The General Characteristics of Celtic-Irish Tradition – A Summary and Characterization

Throughout the diversity of religious and social practices of the Irish, several recurring characteristics are plainly discernible. All of these traits that distinguish Celtic-Irish traditions from those of other countries stem from the fact that for the Irish, nature and the Deity are regarded as nearly being the same. This accounts for the strong dislike of the Irish for capricious man-made laws and institutions that violate their deep sense of nature’s law.

For one, The Irish have a deep sense of the unity binding opposites. For them, no double standards exist in life. Religion and the business of living are one and the same. This sense of the interaction between the visible and the invisible gives rise to the many superstitions that we find in Celtic-Irish tradition.

The Irish are strongly bound by their ties to nature. The nurturing feminine power is revered greatly by this people. As such the Irish recognize the spiritual equality between men and women. A direct result of their reverence for what is feminine is their love for poetry, music and other art forms.

The family is the structural framework on which other spheres of life are patterned. Their churches are organized and sustained along lines of cooperative interaction between the parish priest and the parishioners. This again is another manifestation of the Irish love of freedom and equality. In all aspects of life, authoritarian hierarchies are disliked. This is the very reason perhaps why the Irish never liked to be under the British. Loyalty is considered a necessary trait of a good family and society but this loyalty has to come from the heart and cannot be elicited by force of authority.

The Irish believe strongly in the capabilities of man to change and improve himself. Because of this, they are predisposed to give the benefit of the doubt and are seldom easy to discourage.

An idea that pervades much of their literature and art is the continuity of life, the belief in the after-life, verging on re-incarnation. This frame of mind is an influence from their druidic heritage. The druids are believed to have been the preservers of the ancient religious traditions that existed in Egypt and India, traditions that strongly believed in the cyclic and never-ending nature of life and the reality of reincarnation.

The Irish are also aware of the interdependence of everything that lives or exists. They understand the role of things in the totality of the Divine Plan.

For the Irish, goodness comes from within a person and cannot be imposed by following a set of rules defined by religions. What is good conforms to the laws of nature and since the laws of nature are only revealed little by little to each man, hope and faith are basic traits of the Irish.

On the whole, we may say that Celtic-Irish traditions are strongly characterized by a deep love and respect for both nature and man.