Alberto Kozub: Also if anyone can tell me if they had 'Taverns' or 'mead halls' or 'longhouses' anything.
Laveta Fathy: Let's look at what we know about the inhabitants of Northern Britain in the Iron Age. Not a lot, as it turns out. Almost all the contemporary written information comes from the Romans, who tended to conquer first and ask questions later. Not much information is available on Iron Age marriage customs.It's not called Scotland, since the Scots haven't arrived from Northern Ireland yet, and the name Ben Nevis won't be around for a few centuries yet, since it's from Gaelic. Most of the people north of the Roman Wall will probably speak a language similar to old Welsh.'Mead halls' are a Germanic construct, not found in Britain until the arrival of the Angles and Saxons. Many Celtic sites are referred to as 'hill forts', although they may just be centres for rulers or for collection of resources, since they are typically too small to hold an entire produc! tive community.These sites show evidence of a number of roundhouses which were made of wattle-and-daub, with a reed thatch roof. The door will typically open to the south, to lessen drafts, while there is a central hearth used for cooking. Take a look at the links below - the map shows the peoples of Ancient Britain, with a who's who of the tribes, while the crannog links show a type of house peculiar to Scotland and Ireland from the Neolithic onwards - if your characters live near a loch, maybe they live in a crannog?Sorry there's not much info on wedding and marriage customs - you might want to look at the only surviving body of Celtic law, the Brehon Laws of Ireland. There's some interesting stuff there on marriage and divorce law, but again, nothing about custom and ritual surrounding the actual wedding....Show more
Alisa Kaleiwahea: Don't fail to remember that your suggestion of a wedding lasting 'simplest so long as the affection lasts' is rather modern-day, mor! e commonly probably not up to a hundred and fifty years ancien! t in so much of Western Europe and America. Divorce was once infrequent even one hundred years in the past in Britain.
Davida Gisriel: If you are setting it in 137AD you should know that the Celts and the Scots haven't reached Scotland yet. It was then inhabited by the Picts. Little is known about the Picts other than what the Romans have written about them. Basically they were large men who went into battle naked and painted blue. They are the reason that the Romans never conquered Pictland (Scotland) and built Hadrians Wall to keep them out.Little else is known about them....Show more
Marco Stolarz: My favorite book on Scotland is 'The History of Scotland' by Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, pub. by Routledge in many editions. It's good because it's not overly long, written in easy to read story explanation form and packed with info. There's a couple of chapters on the Ancient Celts in Scotland right in your time period. Unfortunately it does not discuss Celt! ic weddings per se, but does describe the clothing, housing, habits of the period. For ancient Celtic weddings try...http://www.yourirish.com/weddings-traditions-in-ir... (if link doesn't work just go to the www.yourirish.com site and find the wedding page). It's Irish not Scottish but it's close and does give a description of ancient Celtic weddings.If you don't happen upon the History of Scotland book, it says...of the 1st century AD Scotland Celts..Caldonians,Damnonii, Novante, Votadini, Selgovae (the Romans named the tribes we don't know what they called themselves except the Caldonians)...They wore trousers and tunics and cloaks of bright colors (red's, purple), and in the check/ plaid pattern. Women wore long skirts, tunic and belt at waist, also in bright colors and waterproof cloaks of wool. They were fond of jewelry and everyone (men and women) wore some. Housing is what we'd call 'huts' usual round with cone shaped roofs, hard wattle walls, and turf for the roof. ! Chiefs huts would be bigger than others. There were also fortifications! used only during war, single round stone towers 30-40' high called Broch's with thick walls, and oppedia (hill forts) with wooden palisades belonging to the top biggest chiefs. In some of Scotland the houses were made of stone as there was no timber, and occasionally underground houses called 'souterrian' were used. By the 1st century AD the Broch's and souterrian's were going out of fashion. Most celts were farmers, but there was an important craftsman class, a warrior elite held the most glamorous place in society. Being agricultural the Celts lived in their round houses with their animals so the houses were pretty smelly and dirty, but the Celts were known for their personal cleanliness and grooming of body and clothing. Tools and weapons were important and everyone had some. Fighting and raiding between tribes and areas was also important as was hunting. Feasts would usually take place after hunts or on holidays, were usually held outdoors, and would involve tons of e! ating and getting drunk on ale so strong as to be thick and be more like whiskey and on sweet gooey mead. Their sport was hurling. Entertainment was 'poetry' but not like our written poems, instead singing of stories, thoughts, feelings (usually at feasts)....Show more
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