Whither My Celtic Heritage?

I’m fully aware that Ireland’s Celtic heritage is largely the invention of WB Yeats and his buddies; that the concept of a coherent and consistent Irish cultural identity was not a part of the Irish public consciousness before the advent of the 20^th Century. But I’ve always been perfectly happy to buy into the idea, even though I’m not particularly nationalistic in my outlook. I’m a European and a citizen of the world.

Anyway, it came to my notice recently that the Irish apparently have a lot in common, genetically speaking, with the Portuguese. I find this very interesting and intriguing. However, the very latest info now suggests that 85% of our genetic makeup was contributed by Turkish farmers who migrated to Ireland somewhere in the distant past. Apparently, the womenfolk took a real shine to these new guys on the block (there was little or no raping and pillaging involved during this particular invasion, thank God).

It just goes to show that we all really are mongrels and that the doctrines put forth by neo-Nazis and white supremacists and the like are such a load of hogwash. Anyone thinking about racial ‘purity’, whatever that is, and however desirable it is, should have a read of HG Wells’ A Short History of the World. It’s description of the myriad migrations of peoples over the millennia and all the associated canoodling (to use a euphemistic term) puts paid to any notion that we are anything but a mixed bag of genetic material. Anyway, I’m still Irish and I like being Irish (in a non-patriotic way). I’m just going to have to get used to not having much Celtic blood in my veins.