By Breandán Uí Ciarraide
© 2003

It has been the conjecture of some that the Gael, and the Celtic peoples in general, are a people obsessed with family and clan. Though the fervor varies with the various branches of the Celtic peoples, family does occupy the central part of every aspect of Celtic life- religion, law, social concepts, worldview, and even political structures. This seeming obsession over family is actually better described as the deoraithe world misconstruing things due to a difference in paradigm.

To the Celtic worldview, of which we shall deal primarily with the Gaelic branch, family is the core foundation of the culture, economy, and the measure against which an individual is judged. The nuclear family, being the staple of deoraithe social structure, is an alien concept to the complex Gaelic view of family, and this creates the confusion in the casual observer from outside of our culture.

In the deoraithe world, where commerce is the founding core of society, a person is judged off of their occupation and financial standing. In the human endeavor of climbing the social ladder, this means regularly changing occupations and places of residence accordingly, separating kin from one another (such as children moving out and going off on their own as soon as they come of age), and spending far more time at work than at home. As you might imagine, this creates a worldview in which it is very difficult to conceive of how central and core the family- be it fine, dearbhfine, or tuath- is to the Gael. As John O'Donovan noted in Miscellany of the Celtic Society-

To our ancestors, and increasingly today, kinship in a tuath or clan is intrinsically tied to one’s standing, the land on which they dwell and the sacred bond involved in such, and the very essence of our existence. Our laws, customs, religious beliefs, and so on are no less tied to the family today than they were for our ancestors. So, to begin a discussion of family and obligations, it is only fitting that we look to the ancient past and see what they meant to those who founded our people.

Traditionally, Gaelic culture was based on the fine, or kin, and the three basic divisions of the social and political structure were based on this. The smallest of these divisions was the Teaghlach, or household. This could range from a hut with a family crammed into it, to a huge farming estate with multiple structures owned by a primary family and housing the immediate members of that family, their clients, and slaves. The basic definition of the teaghlach is that it is the descendants of a living father and their retainers (clients and slave). In Euro-American terms, it might be seen as a form of medium extended family comprised of a grandfather/mother, sons, daughters, and grandchildren.

The second, and primary, division within the Gaelic social structure was the dearbhfine, or “true kin”. This division comprised all descendants of a common great-grandfather out to four generations, and could contain a considerable amount of people. The dearbhfine was the foundation for most of the legal and social codes of Gaelic society, and was the very foundation of the Fénechas. All laws regarding inheritance, land use, offenses by and against persons, and so on were based around the core legal entity of the dearbhfine rather than the individual. Although the laws of the Fénechas recognized the individual, their weight and standing, socially and legally, was based on their connection to a dearbhfine. Likewise, the dearbhfine was responsible and accountable for all of its kin-members. In Euro-American terms, this would be the typical idea of a clan, comprised of dozens or even hundreds of people all sharing the same lineage, though far more closely bonded than seen in modern families.

The last and largest division of Gaelic society is the least familial one- the tuath. The tuath was the amalgamation of two or more dearbhfhinte united by marriages and sharing the same land under a rí, or king. Though political in nature, the tuath was tied to the dearbhfhinte that comprised its population, and everyone was related and bound together as a large super-family. The view of the tuath was that it was the whole of the fine, related by blood or marriage, and all shared the same fate based on the actions of their kin.

Within the fine existed a form of feudal socialism. The whole of the kin owned the land and property that was known as fintiu, or “kin land”, though individuals might own their own property in addition to that held in trust as members of the tuath, if they were wealthy and powerful enough. Likewise, many of the obligations and duties were born by the fine rather than the individuals, such as fines paid for wrongs committed by a kinsman against another fine, etc. Though there was a very strong emphasis on personal responsibility, it was the entire family that was harmed by an individual’s wrongdoing, not just the individual, which to the Gaelic mindset was far worse. The obligations to the family, especially in matters of behavior and honor, were taken very seriously due to the repercussions that violations of such could have on the entire fine. If someone committed an act terrible enough that would shame the fine name badly enough to warrant it, that individual could find themselves declared deoraí, (“outsider” or “exile”). This meant they would be kinless, which to the Gael is a fate worse than death.

