CELTS AND MAGYARS

Sándor Timaru-Kast

I. EUROPE'S IRON AGE PEOPLE

About the origin of the Celts, their arrival in Europe and their settling in the Carpathian Basin

The Celts

"The first people living in this land (Hungary) whose name was preserved, were the Celtic people who swarmed out of Asia 5-600 years B.C. These people were already familiar with iron which is more perfect than stone or bronze. They occupied the land with weapons made of iron and thus became lords over this land. They cultivated the land, engaged in animal husbandry, conducted commerce.." wrote the Hungarian author Elek Benedek in his book "Hazánk története" (1927/1995, p. 5.)

When we talk about the Celts, most Hungarians conjure up the cartoon figure Asterix, but do we also remember that the person who placed the royal crown upon the head of our first Saint King was a "Celt' too? - Asterik. The tourist who visits Budapest is of course introduced to the Gellért Mountain in the city (Kelen Mountain in ancient times). Menhirs guard the memory of the Celts here. I wonder how many Hungarians know that there is a "Kelta'-street in the 3rd district of Budapest and that Budapest itself was built upon an old Celtic settlement bearing the name Aquincum. This name from the Roman era is more than probably a translation (or Latinized form) of the ancient Celtic name of this settlement, which was probably AUBHWN, meaning "Water-home" ("Ofen" was the name of this city in the early Middle Ages, which is not connected with the German word meaning "baking oven" - just as the name "Pest" is not a Slavic name.) North of this arose once the proud city of Sicambria, the Celtic city, which could have been called SICAN[1]-BHARR before it became Latinized. This name means "Szék-bérces" in Hungarian (a 'Seat' upon a hill) - this type of word composition was also part of the Hungarian language structure; for further examples see Hegy-magas at Lake Balaton, or Becs-kerek in the Bánság. (In Irish, SUIOCHAN (szikán) means a seat, seating place, bench; seat as a seat of a settlement, a residence; a gathering, assembly, a court of law) [<=> see szék chair, seat, Ancient Turkish SAKU chair, Tatar SEKE bench, Japanese SEKI seat, seating place] + BARR top, top of a mountain.

The Huns stormed the Roman sentries (limes), who guarded this side of the Danube line and - maybe even with the help of the Celts - gained a brilliant victory. The (Pannon)-Celts were engaged in a continuous, savage struggle against the Roman occupiers and a whole series of insurrections forced the Romans to send their armies in ever-increasing numbers to Celtic regions and destroy, with increasing severity, the Celtic civilization. They even wanted to eradicate their memory from consciousness and from history the way they had done with the Etruscans. For this reason, the Hun-Celtic cooperation was very understandable, and this existed even at the time of Atilla (Eudoxius - AUDAX - "Ádáz" in Hungarian - was a Gallic Druid, who was Atillas physician and advisor. He was the one, who accompanied our great King to his wars in Gaul and who negotiated with the local Celtic leaders). BODUA is the Celtic word for "victory" and it is possible that the incoming Hun troops were greeted with a joyful exclamation of "Bodua!" The victorious Huns were considered liberators because their society did not practice the inhuman institution of slavery of the "civilized" Romans. After the "victory" BUDA was built, the "Ancient Buda" (Ős-Buda), which we know as "Atilla's castle" (Etzilburg) from history.

