies wore. Here goes: The Emergence of Man: The Celts True Life Books 1975 ISBN: 7054-00891 This recorded in 8th Century AD, of Edain, 'loveliest girl in Ireland' 'Her upper arms were as white as the snow of a single night, and they were soft and straight; and her clear and lovely cheeks were as red as the foxglove of the moor. ...The bright blush of the moon was in her noble face; the lifting of pride in her smooth brows; the ray of love-making in both her royal eyes; a dimple of sport in both her cheeks. She was the fairest and loveliest and most perfect of the women of the world that the eyes of men had ever seen; they thought she must be of the fairies' also: 'Celtic women seemed flamboyantly uninhibited. Though they twisted their long hair into braids, and sometimes piled it high upon their heads in elaborate coiffures, they were generally too fond of ornaments. They moved to the sounds of tinkling necklaces and bracelets, and there were little bells sewn to the fringed ends of their tunics. Over the tunics went gaudy cloaks with bright coloured stripes and checks, and often elaborately decorated with embroidery of silver or gold. The Celtic women were also described as preoccupied with make-up. They painted their fingernails, reddened their cheeks with 'ruan', an herb, and darkened their eyebrows with berry juice. But they were as war-like as their husbands - a trait one Roman warned his countrymen to beware - "A whole troop of foreigners would not be able to withstand a single Gaul if he called his wife to his assistance. Swelling her neck, gnashing her teeth, and and brandishing her sallow arms of enormous size, she begins to strike blows mingled with kicks as if they were so many missiles sent from the string of a catapult." (This attributed to Ammanius Marcellinus)' and: 'from Dio Cassius; of a Celtic wife to a Roman matron: "We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women, for we consort openly with the best men, wheras you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest." ' also - Celtic women were sometimes permitted to have more than one mate Exploring the world of the Celts Simon James - Thames and Hudson ISBN: 0-500-05067-8 Celtic women, particularly noblewomen, had a more prominent role than their Roman or Greek sisters. on clothing: dress - 'peplos' - consisted of two rectangles of fabric, fastened up at the sides, and typically held together at the shoulders by a pair of 'fibulae', sometimes linked by swags of decorative chain. skirt - checked wrap-around, calf or ankle length to avoid mud, and to show off anklets cloaks - woll, linen or sometimes imported silk hair - worn long (hairpins often found at burial sites), some evidence of headcloths or scarves necklaces - coral, amber or glass beads Edited by Mark S. Harris cl-Celts-msg Page 2 of 2