Gaelic families provided more than just a legal structure, they were also the core of social services and infrastructure. The dearbhfine was responsible not only for the education of their own young, but often for the young of other families and tuatha as well. Families would foster children from other tuatha alongside their own, passing down not only cultural knowledge and crafts, but their family lore, songs, and traditions through the technique known as traidisiún béil, or “Oral Tradition”.

Likewise, the dearbhfine was core to the economy of the tuath. This revolved around a basic form of organized material and service barter, or reciprocity. In this barter-based economy, services and goods are exchanged at a pretty fair rate within the dearbhfine, and only outside of the dearbhfine are such services and goods exchanged for profit. This had the dual benefit of ensuring that everyone in the dearbhfine had a part in the overall economic dealings (i.e., there were no deadbeats, nor was anyone left out in the cold, so to speak), and it also maintained a very strong self-sufficiency for the dearbhfine that spilled over to secure the future of the tuath as a whole.

With this perspective of history in mind, we can look at the modern Sinnsreachd views of family, be it a dearbhfine or an entire tuath, and compare the modern structures and worldviews with the ancient ones. There exist within the Sinsearaithe ranks two basic types of fine making up the tuatha and clanna- fuilfhine, or “blood kin”, and Mionfhine, or “oath kin”. Fuilfhine tuatha are those comprised of fine related by blood and marriage in the ancient form, with full families being a part of them instead of a cluster of individuals. These tuatha are generational, meaning they mostly birth their own members rather than “recruit” them, and have only a handful of people fostered in from outside of the bloodlines of the finte. Mionfhine tuatha are those comprised of fine largely made up of individual people not related by blood or marriage, but bound by oath to one another as if born blood family. This is an increasingly common phenomenon in America and Australia due to the long, slow process of recovery to reverse the diaspora that scattered our people. Often third generation in exile or diaspora, these tuatha are a new evolution in Gaelic culture that is still being worked out and adapting as time progresses.

However, after a few decades, mionfhine tuatha often become fuilfhine tuatha as they become self-sustaining and become generational. It is very likely that within a century, two at the most, the phenomenon of mionfhine will have died out as the recovery process reaches a zenith and as many of the diasporan population as can be will be recovered. This is actually the goal of our confederation (ACTG) and other independent tuatha and clanna as well. The general view is that for our culture to survive, we must gather those long lost back into the fold, so to speak, and then continue to grow and evolve the old-fashioned way.

The modern fuilfhine tuath is somewhat different from the ancient ones in a few basic ways. They no longer follow the Fénechas as primary (criminal) law. The laws of the Host Nations in which they dwell are primary law for them now, and they have adapted the Fénechas into a cultural form of civil law rather than a governmental legal code. Nor do they have unfree classes of persons per se. Slavery is a thing of the past and considered an abomination by the Gaelic people, and the concept of unfree tenant or “serf” is outdated and no longer used. The only people who are not members of the tuath who are associated with it are those being fostered into it from outside our culture, and that is a status far more akin to probationary student than “serf”. Lastly, to the modern fuilfhine tuath, the term rí as applied to their leaders cannot mean “king” in their minds until their people have sovereign land again. Thus, rí is a term adapted to mean “over-chieftain”, and rí Tuaithe or any higher title will be reserved for when we have a nation of our own. Otherwise, with the exception of technological advances and evolutions made in sacral/philosophical concepts, the fuilfhine tuath is very much the same as the ancestral tuatha.

The modern mionfhine tuath is a very different entity than the ancient tuatha in many respects, not the least being the limited or complete lack of blood ties between the members. In simplest terms, the measure of the tie between these folk is not one of blood, but of oath-binding and numbers. A cluster of people living together or in the same general spot are considered a teaghlach, two or more oath-bound teaghlaigh are a dearbhfine, and two or more oath-bound dearbhfhinte are a tuath. It is important to again point out the transitory nature of the mionfhine tuath as it is in the process of transitioning its folk from the deoraithe world, and thus many of its members will not be living together and are often scattered over a town or region due to external obligations and occupations. This takes years, generations even, to overcome and consolidate the tuath into a single familial community. Mionfhine tuatha also have the same general differences that are found in the fuilfhine tuatha, and are otherwise very similar to them.

