Your love for Celtic.

[Maria]

My mother's side are Catholic and had come over from Derry, they were all Celtic daft and so they took me watch them play. My Da didn't care too much about fitba but he always considered himself Scottish not British. He was a proper teuchter from Torridon who moved to Glasgow for work and would sometimes go watch the Celtic play, he loved watching them but i feel it was more because we all went together and he just got to spend time with the whole family. He was more in to Highland games and had me out in the garden throwing big boulders about and boxing with my brother There is picture of me as a tot with my brother and my da, all in Celtic tops, in the garden doing an old school strength training exercise, my da holding an enourmous rock above his head, my brother holding one up against chest and me desperately struggling to pick one up off the ground

An early Celtic related memory of mine still makes me smile a little.

It was my first year of primary school and we were doing a class about road safety and the like. Our teacher asked us if we knew when it was safe for us to cross the road at traffic lights and me, aged 5, raised my hand and said "It's only safe to cross when Wee Jinky is there." My teacher was baffled by this response and i remember saying "Yeah, Wee Jinky, that's what the wee green man on the lights is called. He's kicking a ball and when he's there it's safe to cross!"

Aw Calum how cute, you put me there with you with your words pal.

On a side note you described a family with a lot of love and quality time.

You n the boulders ?

We had the dangerous bogies haha skelpng down hills on the roads TF there wasn’t as many cars on the road or it would have been SPLAT ??

 

[Uztai]

I have a work colleague originally from Galicia.

One of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

He came to Scotland to study and was able to recognise the similarities in Iberian culture and Celtic culture.

According to him, Galicia also identifies as a separatist part of the country and feels frustrated at the imposition and governance of the Madridistas.

Galicia as well as other areas in what's now the north of Spain was a Celtic country many centuries ago, they lost their Celtic language but retained many traditions even to this day. Celtic culture also influenced Basque culture btw, although to a lesser degree.

Galicia is not especially separatist nowadays nor has it been. Yes there is a separatist movement, it always gets to the Galician parliament and gets around 10-15% of the vote, it usually sends a couple MPs to Madrid, they briefly ruled Galicia as the minor party in a Labour-led coalition, but it's a fairly rural, right-wing leaning conservative area where pro-Spain tories have traditionally held all the levers of power and they basically still do. Think a Spanish version of Wales, with the weight of Labour and Tories inverted.

However Galicia has a big potential though as a separatist region if they ever choose to do so as they have a very strong distinct national/regional identity, of which Galician language is the linchpin. Galicia is the only nation under Spanish sovereignity in which Spanish hasn't yet replaced the local one as the most used daily language. Yes they live under a state of diglossia in which Spanish is the main language in cities and the media, but even after a long decline Galician (which is more similar to Portuguese, they were basically the same language a few centuries ago) is still more frequently spoken than Spanish and is the mother tongue of a majority.

Your english is superb my friend, where are you from?

Cheers! I'm Basque, English is my third language but yes, I'm not bad at it. Have worked as an English teacher before I can even switch to somewhat of a (probably pretty poor) Scottish accent if I've had a couple pints

 

[The Shamrock]

Galicia as well as other areas in what's now the north of Spain was a Celtic country many centuries ago, they lost their Celtic language but retained many traditions even to this day. Celtic culture also influenced Basque culture btw, although to a lesser degree.

Galicia is not especially separatist nowadays nor has it been. Yes there is a separatist movement, it always gets to the Galician parliament and gets around 10-15% of the vote, it usually sends a couple MPs to Madrid, they briefly ruled Galicia as the minor party in a Labour-led coalition, but it's a fairly rural, right-wing leaning conservative area where pro-Spain tories have traditionally held all the levers of power and they basically still do. Think a Spanish version of Wales, with the weight of Labour and Tories inverted.

However Galicia has a big potential though as a separatist region if they ever choose to do so as they have a very strong distinct national/regional identity, of which Galician language is the linchpin. Galicia is the only nation under Spanish sovereignity in which Spanish hasn't yet replaced the local one as the most used daily language. Yes they live under a state of diglossia in which Spanish is the main language in cities and the media, but even after a long decline Galician (which is more similar to Portuguese, they were basically the same language a few centuries ago) is still more frequently spoken than Spanish and is the mother tongue of a majority.



Cheers! I'm Basque, English is my third language but yes, I'm not bad at it. Have worked as an English teacher before I can even switch to somewhat of a (probably pretty poor) Scottish accent if I've had a couple pints

How on earth do you manage when we write in local dialects? It must bile yer heid.