It may be that the Celtic-Pannons and the Hun-Magyars understood one another, and when sitting together, drinking a cup of fine Celtic MEDU - Hun MEDOS (Hungariar "mézes") (English MEAD), there is no doubt they did. We know from the Greek chronicler Diodoros that the Celts loved to have a good time, to eat, drink and enjoy themselves, but this was done in a very ceremonial manner: Lords and servants ate together, seated arouni huge kettles of meat. The Celts, just like the Huns, cooked their stew-like meals in huge kettles. The Druid (Torda) blessed the meals (Irish ALTA-igh = álda-ni), and gave thanks to God (Irish ALTU = áldás, hálaadás) for his help. After this, the feast began. The heroes of the battle got the finest pieces. They held the big "drumsticks" and bit off the meat the tougher pieces were cut off with their daggers, which were carried in a sheath on their belts, just for such an occasion. There were always some particles of food left on their bush-mustaches. The remarkable mustache served as a sieve, while drinking the sweet liquids. The Celts drank beer (CURU) and honey-wine (MEDU). They used honey to make the MEDU (Breton MEZ = Hungarian méz). They often became drunk at such feasts, got into arguments and frequently into fights, because they were supposedly hot-tempered. The Celts also liked to enjoy themselves (Irish SCOIR = szór; Irish SCORAIOCHT = szórakozás / SORCHA gay, of sunny disposition). Musicians were always present at such feasts, as can be seen depicted on a vessel found in Sopron. The Celts liked to talk everything to death, to recite poems, measure their strength in competition[2] and to wrestle[3], to organize horse races, to participate in group competitions and to play a game similar to European football.[4] This game is still liked in Ireland and it is called the Irish or Celtic soccer. FID-CHELL was a strange game which meant - as I read it in a German translation: "hölzerne Weisheit" ("wood-wisdom").[5] Diodoros tells us that this was a war-game played on a board with wooden figures, called fa-csel in Hungarian! In Irish FID=fa + CHELL = trick, game CALAOIS = to trick, CEALG to trick, to fish, CEALA =to make something disappear, to hide[6] = Hungarian: csal, csel, csali (see Turkish CAL-mak steal, (CAL-dir-mak to play, to trick).

Who were the Celts and from where did they come?

According to Myles Dillon and Nora Chadwick, the first Celtic settlements appeared in the British Isles in the Early Bronze Age (around 1180 B.C.). They consider England's indigenous population at the end of the Stone Age to be Proto-Celts. Leon E. Stover and Bruce Kraig, English archaeologists, deduce from the prehistoric finds in Wessex and Hungary that the Celts may have been already present in Europe in the third millennium B.C. This date surpassed by far the imaginings of 19th century linguists and ethnographers who believed the Celts to be of Indo-European origin...[7]

As a result of contemporary research, it has become clear that the Celts had very little connections with the (Indo)-European people whom the massive Central Asian wave of migration found here, at the end of the New Stone Age, at the edge of Europe, between the Northern and Southern seas. At that time, Central Europe, beginning from the Northern slopes of the Alps to the Central Mountain region of the Germanic territories, i.e. the Danube-Main-Rhine region, was covered by thick and extensive forests. There could not have been considerable population here.

Three-thousand years ago, the extent of slash and burn deforestation increased markedly, which we can deduce from the amount of burnt wood and charcoal found in the soil strata. This is connected with the gradual arrival of the Central Asian equestrians to Central Europe. We cannot give a reliable answer as to the reason that they started to come toward the West. Maybe overpopulation presented a problem, but it could also be that climate-changes were to blame. The spread or migration was made possible by the wagons which the equestrian cultures were able to create. They were able to breed horses strong enough to pull these wagons and travel long distances with them. The Scythians and also the Cimmerians (who are hard to pin down in history) spread and, when the latter made military incursions into the Danube Basin, they were joined by Thracians in the territory of the Northern Balkans.[8]

Researchers have discovered that, in Western Europe, many geographical names have absolutely no meaning in the language of the present population and cannot be explained either with Latin or the Germanic languages, but they are still a living part of the Hungarian language, like the words kő, mező, falu (stone, meadow, village) etc. which appear as intricate word-compositions in the Hungarian language.

Who actually created the first civilization of (Western)-Europe? ... The Celts!

Ephoros the Greek chronicler of the 4th century B.C. counts the Celts among the world's greatest peoples along with the Scythians, Persians and Libyans. The Celts populated Europe from the British Isles to the Lower-Danube and even beyond, toward Scythia and Asia Minor. Around 500 B.C. all of Europe was "in Celtic hands."