Other than these differences, we still hold the same general views on family and our relationship to it. We still define ourselves by tuath or clann, we still hold that exile from our families is a worse fate than death, we still hold our duties and responsibilities to the tuath as a sacral binding. Some things in the family dynamic have changed over time, of course, as social and worldviews adapt in the face of scientific and philosophical advances. Marriage is no longer decided based around contract but is now decided based on love. Though polyamory exists in increasing quantities among our culture, there are no “concubines” anymore, and each wife or mate is loved and held in high respect. Primogeniture is no longer the form of succession used when a rí dies or steps down, but instead the more traditional semi-democratic meritocratic Tanistry has returned. Likewise, the ancient feuds between families have ended among the Sinsearaithe, because we realized that this internal divisiveness is what allowed foreigners to nearly wipe us out. The family is still the central core of our society, as well as the foundation for our cultural laws and ethics.

Many of the same services that the family engaged in centuries ago are still the responsibility of the fine, only now there is advanced technology and literacy to help in this effort. For example, a modern tuath develops a comprehensive internal community home school where every member of the fine has a part in raising their children. This education is aided by computers and other technology, and can be, if done correctly, far superior to general education received in the deoraithe world. The children are fostered under craftsmen or people of other professions to apprentice to them, and are taught the customs and traditions by all of the fine, not just their parents. In addition, the entire tuath cares for the children, and there is never a want by parents for someone to watch over the children while they work, or help take care of them while sick. Another example would be sick-maintenance and the communal pooling of resources to help one another. A person within a tuath who takes ill, or who is struck by a disaster such as the death of a loved one, loss of a home, job, and so on is taken care of by his or her fine. This form of interfamilial care is a splendid example of the we-take-care-of-our-own mentality of the tuatha and clanna of the Sinnsreachd movement.

It is little wonder then that almost all of the primary goals and core projects of the various tuatha/clann center on the family or are based around the family in some profound way. Probably the greatest project in the drive to recover our population from the diaspora is the intense drive to rebuild not only the sense of community that is vital to our people, but to rebuild the physical communities themselves. An agrarian people by nature, it was the farming village, the cluster of farms and homesteads surrounding a central settlement that comprised the physical entity of the tuath. Though our ancestors did not build many cities, and certainly not the crowded monstrosities so common in the classical world, they did have the Iron Age equivalent of the rural American farm community. It is this that we seek to rebuild here in our new homes, a self-sustaining community in which we can live and work as a people rather than scattered to the four winds caught up in the deoraí greed-game.

It is these communities that will give us the physical foundation upon which the sacral and secular bonds of community are founded, and will allow the mionfhine tuatha to make the transition into generational tuatha and become fuilfhine. Without community, physical and metaphorical, we know our families will fall apart like so many others have done, and this is the antithesis of our desire to create a self-sustaining population with positive internal growth and prosperity.

Now that we have an understanding of the principles and views of Sinnsreachd families, from historical and modern perspectives, it is important to discuss the obligations that the individual owes the family, and the family owes the individual. A quick read of the Fénechas will bring the realization that the vast majority of the laws within and methods of punishment are based around obligations to one’s family, or between one family and another. Two legal poems best illustrate this view-

In other words, as the family is the core of legal and social issues, so to is the individual’s adherence to the obligations to that family the issue that makes or breaks that person socially and legally. It is important to realize that the concepts of family and the individual’s obligation to it are among the primary ethical differences that set Gaelic culture apart from the deoraithe world. Examples of familial obligations include being mindful of one’s actions, for they reflect upon the dearbhfine and tuath as a whole, never swearing an oath that one does not intend to or might not be capable of fulfilling, loyalty and dedication to the tuath and family, paying éiraic (body-fine, or honor price) owed to another family for wrongful injury to one of their own or other violation of cultural law, etc. When a Sinsearaí Gael acts or speaks, he or she has to be mindful that they act or speak as a representative of their entire fine. In the end sum of it all, the Ciarraide doctrine of the family says it best-

'The family is the core of our people, and each of us strengthens the family through our own strengths, and likewise weakens through our own weaknesses. We are one with the family, bound to it's fate as it is bound to ours.' So was it with our ancestors, and so is it with our people today.