This post appeared on my old blog in 2010.
I knew that hair and good grooming were important to the ancient Celtic people, but I discovered a few things recently that I didn’t know.
Did you know that someone with dark hair symbolizes some kind of terrestrial strength? I have no idea what that means, but it certainly sparks the imagination.
Someone with blonde hair was thought to have a close connection with God. Maybe subconsciously that is why in my novel, Brigid of Ireland, I chose to give Brigid blonde hair. Lots of people have thought of her as a redhead (including the illustrator who had to change his first draft of the cover.)
Redheaded people are thought to possess magical abilities. In the Book of Kells, Jesus and some of the disciples are depicted as blonds with red beards. (See below)
I have blogged before about tonsures and the fact that the Irish monks wore theirs more like the druids’ rather than like the western monks’. I blogged recently about the synod at Whitby in 664 and how that forced Celtic Christianity into some conformity. The tonsure was part of that and eventually the Irish monks adopted the Roman tonsure, which is said to represent the crown of thorns.
Both men and women wore their hair braided and sometimes curled, with gold balls tied at the ends. I’m not sure I understand where this obsession with hair came from, but now I know I can blame my own worry over bad hair on my ancestors!
