The culture of Brittany is made up of Breton

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

, and Celtic culture. Brittany's strongest international connections tend to be in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, particularly in the Celtic groups of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

is the English-language name for the region called ''Breizh'' in the native Breton language, and ''Bretagne'' in French. Once independent, as the

Duchy of Brittany The Duchy of Brittany ( br, Dugelezh Breizh, ; french: Duché de Bretagne) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean t ...

, and then a duchy within

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Brittany is now the name of an administrative area (

région France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...

), whose capital is Rennes.

Local languages

* Breton language, a

Celtic language The Celtic languages (usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward ...

Costume

bigouden Bigouden ( Breton: ''Bro-Vigoudenn''; French: ''Pays Bigouden''), historically known as Cap Caval, is, along the Bay of Audierne, the most south-western area of ''Bro Kernev'' in Brittany, south-west of Quimper, defined since 1790 in the French de ...

bagad A bagad (, ) is a Breton band, composed of bagpipes ( br, binioù, french: cornemuse), bombards and drums (including snare, tenor and bass drums). The pipe band tradition in Brittany was inspired by the Scottish example and has developed si ...

s * biniou *

kouign amann Kouign-amann (; ''kouignoù-amann'') is a sweet Breton cake, made with laminated dough. It is a round multi-layered cake, originally made with bread dough (nowadays sometimes viennoiserie dough), containing layers of butter and incorporated s ...

Festivals

Fest Noz A Fest Noz ( Breton for ''night festival'') is a Breton traditional festival, with dancing in groups and live musicians playing acoustic instruments. Although it is all too easy to write off the ' and ''fêtes folkloriques'' as modern invention ...

Festival Interceltique de Lorient __NOTOC__ The (French), Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by . This annual festival takes ...

*Kalan Goañv

Flag

Flag of Brittany The flag of Brittany ( br, Banniel Breiz; french: Drapeau de la Bretagne), a region in the northwest of France, is called the ''Gwenn-ha-du,'' pronounced , which means ''white and black'', in Breton (French ''blanc et noir''). The flag was des ...

Music

* '' Bro Gozh ma Zadoù'' *

Breton music Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard- biniou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branched ...

External links