The Celts were not unknown among the Magyar chroniclers either. In the first part of the Képes Krónika (The Illustrated Chronicle, Kálti Márk, 1358), the "Book of Creation" refers to Josephus Flavius and Hieronymus and gives some brief information about the three sons of Noah: "They spread into three directions of the World; Shem received Asia, Ham Africa and Japheth Europe as their share."[9] We know from Josephus Flavius' work "The History of the Jews" that this Japheth had seven sons (Hittites/Hettites? - In Hungarian hét means seven), "whose lands stretched from the Taurus and Amanus mountains in Asia to the river Tanais (Don) and Gadira in Europe." These territories were until then uninhabited and the people who settled these lands gave them their own name. The Jewish historian tells us the names of Japheth's sons too: Gomár, Magóg, Madai, Javán, Tubái, Mosoch and Thyras, Their people received their names from them: "This is how the present day Galatians were called Gomar and todays Scythians, Magors, after their forefather Magog..." - says Flavius. The Hungarian Képes Krónika calls the Galatians Galls and writes that, after the fall of Troy, they fled to Pannónia. So, in summary, the Celts (Galls, Galatas) were descendants of GOMAR and the Magyars (Magors, Scythians) from his brother MAGOG. According to Irish traditions the first Irish occupiers of the land were Partholon and Nemed, descendants of Magog.[10]

The Celtic archaeological finds that are considered the earliest are from 1000 B,C, (the Upper-Austrian Hallstatt finds). These form the transition between the Bronze and Iron Age cultures. A Bronze Age Scythian kurgan (burial mound) was also found here. This settlement ceased to exist in the 4th century B.C., probably because of an "earthquake." The direct continuation of this culture is the so- called "La Têne" culture, which may have formed around 450 B.C. This is already a typical Iron Age Celtic settlement. We know from the discoverer of the La Têne civilization, Friedrich Schwab, that he found this ancient settlement - which is now under water - during his excavations at the Neuenburger Lake in Switzerland. This Celtic "village" came to light at a place, near the Eastern shore of the lake, where the water-level was low. The local Vels (French Swiss) call it" LA-TENE," which is translated by the scientist as 'Untiefe' - (shallow)[11] > zátony in Hungarian, in Irish ATOIN [atóny] <=> "La-TENE" (> see also: BALA which means a wider section of the river between two bends - TANAI = shallow water.)

The Scythian influence upon the Celts appears not only in the metal (gold and iron) objects which were unearthed by archaeologists, but in the "kurgan"-style burial custom too. We find a great number of similar raised grave-sites (kunhalmok)[12] all over the British Isles - at Stonehenge or in the region of the famous "crop circles" in Marlborough County with its giant-kurgan - and also in Brittany, Karnag, the famous Celtic "stone-sea" settlement where the "St. Michaels Mount" stands. The name Karnag is derived from the Breton-Celt word for kurgan, which is the same as the Irish CARNAN, little hill, grave[13]. With the appearance of the huge "kunhalom" or kurgans, the first significant gold finds appeared in Central Europe, the earlier ones usually arrived there with commerce. These graves are the same as the kurgans of the equestrian nomads, north of the Caspian and the Black Sea, who became famous for their love of gold and the their skill in metal-working. They were also famous for their animal-husbandry, the taming of the wild horse and the manufacture of wagons that were suitable for transporting their wares. Their society showed a clear structure (which was easy to survey), and strong princes (CEAN = khan) ruled over the tribes.[14]

The Celts were already described by Caesar as an "equestrian" people in his De Bello Galileo. Horses played a central part in the lives of the Celts. They were "crazy for horses"; they were willing to give their entire fortune for a good horse from the "East". The Celtic heroes were buried with their beloved horses (see the Bronze Age equestrian burials at Ribemont-sur-Ancre in France). They were able to maintain command even at full gallop, or they stood on the beams of the battle-chariots to fight the enemy with their notorious double edged "Celtic swords" while the horses moved on at full gallop. They chopped off the head of the enemy with one strike, during an attack on horseback, and hung the head onto the bridle. As with all equestrian societies, the soul played an enormous role in their belief system. The cutting off the head of the enemy (where the "door" of the soul is) was not only proof of heroism, but it also meant the ownership over the soul of the fallen enemy, thus preventing its wrath. The military leaders wore a helmet decorated with a bird called SÓLYOM (falcon), because the "sólyom" was the image, the symbol of the (War)-God "who helps in battle." Before the battle they made a "tremendous noise" - writes Livius, the 1st century Roman chronicler, "they strengthened themselves with awful songs and exclamations" (and scared the Romans), "the battle-cries, the battle-songs and the tremendous noise which they created by pounding on their shields had one goal which was the intimidation of the enemy" - concludes the chronicler. It was also a tool of intimidation when they stiffened their hair with a mixture of limestone and "sapo" which had a plant origin[15], and the hair was brushed back (imitating the mane of their horses this way), and their long, hanging, bushy mustache - according to Diodoros - even increased the frightening image. The Celtic men and women both wore their hair in long braids (Irish CIAB, COPF, The Celtic attire was very colorful: the men wore wide pants (BOLAG "sack or bubble-like wide pants") with which - according to the Romans - they wore very brightly-colored shirts with navy-blue or black vest (MAELLAN, mellény), woolen cloak (SEAC, zeke) or a short, tightly fitted coat (CABHAIL, kabát), they hung an ornate bag upon their wide belt (CRIOS) which held their clothing (GUNA, gúnya) together and on their feet they wore short boots or sandals (BROG).

