"The Celts WERE the primary inhabitants of Europe, to this day."
That makes it sound like all of us, except for the Latins, are some sort of Celtic descendants.
The vast majority of Northern and Western Europe are descended from the Celts. The English/Irish/Welch/Scottish/Cornwall view of the Celts is MUCH too narrow. It ignores the vast population of Celts on the continent, but it is good for Anglo-tourism. {ggg}. Celtic study on the continent (mostly NOT in the English language) concentrates on early Celtic history, pretty much ignoring England. Ah, well...
>My blood for instance, is Dutch, German, Irish, + Scot, Welsh, a little English.
Those countries all have Celtic origins, including Germany, which is named after the "Germani" Celtic tribe. However the Germani were driven out to the North and West by Slavic tribes so Germany today is not considered primarily Celtic.
>It makes it sound like any northern European type is Celtic.
No, but certainly the overwhelming majority in northern and western Europe. That is now changing of course with the heavy influx of "immigrants" from the east and south.
>But do you really think that such a small group as the Lost Tribes could have generated what became the rather large population of basically all the peoples of Northern Europe?
The myth there is "...such a small group". Take a look at the population numbers cited in my FR Profile site.
Click Here. We are talking about a
Northern Kingdom/Lost Tribes of Israel population of roughly
10% of the GLOBAL population. That is not a "small group" likely to become "Lost" or assimilated. With Celtic offspring today approaching
1 BILLION people, that 10% number is still in line with 3,000 years ago.
Some people find it distressing that the
Southern Kingdom/Jewish population today is only
11(?) million or so while their Northern Kingdom cousins growth followed the general growth of the rest of the global population. It comes as a shock to realize is it not the Northern Kingdom which almost disappeared, but the Southern Kingdom. Gods punishment works in mysterious ways.
Now you've done it.
(I have been busy in Southern China looking for the Xiongnu people and now you have distracted me) I have looked into my library for things Celtic and have found a book by Henri Hubert titled, The History Of The Celtic People. It was originally published in 1934 as The Rise Of The Celts and The Greatness And Decline Of The Celts. As I was flipping through the book, I found an article from the Smithsonian, May 1993, by Dora Jane Hamblin, titled Once Maligned, Celtics Are Now Touted As The First Europeans stuck in the pages.
The 1993 Smithsonian article has some splendid pictures of Celtic art. I tried to pull them up on the 'net' without success. Might you try?
I've lost the trail on the Xiongnu people so, I guess I'll read Henri's book. lol.