Re: Sinclair booth at Celtic festival

["Spirit One Email" <laurel@spiritone.com>]

Johnnye,
    I have been giving your Celtic festival some more thought.  It sounds
like such a fun thing to be part of.  I would suggest that you read "How the
Irish Saved Civilization" and  there is a shortened history of the Celts
"Who Were THose Celts? by Kevin Duffy that is very readable.  Both are small
books.  Be careful of page 178 where he says "Alfred, King of England, led
the English Saxons to defeat and William, Duke of Normandy, led the Normans
to Victory.  That should read King Harold Godwine.  Alfred reigned 871-899.
The Sword and the Grail gives a good background on the Sinclairs.

   These Celts were horse-riding Cimmerian (Summarians?) and Sythians (that
is what Gengis Kahn was 1200 A.D.) people from the steppes of Russia.  In
390 B.C. they sacked Rome and in 279 invaded Greece.  Another group of them
in 278 invaded Turkey.  Well this goes on accounting their history as they
moved westward and finally are mostly destroyed by the Romans hundreds of
years later.  It is quite an unknown history to most people.  At this early
time they already had a very well developed culture.
    Now those that survived in Ireland developed such a rich spoken history
that it would be hard for us to comprehend just how much more advanced they
were over us.  We would be considered practically morons in their society.
There is a humungous book called The Irish Race that tells about the poets
and historians of their society.  They were ranked #2, just after the kings.
To attain the highest degree of a poet, it was necessary to study 20 years.
Every 5 years there was a verbal test which had to be passed to go on to
study for the next level.  They had developed many many types of poetic
metre.  For the final test they were required to create, on the spot, a poem
in such in such a metre about whatever subject the judges chose.  So with
such a reverence for learning, they were the one group of people who were
well fitted to preserve civilization through the Dark Ages.
    We hear about the Bible being preserved, but I didn't realize that maybe
most of the ancient writings of the Greeks, etc. were also copied and
preserved by the Irish.
    =========
    So it would be an honor for us to participate with the Celtics
EXCEPT..........
(hope someone will correct me on this, if necessary)

BUT....The Sinclairs were totally Scandinavian before 900.  Rollo's wife,
Poppia, may have been Gaul/Celtic, and some of the women that his male
descendants married might have had some Celt from way back but the culture
was not Celtic.  Rollo's Norman descendants, even though they clung
desperately to their ancestry, were well Normanized by 1066.
        When the Anglo Saxons arrived in England around 449, they brought
little of value to the Celtic cultural pool.  I suspect that since the Anglo
Saxons were related to the Scandinavians but had been defeated by them
repetedly, when they came to England, they had an "Attitude".  Like Rollo,
they treated  these people as their inferiors which continued for centuries
with their treatment of the Irish.  (there are a lot of generalizations
going on in this account of mine-I hate this kind of history telling but I
must get to the point pretty soon)
    When the Normans came to England they now felt that their Norman culture
and claim on the throne was superior.  In turn the Saxons were subjugated
and now were their inferiors.
The St. Clairs never lived in huts or dug in the field for several
generations.  They were the Lords of the Manors until they ran out of enough
land to divide up between all the children.
    However the titled women that they were now marrying must have had
Celtic ancestry but at this time and place in history, they were living in
manor houses not gathering peet on the moors.
    So, my point is....Ah...  have fun!  But perhaps  if you talk this over
with maybe the Bruce clan (what other Clans were Normans?) you will see how
they handle their participation, you would get a better feel for just how
you might want to  participate.

    By the way on Sunday May 30th we will be in Schyler then Stanton, NE.
Then on June 2nd we will be in Stanton again.
Hope to hear from you and Cleo.
Laurel

-----Original Message-----
From: JLG21447@aol.com <JLG21447@aol.com>
To: sinclair@jump.net <sinclair@jump.net>
Date: Tuesday, May 04, 1999 5:08 PM
Subject: Re: Sinclair booth at Celtic festival


>
>Here, in my part of the woods, there is a Celtic festival in which Scottish
>clans and those of Irish persuation set up booths. A friend, a MacKenzie
who
>mans a booth for that clan, suggested I do one for the Sinclairs. If I do,
I
>would need assistance from those of you who can help with appropriate
photos,
>legends, etc. Anyone interested?
>
>The festival is held in April. I purchased a small book on the Sinclairs
and
>a framed tartan with our motto/seal and a picture of a woman wearing the
>ancient tartan as a sort of shawl. I'm looking at it now as a reminder of
all
>of you.
>
>I've been absent because of a new at-home job, shoulder injury, and a
>17-week-old puppy. Whew! Glad to be back. Oops, gotta go. The puppy, Cleo,
>needs to go out.
>
>Yours Aye,
>Johnnye
>[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@jump.net.
>[ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html
>

[ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@jump.net.
[ To get off or on the list, see http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html