Celtic everyday life

Most Celts in Britain worked on their farms. When day ended, they enjoyed feasting, drinking, singing and story telling. These proud people admired the brave and the strong. They were loyal to the tribe and its chiefs. Religion was important to everyone.

People worked in the village as well as the fields. They built and mended huts and wagons. They made iron tools or pottery or carved wood. Children kept watch on grazing cattle or sheep, or helped their parents. They ground grain for flour, baked bread and wove brightly patterned cloth for the tunics and cloaks everyone wore. The Celts liked to look attractive. Few of them were dirty and ragged. When they washed they used soap unlike the Romans.

Meals were cooked over a fire in the home. Smoke escaped through a hole in the roof. Meat from the farm or the hunt was baked, roasted on a spit, or stewed in a pot. People ate their food from wooden bowls, sitting on the floor.

At victory feasts, the bravest warriors take the best cuts of meat. Much beer and wine was drunk. Heroes boasted of their battles, bards song songs of glory – and brawling often broke out. Warriors were the most important members of the tribe. The next were the bards, who were poets and musicians. Then came craftsmen, landowners, farmers, servants and last of all the slaves.

A king or chief led the tribe, with his noble advisors. Druids were the tribal ‘Wise men’, or priests who kept the mysteries of the Celtic religion, law and history. Celts buried their dead with objects they might want in the afterlife. They also killed animals and humans to offer as sacrifices to their gods. Each year they held four great festivals. One of these – the feast of Samhain – is remembered in our Halloween.