The Celts were very brave in battle, daring and self-sacrificing, and valor was to them the greatest glory. Caesar tells us in his work, dealing with the Gallic battles, that he was told by the Celts, that there is nothing of which they were more afraid, than that "the sky would fall upon their heads"![16] What other people have such a twisted thinking? Only the Hungarians! They say: "The sky might fall upon them" (as it did quite a few times). The sky is falling, earth is moving, there is a knock upon my head, you run too my friend.... we can read in Hungarian children's stories. Are these only accidental parallels?

As I mentioned earlier the Magyar Képes Krónika also mentions the Celts as the people of Gomar, who - after the lost Trojan battle - fled from Asia Minor and settled in Pannónia. From here, after 400 years of habitation, they moved to GauL At this point the importance of the story is not whether the chronicler was correct in identifying the ancestors of the two peoples (the Scythian-Magyars and the Celts), with Biblical persons but that he described the rise and fall of the Hallstatt culture, 5 centuries before this was discovered!

Several proofs testify to the fact that, here in the Carpathian Basin, a "new" people was born. We have to mention that first of all, the "chief-Goddess", DANU (DEA-ANU, meaning Good-Mother (Jó-anya ~ Édes anya in Hungarian), the other name of ANU "ancient Mother", was born here. The Mother Goddess, DANU, was the name giver of the DUNA (Danube), thus changing her earlier name ISTER. The name Ister was bequeathed to us by the Greeks but, supposedly, even this may be of Celtic origin, since in Breton even today STER is the word for "river". The Celtic settlers - who, in my opinion spread from this base in all directions of the compass - settled Europe, and even though they could not take with them their Ancient Mother, DANU, (so write the Irish Chronicles), her name was carried on in the names of their rivers, from the DON River in England and Scotland to the French River DON. They are the sons of "DANU" (the clan 'Danu' of Tuatha Dé Dannan), or the children of the Mother Goddess. The DUNA became the "holy river" of the Druids, because the Ancient Mother DANU lived in it. They called the land, where they were forced to leave the Ancient Mother, or God behind - since God was a mother - ANNWN (pron. ANNUN) in Irish, "Anyahon" in Hungarian. To use another expression, this was "the land of the Woman" - the BANNWN (pron.: BANNÚN), verbatim: NÉNE-/BANYA-HON)[17]. In the name of BANNWN it is easy to recognize the later Latin "Pannónia", the land of the DANU/DUNA, the land of the "Good-Mother" (Jóanya), the later land of the Virgin Mother (Boldogasszony). ANNWN was also the name for the Otherworld.

They also called this land MAGH MAR, "Mező-széles" (wide meadow), which is the land of rivers with sweet and mellow waters, where

"there is a wide variety of the honey-beer and wine" and where "impeccably beautiful people live"; in this land there is no "mine and yours" [...] "the splendid clothing of our hosts is a pleasure to the eye; their faces are resplendent in the shades of the fox-glove" and "even though it is nice to look at the Plains of Fái (the Irish "lowlands"), after having seen Magh Már this seems to be a barren land..."[18]

In Europe there is only one "Broad Meadow" (Magh Már), where, even today, the memory of the "Ancient Mother" is alive and well; Hungary is the land of "Boldogasszony", the Great Madonna - which is unique in Europe!... It is noteworthy that Ireland is also the "Land of the Mother of God": the honor which embraced the Madonna (ANU, DANU) in pagan Ireland and her several forms were partly transferred to the Virgin Mary. In Celtic society there is an oral tradition about the central role of the mother, and one saying from the Hebrides says: "In the heart of God there is the heart of a mother."[19] So it is understandable that the Irish too have a "Motherland".

