Celtic flags - Nov/Dec 08 Magazine

 As a regular English reader, I felt I had to write about some inaccuracies in the Celtic Flags patterns article.

Also, in case anyone is interested the green/white/orange flag is that of Southern Ireland aka Eire, which is not part of the UK, although it is Celtic. How confusing is all this

Karen:

To throw even more confusion in the mix, the flag for Brittany, France is a Celtic flag as well, although it's not in England.  

You'll have to forgive the Americans - we constantly forget that England is only a part of Great Britain.

Lita

Hi Lita

I thought bringing France into the equation would confuse things even more, so I left out Brittany, but you are quite right.

I remember trying to explain about the UK etc this to visiting American friends (without the Celtic part), they just looked bemused. Really it is all a ploy by us Brits to confuse the rest of the world

Karen

... and I thought it was you English who were confused, as I knew it couldnt be the Celts!

Stan B.

btw, where do Nomandy and the Normans fit into this?

It's something to do with the Normans invading England in 1066 (the battle of Hastings). I can't remember all the details but a high school history teacher drilled this date into our heads and said at our 20 year reunion she was going to ask us what that year was famous for.  By God I still remember it!  Cracks me up because there's a UK insurance company named for this and their phone number is 800-800-1066 or something like that.

As I recall the UK consists of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a few sundry islands (Isle of Mann, Wight, etc).  The Republic of Ireland (where Dublin is) is it's own separate country and is part of the EU.  England is also an EU member, they just don't use the Euro currency.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong about any of this...I'm just a stupid bloody Yank after all.

The Celts were nearly everywhere in Europe, but the definition of THE Celts is really complicated. Click on the link and look at the chart and read the article if you like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts

BTW, I see on that chart that I live right in the middle of the former Celtic core territory.

Jeni,

My remembrance of 1066: "In 1066 William the Conqueror conquered Saxon England......." These were the first words of a chapter in my English book about the Normans, the battel of Hastings etc. I'll never ever forget this sentence! And you're right. The UK and Ireland are both EU members, but only Ireland uses the Euro currency. The Irish coins feature a Celtic harp to honor their Celtic heritage.