Celtic Christmas Cards

Famous for its festivals, music, cider and the Far Breton pudding (not all unrelated), you know that a good time is had in Breizh!

It's the first place that we point to, when we make the point that not every Celtic country is in the British Isles!  Ancient Amorica, now Bretagne or Britanny, is all the way across the Channel, marking a continental claim for the Celts.

There's some evidence that it was a colony founded by Kenan Meriadoc, who sailed over from Britain.  What is known for sure is that, as the Anglo-Saxons streamed across southern Britain, some displaced refugees fled across the Channel.  They are Bretons now.

Do you know a lovely Breizhiz?  This Christmas you can tell them Nedeleg Laouen in a festive greeting card.

Famous for pasties, surfing, tin-mining and tourism, when the Cornish export something, you know it's been exported.

Never heard of them?  I warrant that you have spotted their influence.  St Patrick (of parades in New York and patron saint of Ireland fame) was a Cornishman.  It was Cornish miners who introduced football into Mexico.  In 2012, Britain was practically in an uprising, because the government attempted to put a tax on Cornish pasties.  It backed down.

So yes, Cornwall may be tiny - and may have come under even more pressure than even the rest of the Celtic countries to become English - but it certainly makes its presence felt!

Do you know any of the beautiful Kernewek?  This Christmas wish them a Nadelik Lowen with your Cornish greeting card.

Famous for great parties, ferocious self-preservation, Guinness, U2 and Liam Neeson, not to mention St Patrick's Day and the whole saving Christianity after the fall of Rome thing. I doubt that the Irish need any introduction.  The Celtic tiger has roared across the entire known world! 

These Gaelic people were the first Celtic people to colonize the British Isles after the thawing of the Ice Age.  They sailed up from Ibernia (think Spain and Portugal) and made homes all along the coast of the Irish Sea. 

The Scotti came from Ireland by the way.  The original Scots were Pictish, so there is a strong argument that Scotland is actually an ancient Irish colony.  But not one which I'd wish to make in a pub in Glasgow.

Know any gorgeous Irish Gaels?  Wish them a Nollaig Shona Dhuit in your Christmas greeting card this year.

Famous for tail-less cats, the Bee Gees, motorbike racing and Geraldine Somerville (that's Lily Potter, mother of Harry, for most of us), the good people of the Isle of Man have made their mark on global culture.

While fundamentally Gaelic Celts, the Vikings did bump their long-ships along that coast too.  The poor Manx started off as Brythonic Celts (same as the Bretons, Cornish and Welsh), but got taken over by the Irish Gaels, invaded by the Norse, then ruled by Scotland, before the English slapped their crown onto the passports.

That's what you get for being a tiny island nation in the middle of the Irish Sea.

In fact, it seems that the only ones to leave the sweet Vanninnagh alone are Amazon and Zazzle! At least insofar as Manx Gailck greeting cards are involved.

Which was the case until I became creative in GIMP and produced the card above! I couldn't leave my Celtic brothers and sisters unrepresented in those places.  Y croeso, Vanninnagh.

In addition, Greetings Cards Universe has three seasonal cards to say Happy Christmas in Manx Gaelic.

Famous for whisky, Highlanders in kilts, tartan, Sean Connery, Maggie Smith and the Proclaimers, the Scottish also invented just about every useful thing in the 20th century (barring the internet).

They are responsible for the airplanes in the sky, bicycle in your hallway, the tyres on your car, the phone in your hand, the television in your living room and the macadamisation on your roads. But not Tarmac.  It's a common misconception that Tarmac has anything to do with the Gaels.  It was invented by a Welshman.

Do you know any great Scottish Gaels?  Then wish them a Nollaig Chridheil with your Christmas greeting card.

What is Merry Christmas in Scottish Gaelic?

Nollaig Chridheil = Merry Christmas

Bliadhna Mhath Ur = Happy New Year

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ur = Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

How do you pronounce Merry Christmas in Scottish Gaelic?

Noll-leg Chree-yell = Merry Christmas

Blee-hanna var uwr = Happy New Year

That last word is hard to render.  I've just spoken it to an English friend, who said it sounds like a cat purring, without the p.  The difference between prrrr and urrrr is 'ur'.  Just go with 'ooo' and roll your r at the end, no-one will cry too much in Edinburgh. (Though you may hear a sob in the Hebrides.)

Noll-leg Chree-yell ugus blee-hanna var uwr = Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Famous for male voice choirs, Katherine Jenkins, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and the Manic Street Preachers, the Welsh have a deserved reputation as living in the Land of Song.

However, we also gave the world the Arthurian legends, Bertrand Russell, love spoons, the poetry of Dylan Thomas and Taliesin, and meteorology.  Oh! And X-Rays.  And Tarmac.

Wales is a beautiful country.  My lot are all from the south and east - the parts which gave the Romans, then the Saxons all of that trouble.  (Bless the poor Romans, they ended up having to build a whole port down in Caerleon, just to try and tame the Silurians.  Tra-la-la.)  But the rest of the country is stunning too.

I defy anyone to wander through the Llanberis Pass without a look of sheer wonder on their faces.

Do you know any cute Cymry?  Then wish me a Nadolig Llawen in your Christmas card this year!