After the death of Atilla and after the loss of the Carpathian Basin as part of the Hun Empire, the Celts of Pannónia (along with the Scythian-Hun-Székely people) must have remained on the land of the DANU-DUNA, namely in their "Motherland" since, later on, we will find Celts in the Avar army too.[20]

The memory of the Celts remained not only in the "Magyar style swords of European rank" made by Celts in the territory of Hungary, not only in their art in general (deer, griffin and ivy motifs, etc.) but also in the present day Hungarian language and some names of towns too.

A distinctive feature of the Celts was a neck-band, the so called torque (TORC) around their neck (see Ancient Turkish Taryq-mag - to become tight). This was not characteristic of any European people with one exception:

"The Hun leading class could be identified by archaeologists, by these very heavy gold torques, in the graves of men as they wandered from East to West, from Central Asia and from one of the tributaries of the Lena River in Western Siberia, all the way to the Balkans. It is very characteristic that almost one third of these torques and, let us add, the heaviest ones, came to light from the Carpathian and Vienna Basin.[21]

Researcher Lajos Csomor in his book "Őfelsége, a Magyar Szent Korona" states that

"the workmanship of the goldsmiths of Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages was mainly based upon the Celtic goldsmith art of Sumerian and Egyptian origin" (p.57), and adds later, in connection with the Hungarian Holy Crown: "Such pendants were first prepared in Mesopotamia. This technique - in a modified form - reached the Celts. [...] This art arrived - later with the Huns and Magyars - through Urartu and Iran to Bactria, between the 2nd century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D., and it is present among the Huns in the Turanian lowlands - all the way to the 5th century. It is probable that the Avars learned this technique here too, and they use this in their Eastern European settlements and the Carpathian Basin (Darufalva find)"[22]

Old writings are usually tight-lipped concerning the Scythian-Celtic relationships, just as todays history books are, but we now know that - even though this relationship was not always peaceful - it was a lot more intense than we had thought until today; Kinder and Hilgemann, German historians, have the following opinion of this relationship;

"The (Scythian)-Cimmerians, with the adoption of the Taurican[23] (Meotis) cultural elements, had a strong influence upon the Hallstatt Culture and so they become the transmitters of the cultural elements of Asia Minor. The Scythians influenced the later Hallstatt Culture and the La Têne culture. [...] They buried their dead placed upon a wagon in the grave. (This is a Scythian influence)"[24]

The two authors continue about the La Têne (typically Celtic) culture:

"In the surrounding territories, the indigenous population undergoes a strong 'Celticizing process."

Christiane Éluere, a French historian, also calls this process "die Keltisierung Europas" in her book "Die Kelten' (1994): The Greeks and the Romans considered all Northern-Europeans to be definitely Celts and Scythians until the first century B.C.[25]

O. E. MEINANDER, a historian from Helsinki, after having established the fact that the settling of the ancient Finns in the Eastern Baltic region - who were the carriers of the typical ceramic culture with "comb-design" - ended by the 3rd millennium B.C., nevertheless states: The arrival of the people of the Linear Band ceramics (the battle-axe culture) (i.e. the Scythians - 2400-1900 B.C.) played a great role in the development of the Finn people even though they are often considered Indo-Germanic[26]. In other words, from the mixture of the ancient Finns and the (ancient) Scythians in the Baltic area, the Finn people and language developed. With this theory, Meinander duly explains the Finn-Magyar "relationship!"

