Picts-msg - 10/20/18

Info. on the Picts. Name sources.

NOTE: See also the files: tattoos-msg, woad-msg, Celts-msg, Scotland-msg, Ireland-msg, Gaul-art, Roman-Wales-bib, Wales-msg.

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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
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From: dnb105 at psu.edu (Ferret)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Those colorful picts
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 1994 18:32:47 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

In attempting to learn about woad I discover some interesting items that 
have led me (for now) to believe that the Picts (not Celts) were tatooed  
not painted. I found that the "painted with woad" idea comes from Julius 
Caesar's description of the Briton's and that most other description refer 
specifically to tatoos, recent archaelogical evidence suppports that 
tatooing was a very ancient (late stone age) custom. It is possible that 
both painting and tatooing were present but the evidence currently is
in favor of tatooing. The following excerpt clarify:

From: "the Problem of the Picts"  F.T. Wainwright

Is the name Picti no more than the Roman's descriptive   term for a painted people ?  Or does it
represent a Latinized version of a native name, perhaps the Pict's own name 
for themselves ?  Isidore of Seville, writing soon after A.D.  600 tells us 
that the Picts  take their name from the fact that their bodies bear designs 
pricked into their skin by needles.

There was a tradition, over six hundred years old, that the inhabitants of
Britain specialized  in the practice of applying pigments to their skins.
Julius Caesar had written " All the Britanni paint themselves with woad 
which produces a bluish colouring."
And after Caesar there  is no break in the series of writers - Ovid,
Martial, Solinus, Herodian, Claudian, Jordans - who mention this colourful
practice. It may be significant that the later writers refer specifically to
tatooing, puncturing as distinct from painting, and that they refer to the 
inhabitants of the northern parts of Britain. 

From: "The Picts" Isabel Henderson

Classical writers were struck by their  habit of personal tatooing.
There is also the older name of Priteni to consider. It means "people of the 
designs" and presumably refers to tatooing or painting, a habit aquired from 
an older population.

Archeological Find:

In Sept. 1991 a very well preserved body was discovered in the  Alps near 
the Austrian-Italian border. This 5,000 year old body had tatoos of stripes
nd a cross on his body. This is solid evidence that tatooing was practiced 
in Europe in 3000 B.C. 

It may also lend credibility to the practice of tatooing in Britania as 
early (or late) as 400 A.D.

-Frettchen von Rheinpfalz-


From: limbo7 at aol.com (Limbo7)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Those colorful picts
Date: 17 Apr 1994 23:52:05 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

To add to what you have written about the Picts allow me to throw in a few
tidbits. In Ireland they were called the Cruthni by the Gaels. Their culture
was basically overwhelmend and absorbed by the Gael. But there are some
interesting bits that one can find. Cuchullain before he was given that name
was known as Setanta "He who knows the way". Setanta was the eponymous here of
the Setantii who resided near Teamhair (Tara).  The name Tristan is believed to
have originally come from the name of a Pict named Drust. There are early
versions of the Tristan story in which he is named Drystan and Drustan. So they
did indeed leave behind an impact on the Celtic world among others.


From: dnb105 at psu.edu (Ferret)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Those colorful picts
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 06:18:23 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

In article <2ot055$t8l at search01.news.aol.com> limbo7 at aol.com (Limbo7) writes:

>To add to what you have written about the Picts allow me to throw in a few
>tidbits. In Ireland they were called the Cruthni by the Gaels. Their culture
>was basically overwhelmend and absorbed by the Gael. But there are some
>interesting bits that one can find. Cuchullain before he was given that name
>was known as Setanta "He who knows the way". Setanta was the eponymous here of
>the Setantii who resided near Teamhair (Tara).  The name Tristan is believed to
>have originally come from the name of a Pict named Drust. There are early
>versions of the Tristan story in which he is named Drystan and Drustan. So they
>did indeed leave behind an impact on the Celtic world among others.

The earliest Roman records refer to the PRITANI which may have later become 
BRITANI or Britons as we would say. The later term PICTI refers to the 
northern part of the island, where as PRITANI seems to refer to all the 
inhabitants. Ceasar's remark implies that ALL the inhabitants were decorated 
but he is in the minority refering to the decorations as "painted with woad" 
and his comment is suspect as second hand and his information jumbled. The 
Romans do not seem to make tribal distinctions. Also note that the Romans 
were aware of the Celts via their own and Greek writings (KELTOI) yet DO NOT
apply the terms to the inhabitants of the British Isles. This would 
indicate that the difference between Continental and British "Celts" was so 
great that no comparison was made. This would put the cultural division of 
the Island Celts at earlier than 400 A.D. 
Unfortunately I have yet to obtain the descriptions in the original Latin.

-Frettchen von Rheinpfalz-


From: Scott White <swhite at onr.com>
To: Mark Harris
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 16:55:49 -0600
Subject: Re: Names, Meanings, and th

Hey Stefan:

Saw your recent posting regarding lists of names on the Rialto. Here's a
reference on Pictish names that was written by the heralds of Academy of St.
Gabriel following my begging for Pictish naming resources. 

The URL is:

        http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/pictnames.html

Gnith
<swhite at onr.com>


From: "Susan Harmon" <sca.brighit at gmail.com>
Date: August 6, 2008 7:42:56 PM CDT
To: trimaris-temp at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [tri-temp] Interseting new information

Thought some might be interseted in this information.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-about-the-picts-886098.html



Brighit of the MacGregor


Subject: 	[SCA Newcomers] Digest Number 2153
Date: Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:08 am ((PDT))
To: 	scanewcomers at yahoogroups.com
Re: PIcts

fionnseachdelochielle at gmail.com fionnseachdulochielle
sinyra wrote:
[...]
<<< I have noticed however that there aren't very many picts in the SCA and was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to go about playing a PIct. I know there is not much information on them and I have done extensive research I'm just hoping for some tips from the pros. :D >>>

Well, I am far from a pro and not in your Kingdom, but Mistress Eithni 
(Northshield) received her Laurel for her Pictish studies. She also 'owns' a 
yahoo group called SCA-Pictish <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCA-Pictish/> (I'm 
just a student of hers).

Anyway, if you join that group, you can take a gander through the files she's 
uploaded there. It includes a basic pattern for a Pictish gown - which has a 
wonderful silhouette, is quite conservative in material use, and fairly easy to 
make. :) I need to make myself another one or four soon. ;)

Do you know what period your Pictish persona is? In my shire of Dernehealde, we 
have Picts from the 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th centuries. How close to the end of the 
Roman era do you want to play? What part of Caledonia (Pictish Scotland) does 
your persona hail from (this helps in determining how much Roman influence you 
have - or Anglo-Saxon, or Breton, or... you get the idea. ;)

Finnseach de Locheil (12th century name 'cause it was registered years before I 
settled on being a Pict)
5th-7th century Pict depending on what I'm focusing on at the time - main focus 
of research currently is Pictish textile production techniques and the fibers 
they used.


Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2015 05:00:06 -0400
From: Garth Groff via Atlantia <atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
To: Merry Rose <atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
Subject: [MR] BBC: Pictish Fort Found on Sea Stack

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

Today the BBC is reporting the discovery of a Pictish fort on top of a 
sea stack off the Aberdeenshire coast: 
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-32325310 
. Why the Picts would put a fort there is interesting. Maybe a watch 
tower of some sort? Seems to me it might actually be a monastic retreat 
like those on the small islands near Lindesfarne.

Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot

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Edited by Mark S. Harris	Picts-msg	Page 2 of 4