Relevance of Celtic Animals Today

To the Celts, animals were not considered separate from humanity, but rather part of the human cycle of life, death, and rebirth.  By nature, animals symbolized human and divine traits, both desirable and undesirable and are dispersed by population throughout the entire eastern and western hemispheres of the world.  Celtic animals are very relevant today and are still worshipped by many tribes in Welsh and Celtic cultures as symbols of wealth and fertility.  Without these animals with supernatural powers of high significance, the life of these tribes would simply be inevitable.  They rely solely upon all of the resources that can be acquired from a deceased animal such as their meat as a high protein source of food, the skin that can most definitely be used by means of creating pottery or baskets/clothing, as well as the implementation of the creatures bones to develop weaponry.  These aspects provide the foundation of the tribes, alongside the spiritual connection to the realm of gods and the supernatural world that the tribes believe in.  Its sort of like how a Christian may believe in God and all of his powers that he possess, except the tribes rely upon the animals so much that they basically believe that each individual animal is one of the many deities existing in nature seeking to nourish their tribe.  On the other hand, some animals are seen as infertility to some tribes like those from Ireland.  They see dragons as a sign of disgrace and times of hardship due to one incidence in an old tale of when a dragon swooped down and  briefly ravaged Ireland, ruining the land and preventing daily activities.  Fertility of the land and crops had been destroyed and gave the dragon a  grotesque image.

Storytellers improvisational poetry stemmed from Celtic myths of these passionate love affairs, fabulous adventures and fantastic animals.  The mythology of the Celts has influenced English and Irish writers to this day.  Some of the notable stories that are commonly told in English cultures are tales of the headless horseman, which is derived directly from the Irish/ Celtic Dullahan that is indeed an unseelie fairie.  Others may include distorted stories of Santa Claus in a red suit that refer back to Celtic folklore highlighting Father Christmas whom appeared green rather than red.