The "battle-axe" (fokos) peoples Indo-Germanic status is refuted by Kinder and Hilgemann, who point out that, even though the people of the Linear Band ceramics (the battle-axe people) were not Indo-Germans they took part in the Indo-Germanizing process of Europe.[27] By today even this role of "Indo-Germanization" is in doubt. Because of certain similar traits between the middle Central European and Kurgan cultures of that age, some historians were led to believe that they could also reconstruct linguistic parallels. This is how the theory arose, according to which the "South Russian" semi-nomads determinedly moved to the West and they started Europe's Indo-Germanization there. The most famous of this school of thought was Marija Gimbutas from the Baltics (Lithuanian by birth), who died in 1994, and who achieved her fame as Professor of Archaeology at the University of Los Angeles; her theory was accepted by many and they also became well known. However, not all researchers agreed with her theory and some even refuted it. Rieckhoff, in his book Faszination Archeologie" (1990, p. 52.) writes the following:

"Many signs point to the fact that, by the end of the New Stone Age, Europe belonged in the Indo-European family of languages, but nothing proves that this was the result of the influx of bellicose nomads who lived in the South-Russian steppes, considering that at that time neither battle-chariots nor equestrian fighters existed. Something very different arrived from the grasslands: economic and technical innovations, which decisively influenced the culture of Central Europe. The kurgan-style burials (Kun-hills) and the cultic and decorative use of gold were surely components of this (culture-) import.[28]

We have more data to prove the Scythian-Magyar connections. Barry Cunliffe, British historian, writes the following:

"North of the Caucasus [...] there is endless grassland, which reaches from China to Europe and provides the necessary conditions for the constant migrations. Huge rivers: the Volga, Don, Dnieper, Bug, Dniester and the Lower Danube cut into this region which, in the South is grassland and tundra in the North. The still nameless equestrian and livestock-raising peoples roamed in this "endlessness". They were called in later historical writings: Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Huns, Magyars, Bulgarians and Mongols. They, too, influenced the culture of Europe, when they crossed the Danube-corridor or, circumventing the Carpathians they arrived in the Northern European flatlands. [...] the people of the Puszta played an important role in the development of European culture.[29]

The equestrian nomadic Celts settled down, after they had arrived in Central Europe. In the hitherto often-quoted book (Auf der Suche nach dem Gold der Kelten), in the chapter about the Celtic origins and their settlement (Die Kelten: Herkunft und Sesshaftwerdung) we receive an explanation about the reasons for their settling down and their circumstances: We can only guess what methods they used to search out a new home for themselves. More than likely, gold played a part in this selection, since to own gold meant the same as taking part in eternity and, therefore, to be in contact with the eternal gold. The precious metals had only a secondary material value. The Celts brought with them from their ancient homeland, the region above the Caspian and Black Seas, not only the worship of gold, but the knowledge of gold-mining and its workmanship too. The incoming nomads must have found immense amounts of gold here three-thousand years ago - as compared with later centuries - because they were the first, who were able to mine the gold regularly (BAIN, bánya, bány-ász, bányászni = to mine, to dig out). After the arrival of the Eastern peoples, the Danube Valley was used as a natural road for traffic. Following the river meant more than just the selection of a natural road since, in the Danube, one can wash gold even today, as in Hungary, for example. The equestrian nomads followed the tracks of the gold.[30] The German research team continues: In the process of selecting a settlement, the advantages of a settled life had to outweigh the disadvantages associated with it, and these had to be the decisive factor. A settled life had its difficulties too. As with all equestrian nomads, for the Celts too, the changing circumstances of keeping horses must have been the greatest worry. Horses were not kept as easily as dogs, because the animals which were used to the endless grasslands needed an acceptable environment. He who takes his horse out of its usual environment and breeds it in a totally changed environment, lacking a natural dry pasture, has to provide pastures and an adequate place to roam. Western Europe, especially the foothills of the Alps, was rich in immense, dense broad-leaf forests, bogs and wet meadows. For this reason the equestrian nomads settled in the elevated places - far from the rivers - because only in this way could they provide their horses with an acceptable environment and protect them from the inflammation of their hooves, which is caused by wet meadows.[31]

So, actually, who were the Celts?

They were an equestrian people of Central Asian (Scythian) descent, who settled down after they arrived in Europe. The Celts are characterized by medium high stature, stocky body-structure, round heads, oval faces with pronounced cheek bones, braided brown hair and long, hanging, thick and rich mustaches.

