Celtic Warfare and weapons - Brigantia

The iron age Celts enjoyed combat, and so do we. We train regularly to make our combat shows as exciting as possible, and use metal weapons and authentic wooden shields. We also train to be safe, both for ourselves and for the audience.

EQUIPMENT

There are three main sources of information that we research to find out how the Celts looked and acted, and what their equipment looked like. These are

The archeology - artefacts dug up in the last few hundred years

The history - chronicles written down by the Greeks and Romans at the time

The mythology - stories written down by medieval monks

We strive to make our weapons and clothes as authentic as possible, from the limewash in our hair (actually, we use kaolin to avoid scalp damage) down to our leather shoes, which we make ourselves from a pattern based on iron age Irish bog-finds.

We use blue food-colouring to simulate woad, and paint patterns on ourselves derived from iron age Celtic art from the end of the La Tene period, known as La Tene styles II to IV. Or we just get tattoos.

We make bronze castings for our own amulets, such as boars and wheels, based on authentic and common iron age designs, and we base our clothing and armour on images found on Greek and Roman carvings, Celtic figurines and coins.

We make our swords from EN45 spring steel for safety, and our shields from 1/4" marine plywood.