Their aspect is terrifying...They are very tall in stature, with ripling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond, but not naturally so: they bleach it, to this day, artificially, washing it in lime and combing it back from their foreheaads. They look like wood-demons, their hair thick and shaggy like a horse's mane. Some of them are cleanshaven, but others - especially those of high rank, shave their cheeks but leave a moustache that covers the whole mouth and, when they eat and drink, acts like a sieve, trapping particles of food...The way they dress is astonishing: they wear brightly coloured and embroidered shirts, with trousers called bracae and cloaks fastened at the shoulder with a brooch, heavy in winter, light in summer. These cloaks are striped or checkered in design, with the seperate checks close together and in various colours. [The Celts] wear bronze helmets with figures picked out on them, even horns, which made them look even taller than they already are...while others cover themselves with breast-armour made out of chains. But most content themselves with the weapons nature gave them: they go naked into battle...Weird, discordant horns were sounded, [they shouted in chorus with their] deep and harsh voices, they beat their swords rythmically against their shields. Diodorus

"The Romans... were terrified by the fine order of the Celtic host, and the dreadful din, for there were innumerable horn -blowers and trumpeters,and... the whole army were shouting their war-cries... Very terrifying too were the appearance and the gestures of the naked warriors in front, all in the prime of life and finely built men, and all in the leading companies richly adorned with gold torcs and armlets."

The Celts used chariot warfare against the Romas, who had not yet adopted this form of warfare. In the battle of Telamn in 225 BC, the Gauls had 20,000 cavalry and chariots, a chariot driven by two horses, which could carry a driver and a warrior allowing the warrior to throw javelins at his opponents.

Prior to 300 BC, the Celtic warrior scorned armour and preferred to fight naked. Renowned as a swordsman, the Celtic warrior also used spears and javelins. His shield was usually oval. Whirling his sword over his head, the Celt provided a frightening sight to his intended victim. The Celt fought in companies of organized units.

Celtic art was admired world wide. It included symbols which expressed the Druidic worship of nature: the trees, the birds, the animals, the hills and lakes; those things which expressed the life force on earth. The so called Celtic knots and spirals, diamonds and other art work often associated with the Celts was not Celtic. By the second century AD, the Celtic art disappears under Roman influence.

The Celts lived in wooden round houses in Britain but we do not see this on the Continent. We find the first round house in Britain around 2500 BC. It was in usage along with square or rectangular buildings. The interior walls of the home were daubed with a plaster like substance and could be painted with lime wash and ornamented with artwork painted upon the walls. The roof was a fire-proof thatched straw. Inside the house the beds were built upon a platform and consisted of a layer of straw covered by animal skins. An oven, dome-shaped, with a door in the front was constructed of clay. A separate fire was build into the middle of the floor upon a clay base. The fire was the heart of the house. Storage pits were dug into the floor and lined with a basket. A wooden cover would preserve the temperature to allow for the storage of vegetables and roots. The floor of the house was covered with skins, rushes or hay. There is evidence of furniture in the round house: stools, wooden chests and tables. Cauldrens, kettles, wooden bowls and cups, spoons and ladles added to the domestic items of the home.

The Druids prohibited writing down the ancient Druidic rituals. The knowledge was rather passed down in oral tradition. What we currently know of the Druids is from compilations made by Christian monks following the fall of the Druidic religion. We do know that the Celts believed in the transmigration of the soul. The Druids themselves officiated at worship, regulated public and private sacrifices and gave rulings on religious questions. The Druids held a position in the Celtic community of great importance and respect. Also holding a position of honor were the Bards and the Vates. The Bards were singers or poets who maintained an oral history of the people, which was passed from one generation of bards to the next. The Vates were diviners or natural philosophers while the Druids themselves studied not only natural philosophy but included moral philosophy. In all three classes we find women included. The Druidic religion was the worship of nature. There were many Druidic divinities.

Basic to the Druidic religion was the sanctity of the hearth and home. Often non-family members were not allowed to approach the hearth, which was often elaborately decorated. It was here that the cult of the Celts was centered. Next in importance was the banquet, often accompanied with elaborate eating utensils. The primarily Celtic South of the United States still incorporates this importance of hospitality and dining in their social education. The Celts would sit upon hay and their meals were served on wooden tables, slightly raised above the ground. The food consisted of several loaves of bread along with meat. In large numbers, the tables were set in a circle with the most influential man in the center with the host beside him and spreading out from there based upon order of importance. At their feasts, the Celts practiced the redistribution of wealth, which created an elaborate debt structure which added cohesion to the community. The receiver of the gift was obliged to repay the gift in loyalty and service.