The Celtic peoples of the Iron Age and the early medieval period were famous throughout the ancient world for their love of drink, and the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages played a central role in Celtic social, religious, and economic life. The principal drinks of the Celtic world were beer, made from fermented barley and flavored with a range of herbs; mead, made from fermented honey; and wine, imported from the Mediterranean and consumed mainly by the upper classes. The role of mead and beer in Celtic food and feasting was central, and the proper serving of these drinks was a matter of considerable social, religious, and legal concern. The great feasts of the Celtic world, in which the consumption of mead and beer was both a practical and a symbolic act, were among the most important social institutions of Celtic society, and the proper conduct of the feast was a measure of the host’s standing in the community. The story of Celtic drinking is part of the broader Celtic culture and daily life of the ancient and medieval world.
Beer in the Celtic World
Beer, called cervesia in Latin and curmi in Gaulish, was the everyday drink of the Celtic world, consumed in large quantities by men, women, and even children. The Romans, who were accustomed to wine as the normal drink of the upper classes, were both impressed and slightly amused by the quantities of beer consumed in Gaul and Britain, where it was served at every meal and at every social gathering. The Greek geographer Strabo described the Gauls as drinking large quantities of beer, and the Roman writer Diodorus Siculus also noted the Celtic love of beer.
The brewing of beer was a major household industry in the Celtic world. The basic ingredients of Celtic beer were barley, water, and a flavoring agent, often a mixture of herbs, honey, or fruit. The barley was malted by steeping it in water, allowing it to germinate, and then drying it in a kiln. The malted barley was then mashed, mixed with hot water to extract the sugars, and the resulting wort was flavored with herbs or other ingredients. The wort was cooled, yeast was added, and the beer was allowed to ferment for several days. The archaeological evidence for Celtic brewing includes the remains of querns for grinding malt, vessels for mashing and fermenting, and storage vessels for the finished beer, and the experimental brewing of replica Celtic beers has given scholars a sense of the strength and the flavor of the Celtic drink.
Mead in the Celtic World
Mead, made from fermented honey, has a particularly prominent place in Celtic tradition, and it is the drink of the warriors and poets of the medieval Irish and Welsh tales. The production of mead was simpler than the production of beer, requiring only honey, water, and yeast, and the early Irish law texts describe the production of mead in considerable detail. The honey was diluted with water, the mixture was heated to dissolve the honey, and the resulting must was cooled and fermented with yeast. The mead was allowed to ferment for several weeks, and the result was a sweet, alcoholic drink of moderate strength.
The cultural importance of mead in the Celtic world is reflected in the many literary references to it in the medieval Irish and Welsh traditions. The early Welsh poem Y Gododdin, attributed to the poet Aneirin and dating from the late sixth or seventh century, compares fallen warriors to mead in the famous line “they went to Gododdin, the land of mead,” and the mead-hall of the Welsh and Irish tradition was the setting for many of the great scenes of the medieval Celtic tales. The Irish tale Togail Bruidne Dá Derga describes a great mead-hall feast in elaborate detail, with the warriors, the poets, and the kings all gathered to drink mead.
The mead-hall itself was a central feature of the social and political life of the Celtic world, especially in the early medieval period. The great hall of a Celtic chief was the venue for the most important social, political, and religious occasions of the community. The proper serving of mead in the mead-hall was a matter of considerable prestige for the host, and the failure to serve the proper drink in the proper way was a serious breach of social and legal duty.
Wine in the Celtic World
Wine, imported from the Mediterranean, was a luxury of the upper classes in the late Iron Age Celtic world. The Greek colony of Massalia, modern Marseille, was the most important source of imported wine for the Celtic elites of southern Gaul, and the archaeological record of late Iron Age sites in southern Gaul shows the presence of large numbers of wine amphorae, imported wine cups, and the remains of wine residues. The Celtic elites of late Iron Age Gaul consumed wine in considerable quantities, and the great feasts of the late Iron Age Celtic aristocracy, with their elaborate silver and bronze serving vessels, often featured a careful mixing of wine with honey, herbs, and water in the Greek and Roman manner. The trade in wine extended northward and westward along the Atlantic coast, and the Celtic elites of Armorica, of Britain, and of Ireland also had access to imported wine, especially after the establishment of Roman trade networks in the first century BCE. The early Irish law texts include wine among the drinks of the Irish aristocracy.
Drinking and Hospitality
The Celtic tradition of hospitality was closely tied to the great feast, and the proper serving of mead and beer was a central part of the duty of hospitality that every Celtic chief was expected to perform. The early Irish law texts devote considerable attention to the rights and obligations of the host, the proper procedures for serving mead and beer, the order in which guests should be served, and the kinds of vessels in which different drinks should be served. The host who failed to serve the proper drinks in the proper way could be sued for breach of hospitality, and the law texts specify the fines and the damages that such a host would be required to pay. The great feast, in which mead and beer were served in abundance, was the occasion for the exchange of gifts, the confirmation of alliances, and the conclusion of treaties, and the host who served generous amounts of mead and beer demonstrated his wealth and his power.
The Religious Dimension of Drinking
The drinking of mead and beer in the Celtic world had a religious dimension that is reflected in the many ritual and ceremonial uses of the drinks. The early Irish law texts include a number of rituals in which mead and beer were used in religious ceremonies, and the archaeological evidence for the ritual use of alcoholic drinks in the Celtic world includes the great deposits of drinking vessels in sanctuaries and burial sites. The Celtic god of mead, often identified with the Irish god Goibniu or the Welsh god Govannon, was a central figure of the Celtic pantheon, and the production of mead and beer was often associated with the cult of the gods. The Celtic feast, in which mead and beer were served in abundance, was often a religious occasion as well as a social one, and the Celtic festivals of the agricultural year were all occasions for the consumption of mead and beer in a ritual context.
Drinking in the Early Medieval Celtic World
The early medieval Celtic world saw significant changes in the production and consumption of mead and beer. The conversion of the Celtic-speaking regions to Christianity brought new restrictions on drinking, and the monastic rules imposed specific limits on the consumption of alcohol by the monastic community. The Rule of Columbanus and the Céli Dé tradition included detailed regulations on the consumption of mead and beer by monks, and the monastic tradition of fasting included periods during which no alcohol was to be consumed.
The conversion of the Celtic world to Christianity did not, however, bring an end to the Celtic tradition of drinking. The great feasts of the early medieval Celtic world, both secular and religious, continued to feature the consumption of mead and beer in abundance, and the monastic feasts of the great monasteries of Ireland and Scotland were famous for their abundance and their generosity. The Viking impact on the Celtic drinking tradition was significant: the Norse brought new techniques of brewing and new kinds of drinking vessels, and the resulting Norse-Gaelic culture of the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, and the Irish coast produced a distinctive tradition of drinking and feasting that combined Celtic and Norse elements.
Related Topics
- The Celtic food and feasting traditions provide the broader context
- The Celtic diet examines the food of the Celtic world
- The Celtic settlements and homes were the physical context in which the great feasts took place
- The Celtic festivals and calendar structured the religious and social context
- The Brehon law tradition includes detailed regulations on brewing and serving