Their society shows the same triune division as that of the incoming Magyars: The Reigning Prince (CEAN, Fejedelem) and his entourage (táltos, treasurer, translator, etc.), the fighters (FLATHA, lófő) and the heads of the BO-clans, the large-animal owners (BO-AIRIGH).

Their doctors (Druids, Torda) were familiar with the trepanation of skulls, a method of healing, which was known only to the “Magyar” (Turanian) people.

The music of the Celts is still pentatonic and closely resembles the Hungarian music. One of their most beautiful dances is the COR (to turn, twirl spin), which, when combined with their word DEAS, meaning beautiful ornate, gives the name of a Magyar dance, the "csár-dás". The Romans called the dance of a "Transalpine" people (beyond the Alps, foreign) CORD AX, which - according to the dictionary means "ornate, splendid dance (üppiger tanz in German)! We wonder which people had this dance that the Romans so admired: the Celts, or the Scythian-Hun-Magyars?

In regard to the Irish music, Lars Kabel writes in his booklet entitled 'Irisch-Gálisch Wort für Wort' the following:

"ein uns fremd anmutender, beinahe orientalisch klingender Klagegesang", which means he considered the Irish music foreign sounding, almost an Eastern plaintive sound.

"The musical world of the Irish and the Moldavian Magyars is similar, not only in its spirit and intensity, but also in its pentatonic structure, division, and type. A jig?[32], the oldest of the male dances strongly resembles its eastern counterpart, where men and women dance in a circle and the twirling, intermixed with sudden stops, can still be found among the non-city dwellers" - writes the Magyar Nemzet in its 1998 November 5 issue with the title: Tiszán innen Dublin túl (This side of the Tisza, beyond Dublin) (Irish and Moldavian Csángó folk music in the Fonó) [This is an adaptation of the title of a Hungarian song entitled: Tiszán innen Dunán túl, meaning: This side of the River Tisza, beyond the river Danube. The fonó is a place where women get together to spin and tell stories, sing, etc at the same time. The translator]

As for the Celtic (Breton) folk attire and musical roots, which are still living, even the Bretons themselves look toward Turan. The Breton folk art, folk customs, traditions, their "stick-dances" and equestrian parades are very close to their Hungarian counterparts.

Today, the Irish are Western Europe's greatest horse breeders. The young Breton man, reaching adulthood, receives a horse as a present, so that he may take his beloved (BAB, baba, young woman, lover), BABAM, my lover, (babám) in his saddle to the church wedding (MIONN - girls headdress, ancient Irish NAS-adh = wedding, nász).

The ancient Celtic writing was the runic script. One of the most beautiful examples of this runic writing can be found on the bronze plate in the Saragossa region of Spain. The Irish carved their runic letters onto sticks, of which Gyula Sebestyén already wrote in his series "Rovás és rovásírás" in the "Ethnographia" magazine (1903-1904):

"Among the older Irish, the indigenous population read their prayers not from rosaries but from runic-sticks"

The inscriptions on the giant stones in Scotland, Ireland and Northern England are written with OGHAM-writing (see Ancient Irish OG to carve, to incise) ~ ék-írás / writing in Hungarian ('AKOM-bákorn' shapeless, childish signs). This type of writing is etched into stone or cut into wood with straight, line-like signs which were used only to commemorate different ceremonial events.[33].

Celtic runic writing on a bronze plate from Botoritta (Spain, Saragossa region).

Today, they use the Latin letters and suffer with these as much as we Hungarians do. The concept of rovás (runic) could not have come from any other people, since the word "rovás" can be understood only in Hungarian and Irish (rov-ás <=> Irish RIABH a streak, a line, a trace), and was derived from the Hungarian verb róni (to carve) and the Irish RIONN (to chisel, to carve). In the beginning, writing was every peoples own "secret": in Irish RUN means secret. This "secret" was taken over by the early Germans, who called their writing, which was taken over from others, "gravieren, stechen, einmeißeln" (Gothic 'gameleins' - writing). Who "lent" what to whom and to what end?

If we would now like to examine the spiritual identity of the Irish and Magyars it would be enough to quote Margaret MacCurtain, Irish historian, who wrote: "Aggressive-imperialistic nations have a fatherland (patria), while countries that suffered under foreign rule for centuries, like Ireland, have a Motherland"[34]